Artist Spotlight
http://www.michronicleonline.com/articlelive/articles/2579/1/Artist-Spotlight/Page1.html
Janaya Black
By Janaya Black
Published on 04/9/2008
After weeks of grueling challenges, late night rehearsals, and drama, drama, drama, Robert Curry solidified his position in Diddy’s newest Making the Band group, Day 26.
After weeks of grueling challenges, late night rehearsals, and drama, drama, drama, Robert Curry solidified his position in Diddy’s newest Making the Band group, Day 26.
In the midst of a hectic touring schedule, radio interviews and appearances, the FrontPage had a chance to speak with Curry about his whirlwind success and everything that comes with it.
FrontPage: You’ve been out there representing Detroit for a while now, so tell me what the whole experience has been like for you so far?
Robert Curry: Man, God is so good. I’m getting to do things I’ve been praying for since I was little kid. Like for one, being signed to Bad Boy.
For two, being on a reality TV show, being the number one group in the country, having the number one album in the country on the Billboard – it’s just like everything I’ve ever prayed for and everything I ever asked for. I can’t feel no other way than blessed when you get down on your knees and you pray for something every single night and then you get it. It’s almost like too much to handle.
FP: Being out there representing for Detroit, do you feel a lot of pressure to represent Detroit in a good light, in view of all the bad press we’ve been getting lately?
RC: I look at it like this: Detroit, everybody knows about Detroit. Everybody know how it is, everybody know what it is. I feel like it’s an honor already to have somebody from Detroit on MTV reppin’ for us irregardless, you know what I saying? We don’t got that many artists right now from Detroit even though it really started with us, with the whole Motown era and everything. But right now nobody’s out there. I’m glad to be saying the name no matter how it is, to be reppin’ for The D on TV, period.
FP: What’s a typical day like for Day 26 right now?
RC: We get up at six in the morning to be in the lobby at like seven to drive to the radio station, maybe two or three. Do like three hour-long interviews, leave, go back to the hotel for maybe an hour, then to the in-stores, go sign autographs, go and do magazines. We’ve been doing it in every single city because we’re on promotional tour right now. We’ve been on promo tour for about two and a half months and we’ve slept about ten hours out of all that time. It’s been no sleep, just work, work, but we’re with Bad Boy and Diddy never sleeps. So I guess he expects us to never sleep.
FP: What is it like working with Diddy?
RC: It’s really an honor because he’s a marketing genius, first of all. He makes legends; he don’t make artists. Everybody that has came up under Diddy has become a legend. People that come out after the people he brings out base what they do off of that. It’s an honor. I ain’t gon’ say it ain’t hard. It’s real hard because he’s a perfectionist. But at the same time I know he’s just bringing the best out of us.
FP: Was it hard getting used to being in a group and dealing with all the different personalities?
RC: Not really because before I got signed to this Bad Boy group, I was signed to a group with Wyclef. And before that I was signed to a group with Michael Bivens when I was 13. I think the hardest part of it was that when I was signed to those groups, they were my boys, some people I grew up with. In this situation it is a little different because everybody’s from different places, but we’re men. From little kids we are taught to get on the basketball court and pick four dudes to be on our team that we don’t even know, then win a game. So we’re trained to do that as kids and as men, so it wasn’t that hard. I took that same mentality that I would take on the basketball court, I took that same mentality in to the studio.
FP: What’s it been like living and touring with Danity Kane?
RC: Oh, my god! Danity Kane? First of all, I want to say, big ups to Danity Kane. We really appreciate them because them being in this situation, they shielded us from a lot of things that we would have had to deal with if they hadn’t been in the picture. Like a lot of walks that they bumped their heads on when they were going through this stuff, they got to shield us from it and just tell us and we never looked at it. Like damn, OK, I’m not gon’ bump my head on this wall because they put me on to it. So that was a big up to it. Now, the bad part about is they like to brag about being Danity Kane, having the number one selling album and everything at the time. But, it’s good now because now Day 26 has stepped up to their spot and we’re the number one group in the country, number one on the Billboards, number one on MTV. (Laughing) So we give that up to all our fans and push it in Danity Kane’s face!
FP: What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned so far from this whole experience?
RC: I think the most valuable lesson I’ve learned in this whole situation is that there’s always somebody waiting to take your spot and Diddy said that in one episode. And it’s true. If you don’t’ keep that mentality, then somebody will. That mentality is the only thing that got all five of us that made the band, including Donny. That’s the only thing that we kept in our mind to keep us through the competition. Had we not kept that in our heads we would have never made it through; we’d have never been a choice. Someone is always ready to take your spot, so don’t ever slack on your game. Don’t ever slack on your pimpin’. You gotta keep your pimp hand strong.
