Interview: Musiq Soulchild Reflects On 25 Year Anniversary Since Releasing His Debut Album “Aijuswanaseing”

This is Mina “SayWhat” Llona’s full interview with Musiq Soulchild for her article in The Philadelphia Tribune. Check out the full video and read it below.

Twenty-five years ago, an album was released that would give us music we would cherish for years to come. That album would cement one of the most important hip hop soul artists from Philadelphia and make an indelible mark on the music landscape. Those songs would become the soundtrack to our lives being played at weddings, religious events and house parties. That album is Musiq Soulchild’s debut, “Aijuswanaseing.”

“I didn’t really plan on making an album. I didn’t expect to be signed to Def Jam. I wasn’t looking to be, you know, a super international star or anything. I was just trying to get some ideas out. I was working with my writing partner, Carvin Haggins, at the time. We recorded some songs. I didn’t think much of it,” said Soulchild.

“I never recorded before,” continued Soulchild. “So I didn’t really have a context of what that really meant. I didn’t understand the weight and depth of what I was doing. Because no one was a part of it except for my inner circle of people that I was working with at the time.”

It was the year 2000, the start of a new millennium. An exciting time for music with songs from Mariah Carey, Destiny’s Child, Usher, Mya on the charts. The Philly music scene at the time was very vibrant.

“It was a lot of artists that had similar goals as far as trying to be their authentic selves in the music that they grew up listening to that inspired them and be representations of. Me, myself included,” describe Soulchild. “It was a lot of camaraderie, even though we didn’t all hang out together necessarily, but a lot of us knew each other and we had a lot of respect.”

“Just Friends” was Soulchild’s first single off his debut. It was a breath of fresh air and sounded like nothing else on the radio. “I start the song off beatboxing. That was a little unconventional at that time,” Soulchild explained.

His style of mixing R&B, Soul and Hip Hop elements came from beatboxing for MCs and hanging around “a bunch of rappers.” That first song was an introduction to the contributions Soulchild would make to music as an artist fusing multiple genres.

His song “Love,” a more traditional R&B song, has become one of the most beautifully written and performed songs to come out of that neo-soul era with people interpreting the lyrics differently. Soulchild explained that his fans’ reaction to the song helped him see the impact of the song.

“Love, So many things I’ve got to tell you, but I’m afraid I don’t know how. ‘Cause there’s a possibility that you’ll look at me differently,” the opening lyrics profess.

Soulchild explained that he wrote the song as a form of therapy. “I had a very traumatic upbringing, childhood trauma. So what people don’t understand is they think it’s a romantic song, or they think that it’s a gospel song. It’s actually intentionally neither. If anything, it’s closer to therapy, really, because that was just my expression of, I don’t really understand what other people’s interpretation of what people call love is, because when I run into other people’s interpretation of love, it don’t always feel like what they say love feels like, what love is supposed to be.”

Soulchild continued, “So I was really confused and kind of talking it out, trying to understand. I wasn’t talking about no girl. I wasn’t talking about my heart being broken. I wasn’t talking to God. No, I was, the concept was, if love was a person, and you could have a conversation with love, how would that go?”

To celebrate Aijuswanaseing’s 25th anniversary, Soulchild performed the entire album at the Roots Picnic.

“The fact that I was able to perform solely only songs from the first album, something I’ve never done, not even when I first released the album, I’ve never done that. So that was the first and only time I’ve ever performed only songs from one album. ‘Aijuswanaseing’ ever. So that was actually a milestone for me,” Soulchild shared.

The celebration of Soulchild’s musical career continued at Wawa Welcome America’s Celebration of Black Music Month Concert on June 29, at The Dell in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. The free concert also included Philly legends Freeway, Kindred the Family Soul and DJ Aktive.

As he continues to celebrate his 25 year debut anniversary, Soulchild promises that more music is on the way. His album “Victims & Villains 2,” produced by Hit-Boy, is releasing sometime in the fall, August or September. For the first time Soulchild has features on almost every song. “I’m grateful that I’m able to get it done and release it to you guys,” Soulchild proudly shared.