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 weve
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, hes 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 thats
who Blaxl Rose is. Hes fun and a little wild and thats what I wanted to do
with the music.
AHHA: So hes the wild one and youre not?
Case: I mean, I can be, but Im not him.
AHHA: How do you separate the two? When does Blaxl take over?
Case: You never know, but one time you definitely know its gonna be him is
when its 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 youve 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 couldve 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: Youre kinda accident prone arent 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
didnt 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 shouldnt 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 its supposed
to do then theyre like, Oh you were right. Those conversations had to
change.
AHHA: Youve 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 – thats the problem with a
lot of artists now, theyre to busy trying do what they think people want to
hear – but my thing is real honest music is never gonna be irrelevant
thats 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 dont need
them. So me and my manager Blue Williams just decided, Lets do our own thing
that way we wont have the problems we had with Def Jam. Its what I want to make,
how I want to make it so lets do it that way.
AHHA: The single seems to be doing well and women always love your ballads.
Would you say youre a romantic guy?
Case: Nah, I wouldnt say Im so much of a romantic, its 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 dont know, I thought they had some info that I
didnt know, but what happened with Mary, did you cheat?
Case: Umm I dont remember Im gonna take the 5th
on that one [laughs].
AHHA: Thats funny, it doesnt matter now, shes married but you still gonna
take it to the grave huh?
Case: Who says she didnt cheat? Ah never thought of that huh? But I dont
remember if I did; it doesnt sound like something Id do.
AHHA: Oh yea? What about Blaxl Rose?
Case: Oh he might have but he wasnt really around back
then.
AHHA: Hmm ok Ill let you off the hook on that one. Whats 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 todays R&B?
Case: Some of it is cool. I think the one thing that I dont 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 thats
turning it around and Im 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: Its definitely just me peeling back another layer of who I am. Im more
than the music I did before; Its me on a deeper level. I am a lot more
complex.