CHAPTER-THIRTEEN
JUST USHERING MY WAY IN
"AYE I'M TELLING you De, this kid is mad talented man and I mean with a little preparation and skills I have no doubt he could be in MJ league, "Puffy explained and I scoffed and rolled my eyes some. I was growing tired of everybody comparing somebody to MJ like that was supposed to impress me enough to wanna work with them or something and then pranced into the studio sounding like Eddie Murphy on his debut album.
"I need you to create him something hot, I wanna introduce Usher to the music world, and to do that I need a hot single, you know what I mean to get the fans up and plumping. That's where you come in and do you, you think you could do that? He explained and I looked up at him like he had two heads, hell I almost snatched my shades off with the quickness talking about do you think you could do that he must not know who he talking to."If not, Al a call away.
"Alright! I exclaimed getting annoyed What kinda name is Usher anyways.... his mama fell in love with somebody who showed her to her seat. Aye since you towering over me asking for favors or whatnot you cutting me a check afterward.
Puffy kissed his teeth shaking his head. Man after everything I did for Jodeci you got the audacity to bring up money, that's an all-time low Swing you know I'll do anything for y'all, we're supposed to be boys remember? He said smiling.
"Puffy please..... the only thing you did for Jodeci, was introduce us to Combat boots now get the hell on, and as far as homeboys go I know you the weasel running back and forth to Andre on our whereabouts. Weirdly enough he anonymously seems to always have insights on Swing mob business. I made quotation marks with my fingers.
"Man, I told you I'm not a snitch. He said defending himself. Andre is a smart man De you'll break yah back trying to outfool him but that's drama for a different day. You produce Usher a track and we can talk financial benefits later on but right now he is right in the hallway. You'll like him I guarantee you. He went out into the hallway right quickly and motioned for him to come in. Some little shorty no older than Aaliyah came in, he had to at least be about Sixteen or Seventeen years old. He was a Carmel complexion a little darker than me with a little S-curl rocking an Atlanta Falcons jersey. Strange enough he resembled a smaller imitation version of myself as if he paid close attention to my style in contrast to the big ass bell pepper nose on his face he somewhat had it down packed to a notch.
He threw me a big bright smile, making me regret saying yes in the first place. I can't stand working with kids it's just something annoying about them.
"Ay Ush-
"Aw snap it's DeVante Swing, I'm a huge fan man. He said all excitedly balling his fist up around his mouth. Ay "Forever My Lady" is one of my favorite songs and that."Let's Go Through the Motions. the video was an epic man.
"What's up shorty? I gave him a dap to the fist until this nigga took me off guard by flying me into his chest aggressively. He had quite a grip to be a teenager Damn I muttered a little fixing my shirt back up.
A huge fan point was taken.
"Aight Ush, Behave man don't me giving the man as hard ass time you hear me.
He kissed his teeth and scoffed pointing to himself with his thumb."Now, why would I up and do that, you actin like I'm six years old man.
"You were acting Six when yo little ass decided to throw that wild party over at my crib the other night, trust me when I say I'm never leaving you alone to watch my crib ever again. Aye, De let me holler at you right quick."Puffy motioned for me to come over to him right quick.
"What ?"I questioned immediately.
"Look man Usher can be a little....hard headed at times and a pain in the ass when he wanna be but he is a good kid, just try to be patient with him—hey Usher stop touching shit dude !! Puffy shouted over to Asher messing around with my soundboard. He put his hands up in surrender backing up from the soundboard trying to look all innocent.
"Like I was saying just be patient with him 'Good looking out. Aight yo I'm out, y'all do y'all thang. We gave each other a little dab on the fist and Puffy left out leaving me and this Asher kid alone. I let out a sigh deciding to do what DeVante does best which is create a masterpiece and be done with it ASAP like I do everything else.
