Bryan Michael Cox

in the late 80s were really, in the 90s when it really, really took off.

You have Mary J. Blige's, you have Jodeci's, you have Boyz II Men's.

It just felt like we were coming up together.

You know what I'm saying?

So I also feel like once that happened in hip-hop and hip-hop numbers started going crazy, R&B artists started chasing that, right?

Yeah.

So then now you're breeding...

new artists who are looking up to the R&B artists who's doing that, now they're all doing that.

Versus when I was coming up, there was... The thing that made Jodeci special was the church influence.

The things that make Mary J. Blige the queen of hip-hop soul is because of the church influence.

The things that makes Mariah Carey Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston Whitney Houston is because of the church influence.

And...

Once R&B split, R&B, hip hop split, people started chasing hip hop.

And let's be real.

You know what I mean?

You know, the world becomes, we become more liberal.

We become more expressive about what we believe.

Church is not put on, like, church was on me.

No matter whether I like it or not.

You know what I'm saying?