Bio
Musiq Soulchild was born and raised in Philadelphia and grew up with his family—including eight brothers and sister]. As a teenager, he began plans for a career in music. He released his debut album, ‘’Aijuswanaseing’’ (read: “I Just Want to Sing”), in 2000, which was well-received by critics and audiences. Musiq did much of his own songwriting, and most of the record was produced and co-written by Ivan “Orthodox” Barias and Carvin “Ransum” Haggins, then of the A Touch of Jazz production company headed by Jazzy Jeff, now of Karma Productions. The singles “Just Friends (Sunny)”, “Love”, and “Girl Next Door” received exposure in America mainly on the more underground music video network, MTV2, as well as on BET. His singles also received a good amount of airplay on urban and urban contemporary radio stations.
In 2002, he released his sophomore album, ‘’Juslisen’’ (read: “Just Listen”), as simply ‘’Musiq’‘. He had continued urban and MTV2 success with its singles, “halfcrazy” and “dontchange”, the former of which was one of the most played music videos on MTV2 in the summer of 2002 and during the year overall. Both videos also got substantial play during the year on VH1 Soul. The singles had heavily amounts of airplay on both urban and urban contemporary radio sations in 2002. He also gained exposure during that year by opening concerts for Alicia Keys.
In late 2002, Musiq contributed guest vocals to “Break You Off”, the first single from The Roots’ ‘’Phrenology’’ album. Once again, its video got heavy play on MTV2 and VH1 Soul, as well as on MTV Jams. He also appeared in Santana’s song “Nothing at All” which is featured in his 2002 album ‘’Shaman’‘.
In 2003, the singles and videos “forthenight” and “whoknows” from his third LP, ‘’Soulstar’‘. “forthenight” was one of VH1 Soul’s most played videos of 2004, and also had a very successful run on American urban radio stations.
Recently, Musiq Soulchild (who has added the “Soulchild” to his moniker again) has parted ways with Def Soul and has signed with Atlantic Records. A new Musiq Soulchild album is slated for a spring 2007 release. He will be making guest appearances on rapper Lloyd Banks’s ‘’Rotten Apple’‘, Talib Kweli “Eardrum”, Black Ice “The Death of Willie Lynch”, pay tribute to Soul music legends Earth Wind and Fire and appear on the soundtrack “Daddy’s Little Girls”.
Musiq Soulchild released his debut album, Aijuswanaseing (I Just Want to Sing), in 2000, which included the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop single, “Just Friends (Sunny)”. Musiq’s second single, “Love”, spent 22 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Musiq’s sophomore album, 2002’s Juslisen (Just Listen), debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Charts and went platinum; “Halfcrazy” and “Dontchange”. In 2003, Musiq released his 3rd album, Soulstar. It included the singles “Forthenight” and “Whoknows”.
After a four year break and changing his management to Solqi Management and his record label to Atlantic Records, in 2007, Musiq’s released his fourth album Luvanmusiq (Love and Music) which included the singles “B.U.D.D.Y.”, “Teachme”, and “Makeyouhappy”. According to the singer himself, via his September 18 concert at the Warfield in San Francisco, his fifth album On My Radio will be released on December 2, 2008. The lead single, “Radio” has posted on both Musiq’s MySpace page and official website.
Musiq Soulchild has had 2 platinum albums, 2 gold albums and 7 hit singles. He has received awards from Billboard, BET, ASCAP, BMI, and Soul Train. Musiq has also earned award nominations from MTV, American Music Awards, NAACP, and 9 Grammy nominations, including 3 for his 2007 album Luvanmusiq. Besides being a successful recording artist, Musiq is notable for his creative and unique way of titling his albums and songs by ignoring the rules of capitalization, punctuation and spelling.
He recently performed at the Antigua & Barbuda first Romantic Rhythms Music Festival in the Caribbean which was held from June 12-15,2008 which features legendary artists such as Kenny Rogers, Brian McKnight, Lionel Richie, Keyshia Cole, Maxi Priest, Destra, Heather Headly, Shaggy and many other local artist from the island including The Burning Flames.
He has also made guest appearances on rapper Lloyd Banks’s album Rotten Apple, Talib Kweli’s Eardrum, The Roots’s Phrenology (album), Black Ice’s The Death of Willie Lynch and pays tribute to soul music legends Earth Wind and Fire, appearing on the soundtrack to Tyler Perry’s movie Daddy’s Little Girls. And Ice Cube announced that Musiq will appear on his upcoming album, Raw Footage. He also lent a song from his latest album Luvanmusiq to the soundtrack for Perry’s later movie Why Did I Get Married?. He then recorded a remake of Arrested Development’s song “People Everyday” with British rapper Estelle for the soundtrack to Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns entitled “People Everyday (Metamorphosis Mix)”.
