— by Shaheem Reid
Whether making music or walking down the block in his new home of Harlem, New York, Anthony Hamilton sticks out.
"Get yourself some, 'cause I ain't sharing," says Hamilton, standing outside the Famous Fish Market, where he frequently indulges in soul food cuisine that reminds him of "home and three streets down."
Although he might not be fond of breaking bread, Hamilton had no aversion to sharing his jaw-droppingly soulful voice with people like the Nappy Roots, Eve, D'Angelo and Tupac — just some of the musical heavyweights he's either sung with or provided backup vocals for.
" 'Thugz Mansion,' now that was a great one for me right there," he said of singing on the original version of Tupac's song. "It was like, wow. It's like doing a record with Martin Luther King. [From touring with D'Angelo] I learned how to be in control of a band and how to be a leader and how to be a partner and how to remain humble no matter how many great artists you have in one circle."
The person with the most potential to influence Hamilton's career is none other than So So Def's head homeboy in charge, Jermaine Dupri. Dupri's father urged the CEO/producer to sign Hamilton after hearing the singer's stirring performance at party following the 2003 Grammy Awards. A meeting was set up soon after, and within 48 hours of the powwow Anthony was signed.
"Jermaine Dupri, he's very intelligent, he knows how the business works, how to make records, how to put them out, how to market it," Hamilton said. "He's definitely a great leader."
Hamilton said his Comin' From Where I'm From, due August 26, will reflect his unwillingness to follow some of the more conventional R&B themes. Drinking with models and flashing ice? "All that ain't me, dog," he insisted.
"This album is filled with a lot of soulful music, very authentic, very honest, very powerful music," he explained. "A lot of pain from the hard struggle of 10 years from making it. It's just who I am as a man, as an artist. It just came out naturally. My style would be described as hellified powerful. Just real Southern, honest, down home, next door type of cat.' "
"I started hustling, you couldn't tell me nothing/ Fronting in the 'hood trying to be somebody," he sings on the album's soul-baring title track, which is also the first single. "My soul was on empty, I was searching for something."
"I think the need for certain things to be said allows for me to create a picture in my music," said Hamilton, who grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, before moving to New York a decade ago to pursue music. "I've seen things that I find people have a problem with. I think it's my job to come out and visit those topics and bring it to the forefront. We've got to heal it, heal the situation."
Music was the best way of healing the disappointment that occurred during his early days in NYC. He signed to Uptown/MCA in 1993 and recorded an album that was supposed to come out in 1995. With Uptown folding back into MCA, that record never came out, and Hamilton had to wait a whole year before he got his second shot at breaking out. His debut, XTC, was released in 1996 but hardly anyone noticed.
In 1999 he found his way over to Soul Life, which was being distributed through Atlantic, but still he sat on the bench while recording another LP that would never come out. The next year he went on D'Angelo's Voodoo outing, but his biggest break would come not on the stage, but in the studio and on the TV screen.
Singing the hook and appearing in the video for the Nappy Roots' 2002 Grammy-nominated single "Po' Folks" gave the free agent all the exposure he needed.
"Oh yeah, I'm still paying them and I'll pay them until I'm retired," he said with a country twang. "I grew up wanting to do the music, so I set a path that wasn't an easy one. It makes you respect the hard work you put in and all the gifts that life gives you, like when you have some hard days and all of a sudden you have a day that's like, 'OK, this day is for you.' "
Check out the MTV You Hear It First Tour.
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