We had such a good time chatting with Ne-Yo that we got SO MUCH good stuff from him that we had to, HAD TO give you guys a lil bit extra. So here it goes…
Q: So were you always this fashionable?
Ne-Yo: Anybody who knew me before my first album came out looks at me now and goes like “Wow, when did this happen?” I never really cared for fashion! I always dressed comfortable. Growing up we didn’t have a lot of money, we were by no means poor but we didn’t have a lot of money. So it wasn’t about having the newest tennis shoes or jeans, it was about taking what you had and keeping it clean and presentable. I was always very neat but not so much stylish. I had a hat but it was just a hat, I had a shirt but it was just a shirt, you what I mean? It wasn’t a name brand or anything. So for now for people to go “Oh you’re so stylish” I just really have to go “Really? Me? Ok…thank you!”
Q: So you didn’t have to deal with hand me downs?
NY: No actually I did! Not a lot of hand me downs though, cause the majority of my family is female. I grew up in a house with my mother, my grandmother, my sister and 5 aunts AND ME. This means I cannot tell what colours the walls were in the bathroom at all because I didn’t get in there a lot.
Q: You’ve always seen with a hat, is that part of you and how many do you have?
NY: Oh wow…thousands…thousands! I have a wall in my closet that’s just full of hats. I just bought a new place in Atlanta and it originally came with 4 bedrooms, so I took one of the bedrooms and I transformed it into a closet…so I’ve got all those lil boxes and there’s easy at least 500 hats just on that wall! Now that’s just hats that I have on the wall…that’s not counting the hats I have in storage and the hats that my mum’s holding onto…yeah…thousands and thousands of hats…
Q: Are you ever going to venture into the fashion line?
NY: I’ve been talking about it. I did a deal with Macy’s in the States and they have a suit line called Afani Grey and I did a deal with them to kind of be the spokesperson for their line but that’s honestly the closest thing I’ve gotten to the fashion line. I don’t know it’s like a big responsibility telling people what to wear and I don’t know if I want to take that on.
Q: Maybe just a line of hats?
NY: That makes sense…maybe something like that first…
Q: Maybe you could sell your thousand?
NY: Oh no!!! Those are mine….those are much too expensive. You can’t ask me to sell my hats, they are my children!
Q: Since you’re bringing classiness back to hip hop and very well, thank you very much! What’s been the feedback like from other fellow hip hop artist?
NY: You’re welcome! Well there’s been positive and negative feedback. Some people feel that what it is to be a gentleman is to be soft or weak. I’m not the guy walking around talking about how hard I am or how tough I am. SO in the eyes of the people who do do that, I’m come off soft. If that’s the way they chose to look at it; that’s all fine and good but that’s not going to stop me from doing what I’m doing. Cuz I don’t make music for them. If you’re a person who feels you have to constantly prove how tough you are then my music is not for you in the first place so why would I care what your opinion of me is. I make music for people who appreciate what I do so if you’re the kind of person who listens to music and can appreciate that I take a conscious effort to make music that everyone can listen to; then my music is for you…if you’re not that person than my music isn’t, so say what you will!
Q: You’re in love when…
NY: When you want to kill that person! Love is one of those things you can’t make sense of. There’s no such thing as smart love. There is stupid love and love will make you do some stupid sh*t but smart love doesn’t exist! There’s no way to be intelligently in love because one of the elements of love is just to be just a little bit insane. Imagine saying “I would die for you”… that’s just crazy! The most precious gift a guy could give…I would give that…my life! But that’s what love does that what it makes you do… Love is insanity and impracticality. Love is the most beautiful yet the most disgusting thing in the world but yet we can’t live without it.
Pictures from Universal music
