MADEMUSIC MADEXXXX
MADE : I want to talk about the 90s … RJ : The greatest decade of music , by the way !
MADE : Exactly ! You produced a lot of hits during that time . In your opinion , what was special about the music during that era ? What was that time period like for you ?
RJ : It was an amazing time . The thing about the 90s is that everything was working hand in hand . The music , the culture , the fashion — it was definitely a decade of a certain style . Also , the business was thriving . The music business was thriving . I think the highest peak in history was in the 90 ’ s from a business standpoint . Everything was really working cohesively . What was cool about the 90 ’ s is that the 90 ’ s were really built on camps . My camp was the Darkchild camp , Puffy had the Bad Boy camp , Master P had the No Limit camp and Jermaine Dupri had So So Def . We had all these camps and everybody was getting it . We were all competitive , but there was room for everyone . We were all going at it , but there was enough room for us to share a lot of the charts and that ’ s what was fun about it .
MADE : One of our personal favorites of yours during that time is “ The Boy Is Mine .” How did some of your biggest records come together ?
RJ : In our industry there were a lot feelings about Brandy and Monica being competitive against each other and that they didn ’ t like each other . A lot of that was just the media , but some of it was true because they were competitive . They were two young girls , so they were definitely competitive . But the idea [ for the single ] was for Brandy ’ s Never Say Never album .
MADE : One of the greatest albums ever !
RJ : ( laughs ) We really did “ The Boy Is Mine ” just for Brandy . It was spurred off “ The Girl is Mine ” by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney . But , Brandy came in and recorded the whole song and we were like , “ Man , it would be so incredible if we took this to the next level and made it a duet .” Me and her A & R , Paris Davis , were talking and we thought Monica would be the one because they kind of didn ’ t like each other , it was a competition and the song was about ‘ The Boy Is Mine .’ It ’ s a catty fight between two girls and it would be kind of monumental for it to have both of them on the same record at that time simply because they
The thing about the 90 ’ s is that everything was working hand in hand . The music , the culture , the fashion — it was definitely a decade of a certain style .”
were the two young girls in R & B that was going at it in radio . So , we reached out and we got Monica to agree to do it and that thing shot to number one so fast . That was my first number one . It actually went from twenty-seven to number one [ on the charts ]. It broke the Billboard ’ s record . It was a big deal .
MADE : So aside from that single , what were some of your personal votes and the most impactful song collaborations ?
RJ : I would definitely say , “ Say My Name ” by Destiny ’ s Child . I would say Toni Braxton ’ s “ He Wasn ’ t Man Enough ,” Whitney Houston ’ s “ It ’ s Not Right But Its Okay ,” “ You Rock My World ” by Michael Jackson and every song I ’ ve ever did with Mary J Blige . Me and her we ’ ve been locked at the hips for years . It ’ s so many — I ’ ve had a lot of great collaborations .
MADE : What ’ s distinctive about a Darkchild production ?
RJ : I think in the beginning of my career , it was more distinctive . I think I was focused on a certain sound that really distinguished me from everybody . It was minor chords mixed with a lot of instrumentation — real music . I ’ m a big fan of real music . Beats that make you feel good , that make you want to dance . A lot of musicality over top of the beat . I love live orchestra . I used live orchestra on “ The Boy Is Mine ” and Jennifer Lopez ’ s “ If You Had My Love ” and on Monica ’ s “ Angel of Mine .” And I love the harp sound . I used the harp sound at the beginning of “ The Boy Is Mine ” and in “ He Wasn ’ t Man Enough .” But as I got older and started to progress , for me , it became more about me being versatile than sticking to just one sound .
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