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His homies and fam have been treating the fellas — all of whom originally hail from Cali except for Cleveland native Raz-B — just fine.
"Everybody is just real proud," Omarion said. "They're
excited. Our friends and family act the same [as they did before we were
stars]."
While the 16-year-olds took a little time to reacquaint themselves with
loved ones during their two-day stint in L.A., they rarely have time to chill
on the road. "We're pretty much working all the time," said Lil' Fizz (or Fizzle, as they sometimes call him). "Rehearsal, studio, it's constant work all the time. We're doing [interviews]. We're still in school.
We have a tutor who travels on the road with us, so we're doing homework five
days a week, five hours a day. There's really never time when we get a
break." Omarion, however, is trying to squeeze in a little time to find a special
lady. The high-school senior will take a haitus from the group's daily duties
— for one day, at least — later this spring and go to the prom. Who
tops his dream wish list for dates? Janet Jackson, Halle Berry and BET's
"106 & Park" co-host Free, because "she's chill, young and
vibrant."
"Tell all the girls I'm looking for a prom date," he said.
"Send a picture to my Web site, www.B2Klovesyou.com."
Undoubtedly several girls will log on and vie to be Omarion's escort, though
he'll probably not find any monikers that are more unique than B2K's own
during the weeding-out process.
Jarell Houston came up with "J-Boog" by combining the initial from
his first name and the nickname his grandmother gave him, "Boogie,"
because he used to dance around the house when he was younger. Druex
"Lil' Fizz" Fredericks also raps on some of the group's songs, and
his moniker refers to how his flow is bubbling. De'mario Thornton, a.k.a.
Raz-B, derived his name from his "raspy" voice. Omari Grandberry
simply took his first name, which he said means "African king," and
tacked "on" on the end, because that means "forever." Of
course "B2K" is shorthand for "Boys of the Millennium."
With B2K finally on shelves, "It feels so good," a relieved
J-Boog said. "It's like a dream come true, because you never thought the
album would actually come out. You're always like, 'It's not gonna happen,
it's not gonna happen.' Then for it to happen, it's like a blessing,
man."
B2K is the culmination of four years spent in artist development,
where the guys went through vocal training and worked with several
choreographers to polish their dancing skills. Their manager, Chris Stokes,
also discovered Brandy and handles the career of IMX. Raz-B, Lil' Fizz and
J-Boog were originally a trio before they left their former manager and
hooked up with Stokes to guide them. They didn't have to look far —
Stokes is Raz-B's cousin. As luck would have it, J-Boog is a cousin of IMX's
Batman. When Stokes suggested adding Omarion to the mix as a fourth member,
there wasn't too much resistance — the group was already familiar with
him. He's also J-Boog's cousin and Batman's half-brother. (They share the
same dad.) "Omari was Speedy Gonzalez. He was always real energetic," said
Batman, who also co-produced some of B2K's album to fend off his
half-brother's playful harassment. "We're always play-fighting and
everything like that. We were always real close, we could talk about anything.
"He's always been a little star," Batman continued, fending off
playful harassment from his half-brother. "He always wanted to do it, it
was just the timing. It was the opportune time for him to be the lead singer
of B2K. He was just waiting for the opportunity. I would always tell him,
'You gonna get your time to be out there, to shine.'
"It's just funny watching them do their thing," he continued.
"It takes me back to a time when [IMX] was younger and we used to do our
thing. It's like it's happening all over again. The girls are screaming over
them. It's like pandemonium everywhere they go."
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Photo: MTV.com
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