June 06, 2006 @ 12:55 pm

Jagged Edge: In A Category of Their Own

by: Elle Castro

The group that’s responsible for countless hits such as “Where’s the Party At,” “Walked Outta Heaven,” “He Can’t Love U,” “Promise” and “Let’s Get Married,” is ready to turn up the heat one more time. Their latest single, “Good Luck Charm,” set the record straight for the non-believers: JE hasn’t lost their touch.

While prepping their fifth release, the multi-platinum selling JE took time to chop it up with VIBE.com about their new album, their relationship with Jermaine Dupri, the launch of their own imprint, and their thoughts on why JE has outlasted most other R&B groups in the game.

Vibe.com: What makes this project distinct from the other JE albums?

right Brandon Casey: It’s the fifth album. Like all of our albums, we wrote all of the songs on the record. The last two records we produced maybe nine out of fifteen of the songs ourselves. Me and my brother (Brian) serve as the executive producers. The album itself, material-wise is Jagged Edge. We never veer too far from what we’re known for. I think that’s one reason why we’re still here today ‘cause we give the fans what we know they love and we try to give them that every time, in terms of the ballads and the meaningful love songs. I think this album is true to that. We are one of the groups fortunate enough to know our formula, and we stick to it. You know, we try new things every here and there. We got a song with John Legend on the album, which is definitely different for us collaborating with a male R&B artist. We got a song with a reggaeton artist named Voltio who’s huge in Puerto Rico; he’s the biggest thing next to Daddy Yankee out there. We’re definitely gonna get back in the club with our next single, it’s called “Stunnas” and it’s really just talking about getting your stunna shades on and the attitude that goes along with it.

Why did y’all choose to self-title this album?

Brandon Casey: I know a lot of groups probably do their first or second a self-titled album, but we kind of thought about it and decided that we’d rather do it when the name “Jagged Edge” can stand on its own, where you can walk in the store and say ‘let me get that Jagged Edge.' That’s why this one is self-titled.

I noticed that JE is not signed to SoSo Def anymore. How’s the situation between the group and Jermaine Dupri now?

Brandon Casey: We worked with Jermaine Dupri, we will always get a song or two from him ‘cause there’s no love lost between us and him. We still have a great relationship; he’s very instrumental in all of our success.

What has JE been up to since your last project? Brandon Casey: As you can see we’ve taken on more responsibility with each record and this is the first record we put out on our own imprint, 581 Music Group. A lot of the time we were off the radar we were negotiating the paperwork and once that was done we wanted to put together the best effort we possibly could ‘cause we have been away for a second. And even when “Walked Outta Heaven” came out, we had been away for a second. So we definitely wanted to really smash with this album, so we spent long hours in the studio for this record.

Who else is on 581 Music Group?

Brandon Casey: Right now it’s just us. We just signed a girl group called Bad Girl, but we don’t know if we’re sticking with that name. And we also have a male solo artist that sings and raps, and he does both well – his name is Dip.

Why did only you and your brother grow into the roles of executive producers, instead of the entire group?

Brandon Casey: In this case, it’s strictly creative. Me and my brother have always been the creative side in terms of lyrics and song writing and stuff like that. That’s really the only reason for it on this particular project.

What distinguishes Jagged Edge from any other male R&B group?

Brandon Casey: I feel like we’re thorough. We give you thorough albums. When you see us somewhere, just know that we’ve thought about it for at least five to ten minutes of what we were wearing. Everything we do we care. Not to say that everyone else doesn’t, but I just think that we specifically do that – we’re all about the music. We never really beat up the casting calls in Hollywood, and we’re not the best self-promoters in the game but in terms of the music, we’re thorough with that part and I think that’s why we’re still here.

Read more vibe.com online exclusives.

Article tags: Good Luck Charm, Jagged Edge, John Legend, Voltio, 5th Album, Self-titled Album 

del.icio.us digg Furl Reddit YahooMyWeb

Page printed from:
http://www.vibe.com/news/online_exclusives/2006/06/jagged_edge_in_a_category_of_their_own/

Return to previous page