Guest Editor Bill Bellamy Shares His Thoughts on Staying Relevant

Guest editor Bill talks about taking necessary sabbaticals, the state of music, and how he survived the test of time.

VIBE: You’re back in full swing now, but for a while people thought you were on a hiatus.
I read the twitters and blogs where they ask, “What happened to Bill Bellamy? He was fun in the 90s.” I just left the planet. I shut down the shop. You need time to raise your kids. You need time to step back from the game and say, okay, what do I need to do that can really make the most impact?

Have your peers have been able to bounce back into things like you have?
When I look at the game from my career and when I look around, I’m like where did everybody go? Especially in the music game. Nobody’s here that came out when I came out. It’s real! I’m just being honest. People drop off. What happened to all the record labels? What happened to them dudes? You had Roc-A-Fella records, Bad Boy, Murda Inc, So So Def. It seemed like it was all about record labels, singing groups and everybody was getting it. This was like 90s. Now it’s like uh oh. Now I don’t even know who’s on a label.

How do you manage to have such longevity with your career?
To still be around to me is a testament to being talented for real, because if you weren’t, you wouldn’t be here. You’ve got to have something. Nobody’s going to check you out if you ain’t real. If you’ve got one hit, you better milk that hit, boy.