On February 14, 2025, Jagged Edge officially released their 11th studio album on all streaming platforms. Eleven albums is a feat few R&B artists get to achieve, much less groups (for context, New Edition have 8 albums, including one Christmas album). All these years later though, Kyle, Wingo, and the Casey brothers, Brian and Brandon, have remained tighter than ever, never really drifting away from the mission of that Jagged Edge Era. Our latest Jagged Edge interview found us catching up with the the group about their brand new album, All Original Parts: Volume 1, their newest single, “Just Might Get It,” and much more.
Depending on how long you’ve been a fan, Jagged Edge has been a dominant sound in your R&B catalog for a very long time. Since their debut album dropped in 1997, they’ve never gone more than 5 years between albums, and that is only because their most recent gap is exactly 5 years, having released A Jagged Love Story back in June 2020.
Their story is one of brotherhood, built up in Atlanta, which has taken them all around the world, and back. They’ve worked with your favorite artists from the 90s and 2000s, and are still working with your favorite artists today. And as they get ready to embark on a new tour, with plans to release at least 2 more parts to this album series, it doesn’t appear the Jagged Edge era is ending any time soon.
Take a journey through our full Jagged Edge interview below.
Parlé Mag: Last time I talked to you guys, it was 2014. I feel like the industry was changing a lot then, and it certainly is changing a lot now, right?
Jagged Edge: Absolutely
Parlé Mag: Back in 2014 there was a quote you gave me, so that’s actually where I want to start today. You were about to put out JE Heartbreak 2, the title of the story was, “A Jagged Edge Era of Greatness,” and Brandon you said this, “One thing I feel that happened on the urban side of music, not as much on the mainstream, pop side, is that if an artists doesn’t come out for a few years, we forget that we love them–this was not just one song that I like, but this was my favorite group in the world! I feel like the urban audience, we don’t hold our stars up like pop audiences do. Their stars will put out an album tomorrow and their stars will still go double, quadruple platinum.”
Brandon: And be on every publication, tv show, everything! I’m sorry, go ahead…
Parlé Mag: I mean I been saying this for years, and I’m sure I told ya at that time I feel like Jagged Edge is my favorite group.
Brandon: Yeah, you did.
Parlé Mag: Not just because of the music, but because of the whole package, and everything else. The fact that you have remained consistent.
Kyle: I appreciate you bro
Parlé Mag: So 10 years since that quote, almost 11, where do you feel –and I feel like you received a lot of accolades in the past few years–but, where do ya feel like you are currently in music with your fan base, with the people who should of been along for this ride – since ’97?
Brandon: Man, with our fan base we solid! You know what I mean, we a hundred, 500! Like to me, if you talk to a real Jagged Edge fan and you got any slander and negativity they gonna let you have it. You gonna know you talking to a Jagged Edge fan cause they don’t play the fence. Ain’t no middle ground with Jagged Edge fans. They either all the way in, or they could care less but our fans, I don’t know, I feel like we probably got the most boisterous, loyal, toughest fans in the game. I mean, I honestly feel like that about our fan base.
Parlé Mag: I mean I can’t, not acknowledge the Verzuz (with 112), I feel like that helped, do ya’ll agree?
Brandon: The Verzuz? Uhh, I mean, I think we all have different opinions about it. I felt like Jagged Edge, you know, I think we was the second Verzuz that people started calling for. So JD [Jermaine Dupri] hit us like, “man you know everybody want you to do these Verzuz!“ Cause at first, me and my brother, like we don’t care, we was like f**k it, this some silly s**t. Cause at the end of the day, you never can really crown a winner from something like that. 112 fans gonna say they won, Jagged Edge fans gonna say they won, so at the end of the day, we felt like it was kind of, a lot of unnecessary stuff going on with that. But, could it have helped? Yeah, I mean, you might have put us in front of some eyes that haven’t seen us in a while, or ever, so yea it’s possible it could help.
Brian: I think that shit was a horrible battle bro! At the end of the day, we got a lot of slow songs people love, and then we got some fast songs people love. They a majority fast, and then they got like two slow songs all the people love. So it’s really just a horrible battle!
Wingo: I mean, we won anyway!
Kyle: Facts.
Parlé Mag: I think I scored it as a win for JE, cause we used to score them, but like I said, I’m slightly biased. (Editors note: After revisiting the story, I actually scored it in favor of 112, but it was close)
Jagged Edge: We appreciate that! We appreciate your bias.
(Laughs)
Kyle: Like I just told them, I just left this little sports bar called Dugans in Atlanta. I got a little brother in Atlanta, and I got a homeboy that got a brother, not like one of my guys. But you know, they got into an argument about Jodeci and Jagged Edge. Because, you know, Jagged Edge got the South Side and the East Side, but the two guys was from the East Side. And so, my friend was like man, how dare you pick Jodeci over Jagged Edge?? This Decatur.
