Hip-Hip/R&B Group Pretty Ricky Consistent After Pleasure P
Having multiple albums over a span of a few years in the Hip-Hop/R & B industry of today is an amazing feat. Still, it’s more amazing when a group achieves that success and finds a way to remain relevant. What group you ask? After a few scratches of the head and strenuous squinting of the eyes, no one comes to mind, huh? The answer is Pretty Ricky. The group that bought you hits like “Grind with Me,” “On the Hotline,” and “Push it Baby” has new ventures in the works for their fans. Baby Blue, Slick ‘Em, Spectacular and Lingerie are set to release BlueStars 2 and are currently filming a reality show. With a mixture of R & B and Hip-Hop they are still a unique group with their own uncanny sound. Parlé Magazine got a chance to chat with Baby Blue about the group and what their fans can expect in the near future.
Parlé Magazine: It’s been about a year since you guys have been in the limelight. What have you guys been up to?
Pretty Ricky: We’ve been working in the studio on the new album called BlueStars 2, we have two new singles out right now one called “Cookie Cutter” and another one called “Topless”.
Parlé: I see you guys are doing a new reality show as well.
Pretty Ricky: We’re working on one right now, we’re in the early stages of developing the reality show and everything is coming out phenomenal.
Parlé: Tell me more about the reality show?
Pretty Ricky: The reality show is based on our lives, four members of Pretty Ricky, how we come together and form the group and how we balance the difference in the personal life because we’re all family. It’s how we balance the family business.
Parlé: Three albums down, one mixtape and a one album on the way, how does it feel to have such longevity?
Pretty Ricky: It’s hard work, it’s a lot of up and downs in our career, and it’s the same as the stock market, what you put in is what you get out.
Parlé: You guys keep re-inventing yourselves. How do you handle the changes of the industry?
Pretty Ricky: You look at what’s going on in the market and understand that everything that you see right now is dated it’s probably 6 months old already. For example we’re in the studio creating an album that won’t hit the shelves until 6 months from now so if another artist comes out and imitates what we’re doing they’re 6 months behind. The sound is going to keep changing on a day to day basis. We see what’s going on in the industry and try not to follow what’s going on. We try to spearhead something, be innovative and creative of what we do. We created a sound like no other, it’s Hip-Hop and R & B fused together. We’re a group of three rappers and one singer, so it’s different already. Whatever we see going on we try to go in a different direction so we can separate ourselves from the pack.
Parlé: What do you think about the perception of groups not being able to be as successful as solo acts?
Pretty Ricky: I feel like the accolades that groups receive are far less than a solo artist. I don’t know why it’s like that but being in a group is a lot of hard work, it’s a bunch of different personalities and money is being split a bunch of different ways. There’s a lot that goes into managing a group and being in a group. Hopefully in the future things will change where groups start receiving the accolades that solo artist do. We’re in it for the love of music, we love making music and we want to create that theme song for women in the bedroom.
Parlé: What’s your motivation to keep making music?
Pretty Ricky: When you have a sound that’s unique it’s not as hard as the others that don’t have a unique sound. As artists we want to stay true to our sound and true to the fans. What creates the longevity and the success is being humble and acknowledging the fans. We market ourselves for the fans, we want them to come to the shows, we sign autographs and we want them to buy our product.
Parlé: Where are you guys going with the new album?
Pretty Ricky: We want to stay true to the BlueStar sound, the sound that we came out with originally, so we made sure the albums are consistent. We want our fans to pop in BlueStars then Late Night Special then 80’s Babies then download the mixtape then throw in the BlueStars 2 album and you going to feel like you were teleported back to the first BlueStars. We ultimately want to go back to the sound that’s Pretty Ricky.
Parlé: What’s next for Pretty Ricky?
Pretty Ricky: We’re performing every week, we’re doing spot dates on the weekends and during the week we’re in the studio. We’re filming the reality show and working with two labels. We’re independent and our label is BlueStars Entertainment International, I’m the President of the record label. We’re on the grind right now. We do our own writing and production. We have a production company called Music Royale Productions.
Parlé: How do you separate the business man from the artist?
Pretty Ricky: The separation is the problem that you have with a lot of artist. There shouldn’t be a separation, to be a successful artist you have to be a business man because the craft we’re doing takes money to fuel it. You have to have the best of both worlds to be successful otherwise you’ll be one of those guys that say “I used to be hot.” It’s 90% business and 10% talent.
Hit up www.prettyricky.com
Follow them on twitter: www.twitter.com/prettyricky
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