Three Hours later
"Ay Dontae what that do man ?"Asher, Uriah whatever his damn name is kept asking me questions over and over and touching around on the synthesizers and shit and I mean constantly. We had only been in here for less than an hour straight and he was already getting on my damn nerves like I knew he would. I should smack the hell out of Puffy for setting this up, this is the whole reason why I don't work with Kids. Talking about a little hard-headed this kid was beyond hard-headed more like hard concrete and rocks. I was so grateful as hell that Aaliyah didn't act like this, maybe that old saying about girls being more mature than boys held some truth to it.
"It's DeVante. I corrected. And stop touching shit you break it you buy it and by the looks of it, you look broker than Randy Jackson after The Jackson Five so go have a seat.
"Aight my bad. he smacked his lips and sat back. Man, I'm bored I thought you would have had some fine honeys rolling in here or something, ain't that what Jodeci is all about?
I looked up from my notepad, looking over at this kid like he was crazy, who he thinks he is Hugh Hefner. No that's not what Jodeci's about... What did you think? we sit around butt-naked ass women all day.....
"Uh yeah... he replied shrugging his shoulders.
I kissed my teeth."No, we get work done like growing Stars are supposed to do so take notes and learn something, ain't you like Thirteen anyways yeah Mommy and Pops know pussy to be on your mind this early.
He chuckled."Now I'm Sixteen men but I'll make the big Seventeen in October you know what I mean. He started smiling rubbing his hands together.
"Naw not exactly m. I replied dryly and his smile dropped.
"But for the uh record it's just me and my moms at the crib. I never really got the chance to get to know my pops, he ran out before I was born. He said and I felt a raise of sympathy for the kid despite me being a ass hole to him. I couldn't even imagine what that must have felt like for somebody his age not having an old man around to teach you shit. My relationship with my pops was a spicy one growing up. Never really got along with him as I got older and soon I started rebelling later on down the line and getting myself involved in the wrong element which disappointed him. Even though I messed up countless times and said things at the tip of my tongue I could never take back at that time I was still very much grateful to have him in my life and as my father even though I never got around to telling him that.
"Crap my bad. That's sucks bad time.
"I mean it is what it is. Who cares anyway? So about those females. He shrugged and I knew he was fibbing a lie. Anybody whose father left them and wasn't around would hurt anybody including myself if it were me but it was his business after all.
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It only took me no time to write a catchy hook and something age appropriate at least in my opinion he seem like a little horny kid anyways even though he had never seen or touched any type of pussy in my life before written all over his face. Luckily for me, I've already written tons of materials in my notebook originally intended for Jodeci but I highly doubt half of it would make it into recording.
Every time I look at you
There's so many things that I want to do
I promise you when I'm ready
That I'll spend my life with you
What is love, is it steady?
Cause I don't know what to do
So tell me, girl, are you ready
To do what we came to do...
"Aight that's it for now, take a riff break, and good job. I spoke into the microphone after he got done singing his verse which was by the way actually good I guess Puffy wasn't bullshitting.
"You was feeling that, huh DeVante ?" He smirked popping his imaginary collar up."I chuckled a little and shook my head this kid was something for the television.
"You aight man, now go sit down over there and let me finish this beat, if we can get through this session without you bugging and getting on my last nerves I may just call up a couple of honey to roll by.
And by honeys I mean maybe I'll get Sista to come downstairs later on and rub up and down on his chest a little bit.
"Aye seriously ?!' He looked at me with wide eyes. Just like that.
"Yeah just like that now go follow simple instructions. I decided to add my voice on the bridge something I always do just to add a little DeVante Swing feeling to it, either way, the ladies get aroused by it and it was sort of a signature thing of mines to let people know who production it was just in case niggas up and decide not to gave credit when it's due. I was clever and saw it happen to plenty of others in the industry before.
Baby, do you want to get with it?
I know that you want to
Can you get with it, with it
"Aight John let's play that back," I asked my engineer who was sitting on the other side of me. He nodded his head. I was focusing on the soundboard and decided what I should do next when the door opened and Missy and Aaliyah walked in unannounced. They were both laughing about something funny and it didn't take long for me to see how close the two became lately despite the age differences. I looked up from work for a second and couldn't help but glue my attention onto Aaliyah and for some reason that always seemed to happen quite a lot without me controlling it. Yeah, she was young but whether or not I wanted to admit it she was a ton of beauty. She came in here smiling showing off her deep dimples and rocking a huge oversized white Fila shirt, a matching Blue and Red windbreaker, and some ripped jeans. Her long hair was blowing passed her shoulders giving her that cover girl slow-motion type of vibe you see in the commercials.