His whole thing was like, ‘yea, but they right here! They our neighbors.’ But at the end of the day you know, just like you said man, we appreciate if you love Jagged Edge. It’s not gonna makes us stop making music if you don’t like Jagged Edge. Feel what I’m saying? So I know a lot of people feel bad like, ya’ll didn’t think we won that battle, but we don’t care.
Wingo: Thank you Verzuz for making us part of it!
Brandon: Nah, I ain’t gonna lie, when they was tryna put it on, Timbaland called me, and Swizz called me on the same phone call. They just felt like it was so important to the culture, like you can’t say no. And so we kinda let that sway us a little bit. Cause at first, we wasn’t gonna do it.
Brian: I ain’t give a s**t about that–
Parlé Mag: I feel like, I mean not to project, but I feel like ya’ll don’t really care about much…
Brandon: We don’t! We care about what we supposed to care about. The s**t we ain’t supposed to care about, we could care less .
Wingo: Putting out a good product, and looking good, and sounding good when they see us, but other than that, we don’t care.
Brian: What’s funny, even in the thick of everything when you know, award shows would come up, we stopped going. We didn’t care.
Brandon: As long as our fans f**k with us, we happy, you know what I’m saying. It’s love, everything’s love. It’s been awards we was nominated for, we wasn’t even in the building you know what I’m saying. We don’t give a damn. Cause to be honest with you man, a lot of these things that we talk about, are you up for this, or up for that, are you a part of this, you know, a lot of those things have no integrity!
It’s about, if that person who running it like you. If the people involved like you or don’t. We ain’t really in this for a popularity contest in terms of the gatekeepers. We in it for the popularity contest for our fans and that’s it. We know who kept us here
Brian: We ain’t kissing no ass, and they already know that. It’s a lot of shit we ain’t never wanna do. We just wanted to make music, we didn’t get in it for no other reason. You know, you see these groups where you know being in their group was almost like a spring board to doing something else. You ain’t never seen that with us cause we don’t want that. We want to make music, we wanna please our fans, we wanna go into them arenas, and whoever else on the bill, watch out! That’s what we about.
Parlé Mag: I mean, I can’t start the conversation and not finish it though. Who would be the better Verzuz?
Brian: With us?
Brandon: We 11 albums in! You gotta go get The Temptations for somebody like us!! (laughs)
Wingo: These R&B groups, they haven’t made it past four or five albums–like 3, 4 albums.
Kyle: And then people gotta realize, once you play that single, you can’t go back like let me play that one one more time! No no no, you put that one up, we gonna put our one up now. You got your Porsche, we gonna pull our Porsche. And we got some vehicles to where people gonna realize–and that’s what started the argument with my homeboy. My patna was like, ‘these boys got hits! They really got material. So now when they run out, then what?
Brandon: We was talking about this earlier. I feel like when people say us and 112 dominated our era, I don’t agree, cause I feel like 112 era is Dru Hill. Ya’ll came out in ‘94, ‘95, we came out in ‘98! So really, you gotta say we dominated cause we don’t really have a counter part really. Nobody came out ‘98 and took their ride with us. The groups that came out that time, they long gone. They lumped us with 112 cause that’s Puffy and we Jermaine, (Kyle: we both from Atlanta) but we 3 years apart, you know what I mean. And I think to a certain extent I’ve always kinda resented them lumping us up with everybody right. But I understand the comparisons. What they do is, you know Jagged Edge, even though we came out after them, we making the same type of music, we on that same plane, so they throw us, they group us together because of the music that we make. But them cats came out a few years earlier then we did. We just lap n****s, you know what I’m saying!
And you know what, the other part about us lapping n****s, guess what, out of them 11 albums, only 3 of them are independent, 8 of them albums were funded by major record labels. So what that means is that we were viable enough to make a company, 8 different times say ‘we wanna put out a Jagged Edge album’. So we don’t have a lot of counterparts. A lot of our counterpart groups ain’t really in that space they want you to think they are and they’ll let it all be confusing to the masses, but they not in that space. We 11 albums deep, out of 11 albums, 5 of them are gold, platinum or multi-platinum. Like there’s not that many groups in that space!
Kyle: We got numbers! Numbers don’t lie.
Parlé Mag: Ya’ll gotta talk yall s**t more! (Laughs) Cause the people in the back, they don’t know. I gotta make sure they know. And to that end, I’m a music connoisseur, so in the last 5 , 10 years, yall are still getting features, you’re still well respected amongst Atlanta artists, and folks outside The A! Yall are on that Killer Mike album (Grammy winning album of the year) Yall killed that!
