The Simmons Sisters To Host Def Jam’s “New Voices Tour 2010”

Launched by Island Def Jam and Universal Music Group, Antonio Jr and Aaron Reid will collaborate with Vanessa and Angela Simmons to present a talent competition titled “The New Voices Tour 2010.” With similar ideas, it was easy for the two set of siblings to come together and collaborate on the tour. “We came together […]

Launched

by Island Def Jam and Universal Music Group, Antonio Jr and Aaron Reid will

collaborate with Vanessa and Angela Simmons to present a talent competition

titled “The New Voices Tour 2010.”

With

similar ideas, it was easy for the two set of siblings to come together and

collaborate on the tour.

“We

came together at the beginning of the year and we both had sets of sibilings –

me and my sister, and Antonio and Aaron – [that] had ideas that we wanted to do

music wise. The ideas kind of matched so we collaborated and came up with The

New Voices Tour,” Vanessa Simmons told AllHipHop.com

The

competition will be a quest to find the best of the best in Hip-Hop, R&B,

Pop and surprisingly, spoken word.

“We

want to see Rock groups, boy bands, singing groups, rap groups, soloists… we

want to see all combinations and variations,” explained Antonio Jr. Reid.

The

siblings decided to take alternative routes in finding their talent. The tour

will touchdown in Washington, D.C., Dallas, Seattle, Orlando, Cleveland and San

Diego.

“These

are markets that really haven’t necessarily been tapped,” explains

Vanessa. “They don’t have enough resources such as Los Angeles or New

York.”

On

the quest to find talent, the four will try to fill voids of what the music

game is currently missing.

“We

are in the new version of the Disco age, where the Disco age produced I don’t

know how many one hit wonders, but this time around, it’s called the Ringtone

era,” said Antonio Jr.

“I

want to see more artists who have more substance and things to talk about that

keeps you interested for more than one song.”

“I

remember growing up and being able to hear different types of music from

different types of genres all the time, and now it seems like it has slowed

down a little bit where you only hear that top five that plays on the radio all

day long,” said Vanessa.

The

Reids and Simmons also know what they aren’t looking for, and that includes any

Notorious B.I.G. or Lauryn Hill reincarnates.

“I

don’t want see any second rate Kanye Wests or second rate Rihannas,” said

Vanessa.

“The

only thing that changes in music, is music. You can’t create the artist”

said Aaron Reid. “That’s the only way someone like Drake can be successful

because he took people out of their element and made them like him. You had to

respect his element and the music he was putting out.”

Helping

the Reids and Simmons judge along the way will a list of some of the industry’s

tastemakers, including Rick Ross, Jazze Pha, DJ Khaled and Waka Flocka Flame.

The final contestants will come before the siblings fathers, LA Reid and Rev

Run.

“We’re

going to have a crew going into every city and audition the hundreds that come

down and break them down into the best ten. Those ten will compete against each

other for a spot in the finale,” explained Antonio. “We’ll judge the

competition when the ten people compete against each other in every city. We’ll

have the finale in New York where there will be one person from each city.

Along

they’re excited about the tour, the youngsters are also pumped for upcoming

projects that they’re working on, such as the “Reids vs. Simmons Day”

that will take place in the Hamptons towards the end of the summer.

Aaron

Reid, who was on MTV’s Sweet Sixteen series is currently working on an upcoming

mixtape.

“I’m

working on my mixtape as an artist, as a song-writer. That will be coming out

soon,” said Aaron.

The

mixtape is to include Young Money’s Lil Twist, Rick Ross and more.

Antonio

Jr. will continue with the business side of things as he launches a new

publishing company with Kirk Mayfield, the eldest son of Soul/Funk great,

Curtis Mayfield.

“We

have a company called MaTone (pronounced Maytone) Music Publishing,” said

Antonio. “We kind of both cover two different areas of music publishing so

it only makes sense for us to work together.”

Daddy

little girls will be remixing their Pastry clothing line and will add a more

“fit” shoe to the shoe collection.

“We

have our Box of Chocolate line out right now which consists of different

sneakers for different women and the physical activities that they do,”

explained Vanessa. “Right now we have a dance sneaker coming out, which

has dance technology and spinning technology and a running sneaker. It’s our

first launch from our athletic division ever.”

Vanessa

will also be acting alongside Terrell Owens and Stacey Dash in a upcoming movie

titled “Dysfunctional Friends.” She will also be critiquing fashions

at the BET awards, premiering the end of this month.

Though

there’s a lot of stuff she’s working on that she can’t speak fully on, Angela

tells AllHipHop.com that she’s currently writing books.

The

auditions kicks off June 19 in Cleveland and wraps up July 3 in San Diego. For

more information and to book an audition, visit defjamnewvoices2010.com.