"Hold on girl. What's up y'all....aye there goes my jacket. Missy walked over to the sofa and grabbed a Green, White, and Black Nike windbreaker jacket off the couch.
"Hey. She smiled grasping the back of my chair while her hair dangled against my shoulders. I didn't mind though. Her hair smelted like Strawberries and Mangos of some sort of nice conditioner."Whatever it was I could get used to it.
"What's up ?" I said keeping my attention on the soundboard.
"Nothing chilling relaxing a little. She shrugged nonchalantly. Man.... you weren't joking about being tied up today.
I nodded. Not being phased by it. I preferred to be in the studio all day working compulsively anyway, I guess you could call me a workaholic. Yeah, unfortunately, but don't think I forgot about us—I mean being in the studio I planned a whole day of us working on material tomorrow so you better get ready to sweat it out DeVante style. I chuckled realizing that, that probably came out wrong and a little freaky sounding.
"Ooooh...I can't wait, let me set my alarm."She said sarcastically rolling her eyes before laughing.
"Ay, Aaliyah you ready girl? Missy said standing by the doorway.
"Yeah check you later. She got up and left. And I chuckled a little to myself forgetting for a moment what the hell I was supposed to be doing until the homie John tapped me on the shoulder lightly.
"Yooo... DeVante who is that fine hottie you were just talking to? Usher said lowly and over my shoulder. Ay get back what you doing, why you all over me like that?
"Sorry but foreal who was that girl you were talking to? I frowned over at him for merely a minute before realizing he was talking about Aaliyah and I instantly found myself scoffing.
"None of yah business.
"Ay come on De, just tell me how you know her. He asked with some much desperation presented in his face and tone.
I rolled my eyes. "Calm down that's Aaliyah she is another artist I'm working with so fall back aight.
"For real—aye you gotta introduce me to her man.
"Hell naw I don't have to do squat, but write and produce this track like I'm supposed to—
"Why not? He kissed his teeth. A minute ago you just promised me some fine honey. Whelp....I just found my pick and I want it.
"By women, I meant hoe, groupie, tramp, Dirty Diana that type of shit, somebody to give you little ass balls a saliva tickle but Aaliyah. I scoffed. You must be joking. I said on the verge of cracking up. She is off limits bro neither is she getting on her knees so you better settle for a cold ass shower tonight. I patted him lightly on the chest to his chagrin. From the side, I saw John was laughing his butt off.
"You rolling with her something is that all you? He questioned.
"No—aye, can we record or what? I said in a bit of an agitation and no but that doesn't matter. I wasn't trying to be her daddy or anything but still, I wasn't about to let her get hurt or played by different niggas with no good ass intentions. I'm a nigga too so I know I think year or two about how other niggas are programmed and how they get down I practically wrote the book myself. Barry's words echoed like a deadly curse of reminder spell and I knew he wasn't joking about what he would do to me if he find a piece of her hair outta place it was my ass and a funeral.
"You.... gotta set me up, man. After contemplating for about a short minute or so I leaned back into my chair putting two feet up next to the soundboard. I lit up a pre-rolled-up blunt I saved from earlier put it to my lips immediately and inhaled the smoke before exhaling it pulling it away and blowing some excess smoke directly into his face. He started coughing dramatically and swiping the extra smoke away I didn't care either that's what he gets for being all up in my face like we together
"I'll think about it, get in the booth. Out of all honesty, I could tell she had never been on one date in her life or even had a boyfriend before. With my luck it was a great possibility she may turn him down anyway since he was the goofy type and annoying as hell which didn't seem like her type of preference just by looking at her.
Or was it.....
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To be continued ......