Interview Time: Pretty Ricky 2006

Pretty Ricky

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In barely audible voices, the usually hyped Pretty Ricky have been sedated by the flu; “Everybody done caught a cold over here in Atlanta… it is freezing!” explains Baby Blue who, as the healthiest, has been nominated by the rest of the boys to do most of the talking.

Baby Blue (22), Pleasure (21), Slick ‘Em (21) and Spectacular (20) are in the midst of a Stateside promo tour for their new album ‘Late Night Special’, due for release in January 2007, but the busy Miami boys managed to take a timeout from the groupies to discuss how they managed to avoid the sophomore jinx.

“This new album is an expansion from the first one,” begins Baby Blue. “We’ve been all around the world and we’ve had a lot of experiences with a lot of different kinda females, so we’ve collected a bunch of stories to put on wax for the girls.” No more than two minutes into our interview, it becomes plainly evident that Pretty Ricky are at their happiest when ladies are the topic of discussion, but the boys are weary of alienating their male audience and address this issue with great clarity. “Guys are still definitely gon’ mess with this album,” suggests Blue with charming arrogance, “for the simple fact, if they bump Pretty Ricky in their ride all the ladies are gon’ wanna ride with them!”

Pretty Ricky seem to have side-stepped the pressures of releasing a second album that spelled the demise of some of their peers. (Anyone remember ATL?) “For us, the second album was easier, ’cos the first album was pre-recorded and we didn’t know if it was gon’ work, but with this album we know exactly who our core demo is and we know exactly who the fans are. We know exactly what kinda music we’re tryna make so actually, yeah, it was easy.” This is undoubtedly owed to the 80 per cent creative control Pretty Ricky have been afforded by record company Atlantic. Accordingly, they refer to ‘Late Night Special’ with a blatant confidence and air of expectation that should worry those other artists whose release dates fall in the new year. “This album is tight from top to bottom. We made sure that we didn’t do no features on this album, to let everybody know that we can do it by ourselves; we don’t need nobody to help us out.”

Pretty Ricky do however, have plans in motion for collaborations of a different kind; they are working in a managerial role for several new artists signed to their own label, Bluestar Entertainment. “Butta Creame are like a female Pretty Ricky and there’s Meat ‘n’ Bone who are like the new school Fat Boys; one of them is our older brother.”

Pretty Ricky, a kinship group of four brothers created by their father Joseph Smith, obviously like to keep it in the family. “It’s not hard working as a family. I mean, we grew up together so we’re used to everybody. What people need to understand about maintaining a group, a family or anything in life is not to judge nobody,” reflects Baby Blue with a sentiment you rarely get see from these self-proclaimed ‘Nasty Boys’. “You gotta take them for who they are and that’s how it is working with my brothers. For example, I might be a little mean sometimes and I don’t know how to talk to people, so I just come out and say the wrong thing. But they overlook it because they know that’s just my personality.”

When asked to explain what makes this album different from say, the B2K’s or Immature’s of previous years, the guys are stumped for a second. But after a brief pause, the self-assurance perseveres. “Nobody’s doing the kind of music that we’re doing. We’re taking it back to that old school R&B with that new school Hip-Hop. I would say it’s a different flavour and a different vibe to anything else that’s been put out there.”

Pretty Ricky, known for their explicit sexual references on tracks like ‘Grind With Me’ and ‘Juicy’ have addressed this controversial notoriety with an innovatively moral marketing strategy for this new album. “We’re putting out two albums; one’s clean and one’s dirty. The same tracks but with different lyrics; one’s about making love and one’s about being in love. The first time round we was just letting the ladies know that Pretty Ricky - we’re freaky! But this time we’re letting them know that we wanna fall in love too… But without losing that sex appeal!”