Usher dropped a few unknown tidbits of old school facts about his personal life and his career, which seemed to kinda all be intertwined together. In a previous interview with The Roots’ drummer, Questlove, on his Pandora radio show, Questlove Supreme, Ebony Magazine reported how Usher chopped it up about everything, from how he got caught up in music legends, Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid’s and Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmond’s beef back in the day, to how Tevin Campbell ended up getting work that was originally meant for him; to issues with his ex-wife/mother of his two kids, Tameka Raymond, and also his mother/ex-manager, Jonetta.
L.A. Reid & Babyface Drama Led To Tevin Campbell Taking Usher’s Songs
It turns out “Can We Talk” was originally Usher’s song, until…
Usher: “When I first signed to LaFace Records, I wanted to do an album with Babyface and LA Reid, right? I signed specifically for that reason. So LA Reid wanted Babyface to work on me and they were going through, you know, a lot of drama at the time. They were kinda severing their ties…he got mad…And he built an entire album for me, and he gave the whole album to somebody else…Tevin Campbell! ‘Can We Talk’…was my song…”
“Can We Talk” ended up being the biggest song of Tevin’s career. It stayed at #1 on the R&B charts for weeks and the entire album, I.m Ready, sold 2 million+ albums. By the way, I dig Usher and Tevin, but I gotta admit that after the way Tevin killed it on “Can We Talk,” I couldn’t imagine ANY other singer recording that song…not even Usher.