Jagged Edge: Rightt!
Brandon: Shout out Kill, shout out Lil Durk, shout out Jacquees, shout out Ty Dolla $ign–if you wanna go down that road we are definitely in rare space, you feel me. And I think that because our era is talked about so much. People love to talk about the music that came out in the 90s right, and because of that, I think a lot of things are thrown together but there are some facts to separate us all and that’s some of the things we talk about.
Parlé Mag: Before we even get into the new album, the new single dropped, let’s talk about that. I know yall are very particular about the singles you drop, why that one?
Brian: Number one, you know we wanted to do something different for us. People are always expecting that ballad from us, and don’t get me wrong, we enjoy giving them that, but we also wanted to give them something different for us. Also, it felt a little nostalgic, you know what I’m saying. It’s new, but it’s still, you can’t say it don’t fit in our body of work. You can’t say that it don’t feel like jagged edge.
At the same time, I felt it was time to have a little fun with the record. When you see the video, we having good time. The concept of the video, the whole thing, we having fun with it. So just you know, go a little different lane in that sense.
Wingo: And that joint is a bop man, for real, for real.
Parlé Mag: I kinda wanna dip just a little bit to the last album cause the last one was 2020, A Jagged Love Story, and it’s like 33 joints on there and we’ll talk about why you don’t have as many this album
(laughs)
But do you feel like that project got the attention and respect it deserves? And I know it came out during Covid and blah blah blah, but do you feel like the project did what it was supposed to do?
Brandon: I feel like, the last two albums we put out independently, right. And I think, any journey that you starting brand new, it’s gonna be some bumps in the ride. It’s gonna be some hiccups as well as a learning curve. So those two albums allowed us to be here with this one, and now we sitting in front of you right, cause we had to put a team together. I think at a certain point in time you think you could put this out and your fans gonna gravitate towards it, just like anything else that you selling it’s gotta be promoted. I always say, what good do it do Michel Jackson to show up in the arena tonight if nobody know he there? It’s not gonna be nobody there, right? It doesn’t matter that the biggest artist in the world was there. It’s the same thing when you putting out music. It don’t matter how many fans we’ve collected, how many albums we sold previously, we need that attention every time we come. And as a brand new record label, which is what we was the first two albums, you know it was certain things we had to put in our bag. And I think we doing that now.
Brian: I think also though, it showed us our own viability, you know what I mean? It allowed us to build this team that’s allowing us to be in front of you again right now, that’s number one. But number two, you know even when you look at Jacob Lattimore, Jacquees, Trevor Jackson, (Brandon: we got songs with all them!) you go look at it, a lot of their videos cap out around a million 2 milion views. Ours cap out around the same place with nothing. No promotion, no radio. That shows us our viability. If you saying this the hot new s**t, well s**t, our numbers right up there still. And a lot of our fans don’t even know we dropped something. Like I said, it put some money in our pockets if nothing else, which allowed us to be here sitting in front of you right now.
Parlé Mag: All Original Parts: Volume 1, so there’s more coming?
Brian: Yep, 3 total
Parlé Mag: 3? So that’s where the other 20 something songs is at?
Jagged Edge: (laughs)
Brandon: That’s a fact, no that’s a fact! Cause I’ma keep it a hundred with you right now since you said that right. When we started trying to dwindle the songs down we started from 30 something songs. And me and him (Brian) had a conversation. He was like…
You know a lot of times we on the same page, but we on different sides of the page right. So he was basically saying, you know, let’s do another 30 songs, only because we have so much to offer, we never, it’s never a shortness of music when it comes to Jagged Edge. So we just felt like let’s give them this, since we got so much shit in the vault.
And I was like listen, I was like yeah, let’s take our time with it. To me, this era of listeners attention span ain’t what it used to be, so when you give them 30 songs there’s some much dope shit that no one’s gonna notice. So I felt like if we bring it down, take those 30 songs in 12s, 12 here, 12 here, we still get to get off that music, but at the same time we give it to people in a way that they can digest it. So that’s the reason
Kyle: I mean, and albums hit you different, you know what I’m saying. A lot of people say JE Heartbreak, that’s the classic, a lot of people saying now that this the classic. Some people like HARD, (Brandon: HARD was hard!) Baby Making Project was crazy.
Parlé Mag: The attention span is so crazy, so when we talk about some of the songs on this project that people should look out for, cause I feel like that’s what people do, they do that first listen, they forget about it, and then they might come back to it when they here something else, so what’s a song that they need to absolutely check out on this project?
Brandon: We can start with Wingo cause I already know where he going… (laughs)
Wingo got a one track mind, yall don’t understand…
Wingo: Single is out right now, go get it, right now! Man it’s a bop. I love that record. It just put me in a good space, Its a vibe man, you know and I’m big in vibe like you know what I’m saying like you turn it on in the club man, yeah it’s a vibe. “Just Might Get It.”
