R&B balladeer Case has had a
tumultuous love affair with life and music. The singer who brought soul to the
New Jack sound of the ‘90s with hits including “Happily Ever After” “Touch Me
Tease Me” and “Faded Pictures” endured several hardships following his
unprecedented success. Rebounding from two near death experiences, a fight to
get released from his Def Jam home, and of course failed relationships, Case
has chronicled his ride in his latest effort The Rose Experience. We sat down with Case to discuss his recent
project, the success of his homecoming single “Lovely”, his alter ego Blaxl
Rose, and what it means to fight the good fight and still bounce back singing.
AllHipHop.com Alternatives: The album sounds like the classic Case that we’ve
come to know and love, was this album more introspective for you?
Case: Yes, definitely it was very personal.
AHHA: Where does the title The Rose Experience come from?
Case: Basically, I have this alter ego named Blaxl Rose, he’s the Black Axl
Rose [of Guns N Roses] so a lot of the stuff on the album is stuff that Blaxl
Rose went through more so than myself. So I just wanted to have some fun with
the music and make it sound a little lighter than it did in the past but that’s
who Blaxl Rose is. He’s fun and a little wild and that’s what I wanted to do
with the music.
AHHA: So he’s the wild one and you’re not?
Case: I mean, I can be, but I’m not him.
AHHA: How do you separate the two? When does Blaxl take over?
Case: You never know, but one time you definitely know it’s gonna be him is
when it’s time to hit the stage. See I might go to a party and just sit there
and have a drink but Blaxl will jump up on the table and drink out of the
bottle.
AHHA: Ok, so you’ve been gone for a long time, why did you take such a long
break? Was it personal or the climate of the industry?
Case: Actually all of it was personal. After the last album I wanted to move
and be closer to my kids for one, and then when I got there I had an accident
and accidentally shot myself in the throat.
AHHA: How do you accidentally shoot yourself in the throat?
Case: Not paying attention for one, I was moving the gun and it had a hair
trigger and it went off.
AHHA: Wow, and your throat of all places how crazy is that?
Case: Yeah out of everywhere the bullet could’ve gone right?
AHHA: With where you were in your life at the time, was the near death
experience any type of awakening for you? Did it change how you approached
life?
Case: Only to the extent of realizing how quickly everything could be taken
away, which kinda contributed to me wanting to have a little more fun with the
music. So once I got through that situation, I started to put the music
together for the new album then I had the motorcycle accident.
AHHA: You’re kinda accident prone aren’t you?
Case: Actually it was the misadventures of Blaxl Rose [laughs] but anyways,
so once I made it through that I decided to leave Def Jam and that took about a
year to go back and forth with all the lawyers and everything because they
didn’t want to let me out of my contract. Basically the biggest thing for them
was I was the last artist that Russell personally signed to Def Jam.
AHHA: Why did you want to leave?
Case: ‘Cause I got tired of the fact that I have a song
that I wanted to be the single and I knew in my heart that the song should be
the single, but rather than put it out I have to listen to 20 people tell me
why it shouldn’t be and they go with something else and three or four months
down the line when the one I chose in the first place does what it’s supposed
to do then they’re like, “Oh you were right.” Those conversations had to
change.
AHHA: You’ve been so committed to staying true to who you are as an artist,
how do you manage to stay relevant and stay true to who you are?
Case: I never believed in changing with the times, even before I got a deal,
I always believed in being true to oneself – that’s the problem with a
lot of artists now, they’re to busy trying do what they think people want to
hear – but my thing is real honest music is never gonna be irrelevant
that’s why I never tried to follow the times.
AHHA: How did your label Indigo Blue come to be?
Case: After I left the label I was trying to decide if I wanted to go with
another label or if I wanted to do my own thing, so we took a few meetings with
some other labels and then we just decided why at this point we don’t need
them. So me and my manager Blue Williams just decided, “Let’s do our own thing
that way we wont have the problems we had with Def Jam.” It’s what I want to make,
how I want to make it so let’s do it that way.
AHHA: The single seems to be doing well and women always love your ballads.
Would you say you’re a romantic guy?
Case: Nah, I wouldn’t say I’m so much of a romantic, it’s just I can really
get into the whole art of singing or a ballad more than an up-tempo song.
AHHA: Ok I always ask my Facebook family to ask questions, so the people
have some questions for you. Are you ready?
Case: Ok shoot…
AHHA: Well you already answered the Def Jam question, but what really went
down with you and Mary J. Blige and Foxy Brown?
Case: What went down? With me and Mary we just broke up…but Foxy? Who said
anything happened with Foxy?
AHHA: I don’t know, I thought they had some info that I
didn’t know, but what happened with Mary, did you cheat?
Case: Umm I don’t remember I’m gonna take the 5th
on that one [laughs].
AHHA: That’s funny, it doesn’t matter now, she’s married but you still gonna
take it to the grave huh?
Case: Who says she didn’t cheat? Ah never thought of that huh? But I don’t
remember if I did; it doesn’t sound like something I’d do.
AHHA: Oh yea? What about Blaxl Rose?
Case: Oh he might have but he wasn’t really around back
then.
AHHA: Hmm ok I’ll let you off the hook on that one. What’s your favorite
Case song?
Case: “A Song For Skye” – a song I wrote about my daughter on the new
album.
AHHA: What do you think of the climate of today’s R&B?
Case: Some of it is cool. I think the one thing that I don’t like is how
everybody is chasing behind what the next man is doing and the only person who
loses out when you do that is the listener. But there are some out there that’s
turning it around and I’m trying to do that with my music.
AHHA: Who do you listen to?
Case: Oh Jazmine Sullivan all day.
AHHA: What do you want people to take away from The Rose Experience?
Case: It’s definitely just me peeling back another layer of who I am. I’m more
than the music I did before; It’s me on a deeper level. I am a lot more
complex.
