CDNOW: You were more hands-on in the making of Part III than you've ever been before. Was that something you felt you had to do, to declare your independence, in a way?
Mike: Yeah. It's Independence Day. This is 112 in our entirety. You know, I think this is our best project ever, because this is without any outside forces, from say Puff or the record label, or anybody. It's just what Q was feeling, what Slim was feeling, what Daron was feeling, and what Michael was feeling. You know, we had done a lot of the writing on those first and second albums, [but] this time around it's more publicized.
CDNOW: All the accounts of your early days make it seem like you either stumbled onto Puffy, or he stumbled onto you.
Q: We stumbled onto Puffy. Our manager at the time, Dave, had word that Puffy was going to be hanging out at a particular nightclub in Atlanta, which is called 112. It's still in existence today. We got to the club, but unfortunately we were too young to get in the club so as he was walking in we met him in the parking lot. And it was like, you know, "Puff, we'd like to sing for you." And right then and there we just started singing, and he liked what he heard. Maybe two weeks later, we had the contracts.
Mike: It was a long time coming, too. We definitely want to keep in mind the fact that it wasn't like, you know, one minute we were singing for Puff, and the next minute we had a hit out. It was a lot of hard work that was involved … Before we even met Puffy, you know, we were singing in talent shows, getting in trouble. Back then, being 14, 15 years old, a lot of sacrifices were being made.
CDNOW: You had your first hit when you were very young. It must have been a lot to get used to -- having to rehearse and tour, and be nice to people when you probably just wanted to go out and party.
Mike: We really didn't have to learn how to be nice, because of our upbringing … We're southerners, and our mothers wouldn't have it any other way: You open doors for women; you know, you better. It's just common courtesy. You say, "Yes, ma'am," and, "No, ma'am," you know? You say please and thank you, because that's the way we were brought up, and any other thing is not acceptable. And that's how we live life, so it wasn't really a gimmick … that's our way of life and still is till this day. That's why it's so genuine, because it's really us.
It's not us saying, "Well, we're gonna go out there and be extra nice." You know, that's just us. Because at the end of the day when I go home, I still gotta go take the trash out; I still gotta go feed my dog; I still gotta go change my baby's diaper, you know? It's like, we're something else when we're [doing interviews], but when we go home, we're regular people, you know, in our household, anyway.
CDNOW: Then how do you explain a song like "Player," which is an anything-but-nice examination of the way men treat women?
Ron: I can't speak for nobody's experience but my own, but I see a lot of men, you know, misleading women and trapping them inside relationships when they're really not ready to do that. They'll have one girlfriend, but then they'll have their sub-girlfriends A, B, and C in the same category, and that's not fair. That's really unfair to put somebody in the position that they're thinking one thing, and it's really something else. In the song "Player," we just keep it real from the beginning. We just let 'em know, look, at this point in my life it's too much going on with me. I'm really not ready for a relationship, so if you want to kick it, you wanna hang with me, you wanna have fun, go out have drinks, whatever, it's all good. But as far as relationships and being committed to you, I can't do that. I feel like women appreciate honesty, and that's really the basis for the whole song, being honest.
CDNOW: Do you have any qualms about being role models? You seem to mind it less than a lot of comparable artists would.
Slim: We do recognize that we are role models, and it's clearly [important to] be positive onstage, but you gotta be positive offstage, too. Off the road, when you're living your own personal life, you pretty much take pride in being called gentlemen. It's not just because we're gentlemen just here in the industry, but in the way we carry ourselves, period. We definitely take pride in that, you know what I'm saying? … [Some people have] found us boring, because there was so much controversy going on [with other acts]. It's kind of like everybody tends to go towards controversy. Right now, we're showing everybody that you can be positive. And we want to be the trendsetters, [to have] everybody look at us and see that not only do they have very good music or whatever, but they're very positive young men. I mean, we're not perfect; we're not angels, but as far as like role models, just being positive all the way around and being successful and consistent and showing what unity is all about -- we can be that.
