As a camera-shy journalist, there have been very few moments in my career that I have wished a video camera was present during an interview. While sitting in front of the four members of the Miami-based group, Pretty Ricky – in the Midtown Manhattan offices of Atlantic Records – I wish I had brought one to capture the comedic scene. Sprawled out on separate black leather couches, in a fashion reminiscent of a Roman eating grapes, group members and brothers, Diamond Blue “Baby Blue” Smith and Spectacular Blue Smith would be the first to greet me. The tiresome day of press has seemingly exhausted member, Corey “Slick ‘Em” Mathis, who lays sleeping facedown on the hard office floor with no pillow. Slick ‘Em’s slumber would not last long though, and he would eventually awaken to remove his shirt and notify the room that he was not wearing “any drawers.” To my right sits quietly Pretty Ricky’s newest recruit, 4Play/Ambition, a beefy crooner, also known as “12 Pack,” for obvious reasons. I was notified quickly, however, by the other group members that no questions will be answered by 4 Play. “He doesn’t talk. He just sings.”After a releasing a slue of hit singles off of their platinum selling debut album, Bluestars, and their gold certified sophomore album, Late Night Special, the pretty boys are back with Eighties Babies slated for an October 14th release. Closely guarded by their oversized security guard, who stands ever presently behind them, we talk sex, music, ladies, former member Pleasure P, R. Kelly and the eighties babies making babies?AllHipHop.com Alternatives: For those of our audience that still might not be familiar with your music, how would you describe yourselves? Baby Blue: I’m gonna set it off. This is ya boy Baby Blue A.K.A. “Diamond Blue, A Girls Dream Come True, I Wanna Make Love To You, Be With You, Marry You, Cuddle Up With You And Then Knock Boots With You.” That’s all I wanna do. You already know. This album is called Eighties Babies and you can best believe we ain’t forget about them ’90s Babies or them ’70s Babies.Spectacular: Yea, yea, this is ya boy Spectacular A.K.A “Spectacular Six-Pack,” A.K.A. “L.L. Spectacular.” ‘Cause the ladies do love me. Slick Em: Yea, Slick ‘Em Hound AKA “Gemini Bluestar” Baby. A.K.A. “He Ain’t Freakier Than Me, I’ll Suck That P*ssy Ass Down.”
“One thing about Pretty Ricky is we’re not like these other artists or
producers. We don’t go into the studio with all these different artists
and producers. All these Pretty Ricky songs be real life stories and
fantasies come true.” – Baby Blue
Baby Blue: [points to 4Play] And last but not least, we got 12 Pack over there. He don’t speak, he don’t talk, he don’t even know English, all he do it sing. Hit her with a little something, 12 Pack….4Play: [sings a capella] “Late night I thought back/when we made good love/Listenin’ to some Pretty Ricky/all night long…”Baby Blue: That’s from a single we did called “Knockin’ Boots” and we premiered the video on PrettyRicky.com. So, all you ladies can go online and get that. If you preorder the album too, you get a Pretty Ricky “Cuddle Up” ringtone and an MP3 of “Knock Ya Boots.” If y’all want any info on Pretty Ricky, you can text PR to 50505.AHHA: Tell me a little about the direction you guys wanted to take this new album in?Baby Blue: I’m gonna tell you a little something about this new album – It’s sensational. Incredible. Phenomenal. On top of all those things, the music just feels so good. One thing about Pretty Ricky is we’re not like these other artists or producers. We don’t go into the studio with all these different artists and producers. All these Pretty Ricky songs be real life stories and fantasies come true. Pretty Ricky be original, Baby. We do this in our sleep. We go into the studio, dim the lights down, light some candles and make it pretty real. We fo’ real out here. We make love in the club, fo’ real. All of us [are] single. We ain’t got wedding rings on. We ain’t sitting at the front row of basketball games loved all up. Pretty Ricky is single, ready to mingle, looking for baby-mommas with drama. You know what I’m talkin’ about? All of us single like a dolla bill. Spectacular: Ladies, if you wanna hit us up, you can call us on our hotline at (786) 258-6074.AHHA: Since you guys write your own songs, what’s that writing process like for you all?Baby Blue: It ain’t even a process. It ain’t even about music to us. It’s just about capturing the moment. If you listen to a Pretty Ricky album, you’ll understand Pretty Ricky is a lifestyle. That lifestyle that you have when the lights go out and you close your door and nobody knows what goes on in-between [sings] the sheets. That’s Pretty Ricky. This is real. Spectacula: Our Daddy had 13 kids, so you already know. This ain’t some concocted group or image…Slick Em: [laughs] I ain’t got no drawers on right now. AHHA: How does this new album differ from your previous releases?Baby Blue: The last albums was like we were in elementary school, then middle school, then skip high school, skip college and now we in the pros. We just make music. We don’t know what we do, why we do it; we just do it. So, ladies, if y’all love Pretty Ricky make sure y’all go get that album.Spetacular: Matter of fact, they can go ahead and pre-order it on PrettyRicky.com. AHHA: How has life changed for you guys since first signing your record deal?Baby Blue: Ain’t nothing changed, baby. That’s why we named Pretty Ricky. Let me tell you how we got that name. We were so fly in school. When we went to school and hit the hallways the girls would say, “Pretty Ricky is what they call ‘em” from that [Martin episode]. That’s how fly we was. I was so fly I had a Versace Week. Slick Em: We were just like a household name, the talk of our neighborhood and with girls. That’s really how we got the deal. [They] seen us perform and the girls flipping over police cars, tearing the stage down, beating up security guards, just to try and get to us. We didn’t even have a video. So, of course they thinking if we can have all that without even a video, imagine with a video.
