Lloyd: Forever Thankful

On the Boulevard of broken dreams, R&B/Street crooner Lloyd has had a healthy serving of traffic jams and road blocks. At the age of 10, Lloyd Polite signed is first record deal as a part of the young trio, Ntoon on Dreamworks Records. Due to lack of experience in promoting R&B music on the hands of Dreamworks, the group dissolved. At age 14, Lloyd linked up with MCA records. And just when Lloyd had everything in place, the label dissolved into its parent label, Geffen which in return dropped a few artists including Lloyd.

In 2004, Lloyd finally got his chance to shine with his debut album release “Southside” on The Inc. (Murder Inc.). The Inc. was still fresh within its industry decline after their #1 bread-winner, Ja Rule lost a career battle to hometown foe, 50 Cent. The urban community already had its mind set in not taking the once mighty label seriously; Lloyd gained name value through his debut, but he was still a casualty of circumstance.

2006 has brought a clearing of the road in Lloyd’s career; a second chance that many of artists never have the chance of witnessing. ‘You’ featuring Lil’ Wayne hit the airwaves in the 4th quarter and has picked up a loyal following of fans as well as industry allure. With his sophomore album “Street Love” hitting shelves in March, Lloyd took time out of his schedule to talk directly to our XPOZ loyalists.

You have to talk to me about how it has been for you receiving the early success from your first single “You.” You just can’t keep that bright smile off your face, man.

Lloyd: Well first of all, I just want to thank you for requesting to sit down with me for this interview. It’s funny, because just a few months ago I was scratching my head or twiddling my thumbs wondering if I already had my chance to shine. I’ve just been so humbled; everything around me these days have humbled me. Having the opportunity to do this interview for XPOZ magazine is humbling; having the opportunity to work with some of my inspirations has humbled me a great deal. I think that being humbled might be the hardest part of being in this industry. You have to sit back and appreciate what is going on in your life. If you don’t allow for your successes to humble you, if only for one moment, you miss out on that special moment of accomplishment. But I’m just being myself, man.

It’s just nice to see when someone truly appreciates their success for what it is worth and not be afraid to express that to the world.

Lloyd: I see it as, not everyone is blessed like you and I to do what they love to do each and every day. I try not to take this for granted. When you go through a lot for a little, it just makes you appreciate everything a bit more.

When you hit the scene with “SouthSide” a few years back, there wasn’t as strong of a young R&B sound as there is now. Now that you have the next generation of superstar artists like Chris Brown, Ne-Yo, and Ciara, talk about how and where you fit in with the new era of R&B.

Lloyd: I’d like to say that people often ask me about my musical counterparts like Chris, Omarion, Trey Songz, Ne-Yo or Bobby Valentino. We are all good friends. I believe that we all work to inspire each other to be greater artists. People would often ask me about them in a negative way like, “What can you do that they can’t do?” It’s not necessarily about what I can do that they can’t do. For me, I’ve collaborated with Hip-Hop artists like 8Ball and MJG, and Young Jeezy for example. These collaborations have given me a different reign and has in returned gained me more acceptance in the streets. I’m able to sing songs about love on my records and then I’m able to talk about hustling on songs with Rick Ross.

Now Lloyd, we both know that Andre 3000 doesn’t work with just anybody.

Lloyd: You are so right about that…

How did the remix Mr. Ice Cold himself for ‘You’ come together?

Lloyd: Well Big Reese and I have been talking about working with Andre for months. Big Reese, who is my best friend in the world, produced my song. For those that don’t know, Big Reese got his start around the time that OutKast was coming up; when Organized Noize was coming up. See, I’ve ran into Andre a few times, but I didn’t really know him that well. What makes this collaboration even more special was the fact that he reached out to us saying that he really, really loved the song and that he just wanted to spit something on it – “Can somebody send me the beat?” he said. It was on Thanksgiving Day when the call was made. He told us that he had to go out of town to work on some movies. So we sent him the beat, he went into the studio on Thanksgiving and just gave us the craziest 24-bar verse for the remix. It was just an amazing experience…

Street Love hits stores in March. Talk about the concept behind the album.

Lloyd: The concept behind Street Love is very simple. It’s like you have Icy-Hot; you have Rhythm & Blues; you have Hip and Hop; and now you have Street Love. This project is something Big Reese, Jasper (Cameron) and I have concocted in our months of working together. I feel that I have the next Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis in my corner with Big Reese and Jasper. What I feel separates my style from what people are currently enjoying is my take on how I infuse Hip-Hop and R&B together to make it easily acceptable to all. With this album, I wanted to find a way to connect with everyone, which is coming out great so far. I can’t let go all of the information on my collaborations, but I have worked with Jazzy Pha, Dallas Austin, Eric Hudson, Johnta Austin, Bryan Cox and I’ve also worked with J-Lack who is Usher’s little brother and is incredible.

Look man… everybody who knew that I would be interviewing you today all wanted to know about one thing – your hair.

Lloyd: Man, it’s all good. I feel that if I cut my hair, I’d be weak.

Dude, is your hair really coming out of your scalp that slick?

Lloyd: Yeah man, this is me - just juices and berries. My family is Creole, coming from New Orleans. My mom’s side of the family is where I get it from. And my father, well he has about as thick of an afro as you could get.

With Valentine’s Day on the way, would you like to drop a few lines of wisdom about love and relationships to our readers?

Lloyd: Yes I do. I don’t want for anyone to be afraid to follow their hearts. Never fake the funk – if you’re not feeling a situation, don’t lead the person on. Don’t look for love – just feel things out and allow for it to come to you…

In closing…

Lloyd: I do this because I love it. I love music and I have always been inspired by music.

Lloyd – “My Valentine” from the new album Street Love in stores March 13th. http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/labels/universalmotown/theinc/lloyd/audio/myvalentine_1000k.asx
http://boss.streamos.com/real/labels/universalmotown/theinc/lloyd/audio/myvalentine_1000k.ram

Lloyd Video promo link:http://video.umrg.com/lloyd/you/

Official Site: http://umrg.com/artist.aspx?aid=610

Lloyd MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/lloyd