After debuting at number one on the Billboard album charts, Jay-Z is singing Ne-Yo’s praises.
“A nice tre [three] piece,” said President Carter of his Def Jam artist. “It’s a great look, a wonderful thing. [With] certain people, you’re happy that something good happens to them. When talent wins, it’s good for everybody. But on top of being a talented writer, [Ne-Yo’s] a good guy.”
Ne-Yo sold over 300,000 copies of his debut album, In My Own Words and told MTV that topping the charts feels a little too surreal.
“It is surreal,” he said. “I feel like at any moment I’m going to wake up in the living room at my mom’s house on the couch, with her telling me to get my ass up… It’s a dream, man.”
AD LOADING...
“I knew the song was going to do good,” he continued, referring to the smash hit, So Sick, “but for it to do what it did so fast, I was like, ‘Whoa!’ I guess it really is something cats could relate to. I knew that girls would like it – R&B is predominantly for women. But it’s been dudes, thugs, coming up to me and saying, ‘Yo, that ‘So Sick’ record is my joint. I’m going through this little thing with this girl…’ Dudes really like it.”
Currently filming a new movie, Step Show, Ne-Yo plays Rich, the best friend of lead character, DJ. (Columbus Short). After the tragic death of one of his best friends, DJ moves from Los Angeles to Atlanta, and while in ATL, Rich and DJ battle a rival fraternity in “stepping” – the style most associated with historically black fraternities and sororities.
“I saw the first pieces of [the film] yesterday,” told the Las Vegas native. “Anybody that enjoys dancing – no corny stuff, but real dancing – is going to get into this movie. There’s a lot of professional dancers in the movie, and the choreographer was telling me I was picking up stuff in hours that it took days for [the pro dancers] to pick up. Stepping is more about rhythm than it is counting ‘five, six, seven, eight.’ Me being a music dude, I guess it came pretty easy to me.”
Ne-Yo and Short are both also featured in the sequel to Save The Last Dance, which was filmed some time ago.
AD LOADING...
Although in talks to do a major tour later this year, for the meantime, the singer is keeping busy with promotional work for this number one album, and is also getting ready to release his next single, When You’re Mad. He will begin filming a video for the song in the near future.
