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.