Essence Festival weekend in New Orleans always brings the legends out, and this year FreddyO caught up with the ladies of Xscape backstage for a real conversation about the road they have traveled — including the years they walked away from the music industry altogether. Kandi, Tiny, LaTocha and Tamika have lived the highs and the lows of this business in front of the whole world, and they are not holding back.
Think about the run: four Atlanta teenagers out of the College Park talent-show circuit, discovered by Jermaine Dupri, and by 1993 their debut changed the sound of girl-group R&B. The albums, the number ones, the platinum plaques — and then, at the height of it, the group went their separate ways. In this interview the ladies open up about what that time away really looked like, the solo chapters, the songwriting money, the reality shows, and how stepping back helped them understand their own value.
That is what makes this reunion era mean so much to the fans. Since getting back together last year, Xscape has sold out arenas on their big reunion tour, brought their story to television, and reminded a whole new generation why those harmonies still hit like they did in the nineties. Standing in New Orleans, the capital of Black music celebration this weekend, the message is simple: the industry tried to count them out, and these four women from Atlanta are still standing, still singing, still booked.
Press play and hear it from the ladies themselves — the real story of the break, the make-up and the music. Then tell us in the comments: what is the one Xscape record that still shuts the whole party down every single time?
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