Kyle: “Forever Love”
Brian: For me I say, “No Other Words,” “Without Love, ” “She Said What She Said.” I mean cause to me, the people who got it early already saying it’s a classic. And I feel like for sure 1 through 15, ain’t no stoppers on this album. 1 through 15, like you really gotta f**k with every song. Ain’t no fillers–and we don’t drop too many fillers no way, but this one I can literally say you gotta listen to the whole thing man for real.
Kyle: And like he said, the important thing: Listen! You know, we understand that you like your “Gotta Be”s and “Promise,” but you didn’t even hear that song until we made it. But you took a chance by listening.
Brandon: My pick, I’ma go with “Season, Reason, or A Life Time“ and “Love On Credit.”
Parlé Mag: I’m gonna do some random questions and I know yall stick together, no drama intended. Wingo, little known fact, WQRL. (For one song, Wingo was part of another ensemble group comprised of Wingo, Q. Parker of 112, and R.L. of Next) Tell me about that and why that didn’t work out.
(laughs)
Brandon: We pulled the plug on that B***h, that’s why the f**k it ain’t work!
(laughs)
Wingo: In real life though, I’m in Jagged Edge. I never meant to like, you know, leave Jagged Edge. I was actually over at R.L.’s house one day and he asked me to get on a couple of songs or whatever. I said, aight cool, I’ll f**k with you on some, you know what I’m saying, but then it started turning into more songs, more songs, you know what I’m saying. At the end of the day, my guys was straight up with me, they ain’t try to sugar coat no s**t, like bro, NO! Like at the end of the day, you can’t be in no two groups or anything like that and then somebody came up with the name.
Brandon: You can’t be in two groups working at the same time.
Wingo: Absolutely
Brandon: If we weren’t doing our thing then he could’ve, but we was both trying to do our thing!
Wingo: So yeah, at the end of the day, Bro come on, that’s like a no brainer. I helped build this brand, why the fuck would I try to destroy it. So guess what, you know what I’m on. I’m going with what I built, with what I helped build, you know what I’m saying. So at the end of the day hell no, that shit over with!
Kyle: And nobody want to get jumped by three guys (laughs) We get to whipping on your ass. Not healthy! (laughs)
Wingo: So yeah, at the end of the day, I ended up deading that. Real talk, like it wasn’t even a second guess. I ain’t never leaving Jagged Edge!
Brandon: I’ve gotta say, I’ve always felt like a big part of the growing that I needed to do is in the area that he’s (Wingo) good at. He’s good with relationships, he’s good with opening himself up to people and making himself available, and I ain’t never been able to do none of that s**t. So to me, what I learned from him and having all these relationships with guys and different groups was that I need to soften up a little bit you know and so, I thank him for that.
Brian: And what my brother said he said he learned, I ain’t learn none of that shit!
(Laughs)
Cause we was athletes first. So it’s like the whole LeBron going and hooking up with your enemies. We just don’t look at it like that. But I do understand that even that word loyalty can be viewed in different ways so me and him might look at loyalty one way, and he might look at loyalty a little different, you know what I’m saying.
Kyle: But we here though, you know what I’m saying. We got past it. A lot of other groups, they don’t get past the little small bulls**t
Wingo: But it wasn’t no question. My guys love me, they came to me, had a real talk with me and sat me down and said, ‘look bro, this how we see this.’
Brandon: And Because of Wingo man, I’m cool with R.L., I’m cool with all those guys I used to have issues with. And for a long time I felt like holding on to them grudges cause they started it, but maturity will tell you that that shit don’t mean nothing.
Parlé Mag: On that note, you all sing lead, you all could sing background. How important is that as a group, to be able to do any role and continue to be able to do every role on all these projects?
Brian: That’s something I think that sets us apart from most groups. You look at most 4 part harmony groups, each person has a role. We are role-less. We like position-less basketball right.
He can be the soprano, he could be the soprano. He could be the alto, he can be the alto. On some songs we just do that.
The “An Evening with Jagged Edge: 25 Years of JE Heartbreak” tour will kick off in March, with the following dates:
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 – Dallas, TX
Friday, March 28, 2025 – St. Louis, MO
Sunday, March 30, 2025 – Indianapolis, IN
Friday, April 4, 2025 – Atlanta, GA
Sunday, April 6, 2025 – Charlotte, NC
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 – Jacksonville, FL
Sunday, April 13, 2025 – Raleigh, NC
Wednesday, March 16, 2025 – Washington, DC
Sunday, April 20, 2025 – Brooklyn, NY
Additional dates to be added.
Make sure you stream the new album on streaming services.
