If you’re under a certain age, you might not even know that the R&B group used to be a staple in music. Fear not, rising R&B trio, CitiLimitz might be the antidote the industry needed. Find out more about the group in our CitiLimitz interview below.
Up until the early 2000s, some of our favorite voices sang lead or co-lead on some of our favorite songs, with a crew harmonizing background vocals beside them. But the group was almost completely erased from soul music by 2010, after some unsuccessful tries. The boy band, the type of boy band that gave us Day26, B2K, and even before that with the Dru Hill, Jagged Edge, 112 era, had died earlier, probably right around the time B2K first broke up.
But there’s a new era of boy band emerging. Young enough that they don’t know the heartbreak of seeing Omarion or Marques Houston go solo and abandon their groups. To be fair, CitiLimitz is rising, alongside another group of brothers on the rise in Wanmor. But we all know the best boy bands had healthy competition to keep them pushing.
CitiLimitz is comprised of 17-year-old twins Marion and A.T, along with their older brother, 18-year-old Dre. The Chattanooga-born, Atlanta-based group is produced by Tricky Stewart, who is responsible for helping launch the careers of quite a number of platinum-selling hitmakers. Signed to Artistry Records/Republic Records, they have all the pieces together to launch a successful career. They recently unveiled the visual to their lead single, “Say No More,” and more music is on the way soon.
Find out more about your new favorite group in our CitiLimitz interview.
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Parlé Mag: Where does the group’s moniker originally derive from?
A.T.: We came up with the name CitiLimitz because once we started singing outside of our home, we started dreaming about getting out of our “city limits.” It felt real to us and had a ring to it. So many people where we’re from never make it outside of their city limits. We hope that people that come from cities and communities like ours will be inspired by us to dream and go after their dreams and goals.
Parlé Mag: Let’s hop right into this debut single, “SAY NO MORE” — Tell me how this particular track came about?
A.T.: Our producer, Tricky Stewart [Rihanna, Beyoncé], played this song for us and we LOVED it! It was the first song he played, and the first song we recorded with him.
Parlé Mag: What particular string of events actually led to your current inking with Artistry Records / Republic Records?
A.T.: Kevin Wales, CEO of Sound Of Young America, discovered us and we started recording and doing artist development with him. He later introduced us to our now manager, industry vet, Monica Payne of Lulasluv Inc. She linked Kevin to Max Gousse, CEO of Artistry Records, and a partnership was formed through his joint venture deal with Republic Records.
Parlé Mag: How did it begin for you musically? How’d you get started?
A.T.: Our whole family is talented. We started out singing in our Grand Daddy’s gospel quartet group. Our dad is a singer and he started working with us at home when he saw that we had talent. We were asked to sing at a fashion show and got such great feedback, we knew we were nice for real, for real and we kept going with it.
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Parlé Mag: Who are some of your musical influences?
Marion: My Influences are Chris Brown, K-Ci from Jodeci and Michael Jackson.
A.T.: Prince, Charlie Wilson, Stevie Wonder.
DRE: Bruno Mars, Jamie Foxx.
Parlé Mag: Now from an individual standpoint, what do each of you bring to the table both personality-wise and creatively?
Marion: Personality – I bring attitude. Musically, I bring the soul in the group.
Dre: I’m chill. I bring melody, falsetto and acrobatics.
A.T.: I’m the sexy one. Lol! [everybody laughs]. Creatively, I bring natural high tones – I’m smooth with it.
Parlé Mag: And how would ya’ll describe your musical style as a group?
A.T.: We’re so versatile… we bring R&B, Gospel, Hip Hop and Pop to our sound.
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Parlé Mag: Switching gears here…
What do you all feel will be the ultimate key to your longevity? And what will continue to sustain you all in this business?
A.T. & Marion: Hard work, consistency, discipline, dedication and detail.
Dre: We are brothers and we are rooted in love.
Parlé Mag: What do you all want people to get from your music?
A.T.: We want them to feel something. We want to bring love back. We want people to feel something in their soul.
Parlé Mag: If you all could collaborate with any one artist, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Dre: Jhené Aiko or Ella Mai… I love their music. They are both a real vibe.
A.T.: Bruno Mars. Bruno has an old school soul and dope melodies… anybody can listen to his music. I also love Gospel music… The Walls Group is one of my favorites. I really can’t explain it. Their harmonies are fire and all of them can sing lead like us.
Marion: Chris Brown… because he’s that dude to me! I feel like he’s the King of R&B. Also MJ, because he’s the King of Pop. Nobody dead or alive can mess with him.
Parlé Mag: How do you feel about the present state of R&B?
The group: There is a lot of greatness happening in the R&B space right now, but it is time for a bit of a shift. There aren’t really any male artist groups doing R&B. We ‘bout to change that!
Parlé Mag: To date, what has been your greatest career moment(s), at least thus far anyway?
The group: Finally having a real team and signing our record deal!
Parlé Mag: What’s an average day like for you all?
The group: Practice, record and shoot content. On days off, we like to hang with our friends / family; we have so many siblings, our siblings are our friends! (Laughs)
[Dre, Marion and A.T. grew up in a family with 14 siblings.]
Parlé Mag: Please discuss how you all interact with and respond to fans…
The group: We keep up with our fans [The Road Dawgs] on IG, TikTok and Snap and our Community line: 404.990.4538.
Parlé Mag: What is your favorite part about this line of work?
A.T.: Our favorite part is performing. We love seeing people enjoying our talent, especially when they don’t know who we are and we start singing. The whole world is about to know in a minute! (Laughs)
Parlé Mag: What advice would you all have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
Marion: WORK HARD and believe it’s possible. Put yourself out there and try to find some good people with some experience to help you reach your goals and dreams. STAY FOCUSED and PRAY!
Parlé Mag: Lastly, what’s next for CitiLimitz?
Dre: We just dropped our first single “Say No More”’ and our video is about to drop soon. Right now, we’re preparing to go on tour top of 2024… THE SCREAM Tour, hosted by Bow Wow. And the release of our upcoming album!
Stay Connected with CitiLimitz on social media
Follow us on IG: @THEOFFICIALCITI_LIMITZ
Main Image Credit: Desmond Witherspoon
Bonus image credit: Noah “Tyji” Riley
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