“I didn’t wear no rubber, and the girl got pregnant. She had a miscarriage though. I loved that girl.” – Baby Blue
AHHA: So, what’s been the biggest lesson you’ve learned in the game, thus far?Baby Blue: Biggest lesson? Make sure you wear a condom! First time I came to New York, let me tell you about it. We ain’t even had a deal yet, we was just up here for a meeting, but we had been having fans since before signing that deal and there were them girls at the hotel. I didn’t wear no rubber, and the girl got pregnant. She had a miscarriage though. I loved that girl. All my baby-mommas out there, I love y’all. AHHA: Has your hometown of Miami influenced your music at all?Baby Blue: It ain’t even about Miami influencing us. We done traveled the world and are international artists. Bottom-line is Pretty Ricky love the ladies and the ladies love Pretty Ricky. We talk about getting married, breaking up and making back up. We talk about good sex, bad sex. We talk about lap dances. You give me a lap dance and I’ll give you a lap dance butt-naked, we sucking, you suckin’, we lovin’, you lovin, all day. AHHA: [laughs] I’m noticing you guys shouting out the ladies a lot…Spectacular: Everything we do, we do for [our fans]. I want them to keep in touch with us. From anything we got going on, TV appearances, contests, everything, we like to keep in touch with them. A lot of people don’t appreciate their fans. But without them we wouldn’t be nothin’. Baby Blue: Let me tell you somethin’, that PrettyRicky.com is that new You Tube, that new Myspace, that new Facebook. Girls, go check it out and become a member, you’re gonna love it. It’s a Secret Society. Slick, tell em’ about it…SlickEm: All the fans, I just want to reach out and touch em’. All of em’. I swear, every girt I’ve ever had sex with has bought at least ten albums. We love em’. AHHA: Former member, Pleasure P, is no longer a member of the group. What’s the story behind his leaving?Baby Blue: Nah, we don’t got a member that left. We got a member that’s still on our record label, Blue Star Entertainment International. We just turned down half a million for his contract. He’s a signed artist. Pretty Ricky is moving forward and he’s still on the label. AHHA: Are there any hard feelings between you and Pleasure P now?Baby Blue: Nah, He’s our brother. It’s all business, baby. This is the music business. AHHA: I know you said 4 Play doesn’t speak, but can I ask him how he joined the group?Baby Blue: He don’t talk!SlickEm: He can’t talk. He don’t do nothing. He just hang. Baby Blue: We found him in the bushes. 4 Play, his falsetto is ridiculous. He just sings. AHHA: What sets Pretty Ricky apart from all the other male groups that are currently out there?Baby Blue: We don’t compare to other groups. We reign supreme. Pretty Ricky is the Number One group in the world. Slick Em: Not to sound arrogant or cocky, but there really ain’t no competition. Any other group out there is just taking from our trends that we do. So, they paying homage to us. Get what I’m saying? Like it was back in the day with Jodeci, Boys II Men, that’s when music was real good. Back in the days. Kids ain’t got no real music now. We listen to Bob Marley, 50, T.I., Lil Wayne, anybody who makes good music. R. Kelly…AHHA: Speaking of R. Kelly, what do you think about him recently being acquitted?Pretty Ricky: [Group in unison] Age ain’t nothing but a number!Spectacula: I mean, we all humans at the end of the day. At the end of the day, young girls mess with other guys and older guys mess with young girls. AHHA: Ok, what about a ten year old girl? If age is just a number…SlickEm: Nah, that’s just wrong… [laughs] If you 37 and she ten years old.Spetacula: We sayin’ different cultures have different ages for sexual activity. In London it’s 16 and here it’s 18. Baby Blue: It depends on the culture. And in some other territories, it’s younger than that. In America the age is a little higher, but all around the world it’s not the same. You know what I’m sayin’? And we been all around the world…
“Not to sound arrogant or cocky, but there really ain’t no competition.
Any other group out there is just taking from our trends that we do.
So, they paying homage to us. Get what I’m saying? Like it was back in
the day with Jodeci, Boys II Men, that’s when music was real good.” – Slick ‘Em
AHHA: Do you guys consider yourselves a boy band?Baby Blue: We a boy band, a group, whatever you wanna call it. Let me tell you something, for those out there that might have it twisted. This ain’t about music. These girls don’t love us ‘cause we make good music. They appreciate the music, but they love what they building on. They love all these Pretty Ricky tattoos everybody got. Everybody got. Even who you just asked about. They love the clique. We that clique that they wanna be. Who are all the individual members of the Bloods or the Crips? Ain’t nobody know, but they got a following. Pretty Ricky got a following. All around the world, you got girls with Pretty Ricky tattoos. It’s real out here and it ain’t got nothing to do with all that extra stuff. The clique is that deep. Secret Society, Baby.AHHA: What’s the craziest thing a fan has ever done to get your attention?Baby Blue: You know, it’s a Secret Society…Slick Em: They do everything, from hiding in the bus, hiding in our rooms – they do everything. In Detroit they were laying in front of the limo ‘cause they didn’t want us to leave and then they were attacking the police. Spetacular: Word, they was getting arrested. Baby Blue: We wish the police would be more considerate of them, but that don’t make or break us. We love em’. [The fans] know we love em’ and know we’d do anything for them.
