Interview Time: Pretty Ricky 2007

Pretty Ricky

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It’s been a hot minute since Pretty Ricky debuted with 2005’s summer smash ‘Grind On Me’, but the Miami-based quartet are back with another catchy single, ‘On The Hotline’, and a sophomore album, ‘Late Night Special’. It’s a busy life being Pretty Ricky, but the boys found a few spare minutes during their hectic UK tour to catch-up with MusicRooms.net.

How do you think you’ve developed as artists since your first album ‘Bluestars’?

Baby Blue: We have become masters of our craft. The first album went platinum and so with the second we had a lot of critics saying we couldn’t pull it off and top the first, but the growth has been tremendous. We actually went into the studio on our own and all four of us sat down and thought about why other artist’s second albums don’t do good.

And why’s that?

Baby Blue: The record label signs artists who create a buzz in the streets and they put their album out which normally consists of mostly pre-recorded music. Once the CD is successful enough to make a second, the record label wants to have more control. They try to be more involved with the creative process and end up putting them in the studio with different writers and producers and you end up losing the essence of the artist.

So how much involvement did you guys actually have in making your new album?

Spectacular: When we went to the studio we cut the record label out – we didn’t even let them know we were going there to make this Pretty Ricky album! We made sure we gave the fans Pretty Ricky because we know what they want.

Slick: We even did a contest to pick the name of our album; a fan came up with the name ‘Late Night Special’. ‘Late Night Special’ symbolises Pretty Ricky, that appetiser, the main course and desert. We are everything the fans crave for. In the middle of the night, you wake up to Pretty Ricky because Pretty Ricky are that ‘Late Night Special’. It’s like food that’s sensational, mouth-watering.

How would you describe your new album?

Baby Blue: We gave the fans a real hot, sexy album that will satisfy them in every way. We went in the studio, dimmed the lights down low, lit the incense and lit the candles; we brought that feeling to the track, we make it feel real. We make it so that when you put in a Pretty Ricky record, you can feel Pretty Ricky. You can feel the honey trickling down your body and you can feel Pretty Ricky pulling on your hair.

Do you think it’s fair to say ‘Late Night Special’ is solely based on the topic of sex?

Baby Blue: No, because whether its about making love, your man, first kiss or first touch, Pretty Ricky makes the music that every woman around the world can connect with. It doesn’t matter if it’s eight-year olds or a grandma, our music ranges from eight-year olds to infinity.

So what would you say to critics who say you have sex appeal but little else?

Baby Blue: The music we make is sensual and tasteful, and if that isn’t enough, look at the sales figures.

I think the production on the album is different to a lot of R&B music out now, and more similar to old school groups like Jodeci’s, is this the direction you were intending for?

Pleasure: The reason we put that old school R&B flavour with the new school hip-hop is that we’re one of a kind. All these new dudes out here today, they use the same writers and producers, that’s why all their music sounds the same.

How has the response to ‘Late Night Special’ differed to that from ‘Bluestars’?

Pleasure: We have been on the road and have had enough experience with the fans to understand them and understand what they expected from Pretty Ricky.

Baby Blue: All the young ladies – whether they in high school, middle school, college, whatever – they love the album. Pretty Ricky are their science project, that hypothesis, that theory. We’re everything you need for a science project with a volcano on top, that hot lava erupting all over you, dripping down your body. You got to understand that Pretty Ricky love the ladies.

Working with family as much as you all do, do you find you ever fall out with one another?

Spectacular: It’s actually easier to work with family members because we know each other better, we know what everyone is gonna do. We just have fun, we will always be brothers.

You’ve all come into music industry at quite a young age. Do you feel you’ve missed out on enjoying life with your peers?

Spectacular: No, I don’t think so; I don’t think we lost out on any friends or anything in that category. We’re all friends and we all still go to the movies together, start some riots.

I heard you’ve got a number of other ventures on the cards, including a clothing line – what sort of clothes are you putting out?

Baby Blue: We developed a clothing line that’s strictly for the ladies, ‘Pretty Clothing’. It revolves around lingerie and boy shorts, everything the ladies want and everything that makes the ladies feel sexy. We don’t do plus sizes.

Plus sizes can be sexy too?

Baby Blue: We do super sexy sizes. All our juicy girls out there are sexy. We don’t care about how big you are, I’m talking about inches upon inches of sexiness, if you think you’re sexy, you walk like your sexy and you talk like you’re sexy, then baby you are sexy.

What’s your idea of a ‘late night special’?

Baby Blue: You are, baby. You’re the one who I call up in the middle of the night and you come over, making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches naked with a late night movie.

British or American women?

Pleasure: We love all the women!

Slick: When the lights go off they all the same!

And finally, looking at the immediate future, what’s next on the cards for Pretty Ricky?

Slick: We goin’ to the moon to start a family!