Outside of music, he has been featured in television and print ads for McDonald’s, Nike, Inc., Coca-Cola, Levi Strauss & Co. and The Gap. He also made a special appearance in The CW’s #1 comedy The Game on Monday, October 29, 2007.
Romancipation
Musiq Soulchild Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I've been trying to fill in all the empty spaces
Up til now you haven't been romance or loved
But you keep on holding back and pushing me away because
You said you never had, said you never had
Someone to love you back, someone to love
You and when you gave your heart,
You didn't give your all
So let me be the one, let me be the one
To show you there is more, to show you there is more
Just give yourself to me, give yourself to me
And let me free you girl
[Chorus]
Romancipation
Rpmancipate yourself to all that you like
Romancipation
You'll never know unless you give it a try
Romancipation
For all the things you ever wanted to do
Romancipation
I can make it happen if you want me to
I cant understand why you act so nervous girl
When you know my heart is filled with good intentions
And that I'll never set out to hurt you babe
But I guess that's just not enough
To convince you to stay because
I cant understand why you act so nervous girl
When you know my heart is filled with good intentions
And that I'll never set out to hurt you babe
But I guess that's just not enough
To convince you to stay because
[Chorus]
So girl won't you let me show you better
I promise you that you'll want it always and forever
So stop procrastinating there's so much love here waiting
All you gotta do is give into your romanciaption
In Musiq Soulchild's song "Romancipation," the artist is trying to convince a woman to let her guard down and allow herself to fully experience love and romance. He believes that she has been missing out on these things her whole life, as she has not had someone who loves her back and has not given her heart fully in the past. Despite his good intentions, she continues to push him away and hold back from fully committing to the relationship.
The artist urges her to take a chance on fully embracing love and freeing herself from the constraints she has placed on herself. He encourages her to let him show her what true romance and love can be like, promising that it will be a fulfilling and satisfying experience for her. He coined the term "romancipation" to describe this process of liberation and awakening to the joys of love.
Overall, "Romancipation" is a plea for vulnerability, trust, and openness in relationships. It is an invitation to step outside of one's comfort zone and embrace the unknown, with the promise that it will ultimately lead to a greater sense of fulfillment and happiness.
Line by Line Meaning
All this time you've been missing something girl
You have been missing the feeling of romance and love for a long time now.
And I've been trying to fill in all the empty spaces
I have been trying to fill the void that exists within you due to the lack of love and romance.
Up til now you haven't been romance or loved
You have never really experienced love and the emotions that come with it.
But you keep on holding back and pushing me away because
However, you continue to hold back and push me away due to your fear of getting hurt or disappointment.
You said you never had, said you never had
You have always said that you have never had the experience of being loved and cared for.
Someone to love you back, someone to love
You have never had someone who reciprocates your feelings and loves you back in the same way.
And when you gave your heart,
Even when you tried to open up and love someone,
And when you gave your heart
You did not give it your all, and you held back.
You didn't give your all
You did not give one hundred percent of yourself to that person.
So let me be the one, let me be the one
Allow me to be the one who shows you a different and better side of love.
To show you there is more, to show you there is more
I want to show you that there is a lot more to love than what you have experienced so far.
Just give yourself to me, give yourself to me
All you need to do is trust me and give yourself the chance to experience love.
And let me free you girl
Let me help you break free from your fears and doubts and experience the beauty of romantic love.
[Chorus] Romancipation Rpmancipate yourself to all that you like Romancipation You'll never know unless you give it a try Romancipation For all the things you ever wanted to do Romancipation I can make it happen if you want me to
The chorus encourages you to free yourself and experience all the beautiful things that come with love. It urges you to try and be open to it as the singer promises to make it happen for you.
I cant understand why you act so nervous girl
I cannot comprehend why you act so uneasy around me.
When you know my heart is filled with good intentions
Despite this, you should know that I have only the purest intentions towards you.
And that I'll never set out to hurt you babe
I swear to never intentionally hurt or disappoint you.
But I guess that's just not enough
However, I acknowledge that my words and promises may not be enough to convince you.
To convince you to stay because
To convince you to stay despite your uncertainties and fears.
So girl won't you let me show you better
The artist again urges you to let them show you a better side of love.
I promise you that you'll want it always and forever
They promise you that you will want this forever once you experience it.
So stop procrastinating there's so much love here waiting
They urge you to stop delaying and experience the love that is waiting for you.
All you gotta do is give into your romanciaption
All you need to do is give in to your desire to experience romantic love.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: IVAN BARIAS, LARRY GRAHAM, CARVIN HAGGINS, JOHNSON TAALIB
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind