5 Questions 4 Van Hunt
You won a Grammy last year. Did it change you or your career at all?
I don’t think it has changed my life. I don’t think my label has been able to make use of the term”Grammy winner” so far, but I am sure they will try to. Maybe it will have some effect on some sales. It’s amazing, yes, even though you share a Grammy with Milli Vanilli.
They took that Grammy back from them! So, you came up musically during the 90s in Atlanta when it was burgeoning on the music map. Who did you work with back then?
I worked with Dallas Austin, TLC and Jermaine Dupri. I did demos for other groups and [eventually] came to the attention of Dionne Farris (he wrote her huge hit, “Hopeless” from “The Love Jones” soundtrack). Lil Jon was around then. He was an A&R for Jermaine. He probably noticed my talent more than any of them.
What did you do for TLC?
They were on tour and they needed someone to do their music for them. They would come out with these big skits and they needed thematic, orchestra type music. I did all of that music.
“American Idol” judge Randy Jackson is your manager. How did you meet him?
He was actually Dionne Farris’ A&R person at Columbia Records. If you talk to anyone who knows Randy, they will tell you, the beauty of his character is that he never has changed. He’s always been that dude.
Your new album, “Popular” is your third. What should people expect from it?
This album is like when a father tells his child, “Now you know the fundamentals, so do this thing by yourself, but keep in mind the basic principles.” This album is pure Van Hunt. I am not going to say it’s uninfluenced, because I still hear the influence myself. But, it’s as much Van Hunt as you have heard up to this point. I am influenced by the Ohio Players Richard Pryor and I still hear Sly Stone.
Interview by Isoul H. Harris, an entertainment journalist based in Atlanta, GA. (writeboy09@gmail.com)