Day 26’s debut self titled album is available in stores now. For more information on Robert Curry and Day 26, visit www.iamonmtv.com or www.day26online.com.
After weeks of grueling challenges, late night rehearsals, and drama, drama, drama, Robert Curry solidified his position in Diddy’s newest Making the Band group, Day 26. Robert Curry
After weeks of grueling challenges, late night rehearsals, and drama, drama, drama, Robert Curry solidified his position in Diddy’s newest Making the Band group, Day 26.
In the midst of a hectic touring schedule, radio interviews and appearances, the FrontPage had a chance to speak with Curry about his whirlwind success and everything that comes with it.
FrontPage: You’ve been out there representing Detroit for a while now, so tell me what the whole experience has been like for you so far?
Robert Curry: Man, God is so good. I’m getting to do things I’ve been praying for since I was little kid. Like for one, being signed to Bad Boy.
For two, being on a reality TV show, being the number one group in the country, having the number one album in the country on the Billboard – it’s just like everything I’ve ever prayed for and everything I ever asked for. I can’t feel no other way than blessed when you get down on your knees and you pray for something every single night and then you get it. It’s almost like too much to handle.
FP: Being out there representing for Detroit, do you feel a lot of pressure to represent Detroit in a good light, in view of all the bad press we’ve been getting lately?
RC: I look at it like this: Detroit, everybody knows about Detroit. Everybody know how it is, everybody know what it is. I feel like it’s an honor already to have somebody from Detroit on MTV reppin’ for us irregardless, you know what I saying? We don’t got that many artists right now from Detroit even though it really started with us, with the whole Motown era and everything. But right now nobody’s out there. I’m glad to be saying the name no matter how it is, to be reppin’ for The D on TV, period.
FP: What’s a typical day like for Day 26 right now?
RC: We get up at six in the morning to be in the lobby at like seven to drive to the radio station, maybe two or three. Do like three hour-long interviews, leave, go back to the hotel for maybe an hour, then to the in-stores, go sign autographs, go and do magazines. We’ve been doing it in every single city because we’re on promotional tour right now. We’ve been on promo tour for about two and a half months and we’ve slept about ten hours out of all that time. It’s been no sleep, just work, work, but we’re with Bad Boy and Diddy never sleeps. So I guess he expects us to never sleep.
FP: What is it like working with Diddy?
RC: It’s really an honor because he’s a marketing genius, first of all. He makes legends; he don’t make artists. Everybody that has came up under Diddy has become a legend. People that come out after the people he brings out base what they do off of that. It’s an honor. I ain’t gon’ say it ain’t hard. It’s real hard because he’s a perfectionist. But at the same time I know he’s just bringing the best out of us.
FP: Was it hard getting used to being in a group and dealing with all the different personalities?
RC: Not really because before I got signed to this Bad Boy group, I was signed to a group with Wyclef. And before that I was signed to a group with Michael Bivens when I was 13. I think the hardest part of it was that when I was signed to those groups, they were my boys, some people I grew up with. In this situation it is a little different because everybody’s from different places, but we’re men. From little kids we are taught to get on the basketball court and pick four dudes to be on our team that we don’t even know, then win a game. So we’re trained to do that as kids and as men, so it wasn’t that hard. I took that same mentality that I would take on the basketball court, I took that same mentality in to the studio.
FP: What’s it been like living and touring with Danity Kane?
RC: Oh, my god! Danity Kane? First of all, I want to say, big ups to Danity Kane. We really appreciate them because them being in this situation, they shielded us from a lot of things that we would have had to deal with if they hadn’t been in the picture. Like a lot of walks that they bumped their heads on when they were going through this stuff, they got to shield us from it and just tell us and we never looked at it. Like damn, OK, I’m not gon’ bump my head on this wall because they put me on to it. So that was a big up to it. Now, the bad part about is they like to brag about being Danity Kane, having the number one selling album and everything at the time. But, it’s good now because now Day 26 has stepped up to their spot and we’re the number one group in the country, number one on the Billboards, number one on MTV. (Laughing) So we give that up to all our fans and push it in Danity Kane’s face!
FP: What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned so far from this whole experience?
RC: I think the most valuable lesson I’ve learned in this whole situation is that there’s always somebody waiting to take your spot and Diddy said that in one episode. And it’s true. If you don’t’ keep that mentality, then somebody will. That mentality is the only thing that got all five of us that made the band, including Donny. That’s the only thing that we kept in our mind to keep us through the competition. Had we not kept that in our heads we would have never made it through; we’d have never been a choice. Someone is always ready to take your spot, so don’t ever slack on your game. Don’t ever slack on your pimpin’. You gotta keep your pimp hand strong.
Day 26’s debut self titled album is available in stores now. For more information on Robert Curry and Day 26, visit www.iamonmtv.com or www.day26online.com.