Eric Benet says so just before that airy piano and his sultry vocals kick off his breakthrough slow jam “Femininity” whenever he comes to town. But plenty of people are still caught off guard when they learn that one of the early songs of the Neo Soul movements was recorded on the North Side.
Yes, as in the North Side of St. Louis.
And when underground soul crooner Eric Roberson returns to St. Louis in a couple of weeks, he most certainly will give a shout out to St. Louis native Osunlade and give credit to us for one of his signature hits, “Don’t Change For Me” – an upbeat house-influenced track that intrinsically sends fans to the dance floor.
At one time or another during stops in St. Louis, several artists have given public praise to the artist/producer and record label owner Osunlade for his musical ingenuity.
“I love and I’m proud of the fact that I’m from St. Louis,” Osunlade said. “It’s a part of who I am musically – which is just soul.”
He earned major label success on the production side and put in work for artists like Musiq Soulchild, Patti LaBelle, Roy Ayers and Vivian Green during a career that kicked off not long after he graduated from Beaumont High School in 1987.
“I’m a Bluejacket,” he said with pride.
With his slicked back Mohawk, stretched ears and a long beard he looked more like a native from the cutting edge of another planet than any neighborhood near Union and West Florissant.
He was trained in piano from the age of seven. “I played in the band,” he said with a memory lane grin. “It’s always been about music.”
He’s been around the world and back as a performer, DJ, producer and artist, developing working relationships that turned into friendships and mentoring.
“If I had to pick, it would be Najee,” Osunlade said of his long list of collaborators. “He gave me the freedom to learn, and he taught me so much in the quiet spaces.”
He is deep, but it’s a depth rooted in humility and authenticity.
“I’ve learned that the ego means nothing,” Osunlade said. “Because I’m creating something that could move someone one way or the other, I have to be humble. When you are creating music you are speaking emotions. ”
Birth of Yoruba Records
For him sound is an opportunity for an emotional exchange – and that’s why he turned the tables on his career in 1999 by founding Yoruba Records and working as one of the label’s primary artists.
“When you’re a producer, you’re basically work for hire,” Osunlade said. “Before you even enter the room they have an agenda – they already have a sound that they are looking for – a hit…Whatever is on radio at the time. Being a producer you have to play that game, and I got tired of playing.”
But he now has a whole new grind.
“Owning a record label is 24-hour-a-day job,” Osunlade said. “At one point I had 14 artists – now I have seven. Each artist you’re managing, your executive producing, you’re doing A&R. You are actually spending your money to put the music out. But it’s the best thing, because the fate of your music is in your own hands and you’re not just a commodity.”
He also gets to grow with his artists.
“I like to have people that are creative enough and have enough vision to give me enough of themselves,” Osunlade said. “It takes two or three years to create a piece of music, and through that space of time you’ve gone through so much. And if somebody loves what you do, that’s theirs. They take it, and they take it seriously. They keep it.”
His latest album as an artist, A Man With No Past Originating the Future, is a mostly instrumental ambient jazz/funk /soul album.
“The premise of it is basically we are in this climate where the world is changing and we are losing a lot of our organic ways,” Osunlade said. “We communicate – we’re connected with all of this stuff online, but we are not connected. There is no communication. You look at a bus stop, and everybody’s texting. There’s no eye contact. We are so logged in that we are tuned out.”
Osunlade has a simple hope for his legacy and impact on the industry.
“That I did good music,” Osunlade said. “That it was honest, vulnerable and good.”
For more information on Yoruba Records can be found on Facebook by searching Yoruba Records or visit www.yorubarecords.net
