With Get Lifted, his major label debut album on Columbia Records, Legend demonstrates a rare ability to fuse the "feel" and vibe of classic
old school soul music with the edgy flavor of 21st century
hip-hop. While the romantic themes of traditional
R&B permeate John's Get Lifted, there's alsoa street-worthy hipness and confidence: the sensuality of Marvin Gaye and the sincerity of Stevie Wonder merging with the directness of Snoop Dogg and the wit of Kanye West. Yet,
John Legend is very much his own artist,
gifted with singular talents and a unique sensibility. Among the impressive credits John's amassed in the last few years (which includes session work with Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Talib Kweli, Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Eve, Common, the Black Eyed Peas and, of course, Kanye West), John is particularly proud of his work on "Everything Is Everything," a key cut on Hill's multi-platinum Grammy-winning The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. "Through a friend of hers," says Legend, "I went to the studio when Lauryn was working on that record and I sang a couple of original songs for her and ended up playing piano on that song. I'm still very proud that that was the first major record I was on." Counting Lauryn Hill and Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, Al Green and The O'Jays among his primary influences (along with a slew of gospel artists like Edwin Hawkins, Shirley Caesar, Commissioned, John P. Kee and James Cleveland he heard during his formative years), John Legend has combined his inspirations into a stunning new sound all his own. You can hear it on tracks like "She Don't Have To Know" and "#1" (which features Kanye West), a pair of songs dealing with the age-old topic of
infidelity. Of the latter, John says with a smile, "I guess you could say that's a 'guy' song. It's a bit tongue-in-cheek, basically saying, 'Hey, I know I cheated, but I'm a guy so what do you expect?' A lot of traditional
R&B doesn't have that wit and swagger that you find in
hip-hop, and that's what I wanted to include in my music." Asked to describe his style, John says, "It's very
soulful, rooted in
gospel but with hip-hop beats and unique, witty lyrics, more 'major' than 'minor', more of a 'feel good,' upbeat sound." That's exemplified by the afore-mentioned "Do What I Gotta Do" (featuring Kanye West), with its instantly memorable hook and tunes like "I Can Change" (featuring Snoop Dogg), which John describes as "my pimp redemption song! Like, I know I'm
gonna get it right with this girl, I'm gonna repent. It's hip-hop with a
gospel flavor and we have a choir singing on the track." Emulating the likes of "the gentle genius" Curtis Mayfield, John offers the beautifully tender "Stay With You," another fine example of his ability to bring his own well-crafted artistry to music that harks back to another day and time. "I originally was given the name John Legend by a friend from Chicago because he thought I sounded so much like an old school artist," John confesses. "At first, I thought it was funny to be called 'Legend,' but then a lot of my friends started calling me that and it really caught on so much that more people were calling me 'Legend' than my real name. So I started to consider using it as my stage name. I knew it sounded a little presumptuous, but I figured it would definitely make me stand out from the pack. I figured it would make people pay attention to me. And once I have
their attention, I hope to make them fall in love with my music. By being 'John Legend,' I put some pressure on myself but I'm gonna try to live up to it and I hope my music will live up to it."
