What’s one major difference you’ve noticed in today’s R&B/music industry? I think the industry that changed in R&B music in that its not really R&B no more, it’s just really a merge of Hip-Hop. A lot of times in order to even get a song on the radio, you have to either have a Hip-Hop beat or a Hip-Hop artist on the song. That’s probably the most change that I saw. What do you do to prepare for a performance? Do you have any rituals? No, I just pray. I don’t even really warm up my voice preparing for a show. I really just pray, get out there, and just go hard. No, I take that back. Sometimes when I’m on stage, like with a live band, I jump up and down just to get my blood flowing because I do a lot of running. When you’re on stage, which song is your favorite to perform? What is my favorite song to perform on stage? I would say that it’s a new song that I got. It’s a song called “Nothing Lasts Forever” That’s my favorite song. Ya’ll ain’t heard that yet! Can you describe growing up in Toledo, OH? Growing up in Toledo, Ohio was just an average thing. It seems like in Toledo, Ohio its almost as if people don’t dream because you don’t really hear people talking about becoming a celebrity of any kind. Not even a celebrity in the community, let alone like a record business or a football player. You have guys with aspirations but you don’t have enough of them to where they’re able to saturate it in everybody else’s minds or everybody share the same dream, you know? So, that’s what it was like. What is the best thing about your fans? What is the best thing about my fans? Is that they can relate. You know a lot of people, when I come through, they want to tell me different things that they’re going through in their life and how the music helped them get over certain things. Even the thuggest dude, I’ve had dudes with teardrops on their face and you know what that represents but they come like, “You know, I really appreciate this, it helped me turn my life around.” That’s the best thing about it.

What can we expect from the new album? What you can expect from the new album is definitely me taking some different chances. I like different kinds of music and it just seem like I’ve been doing straight R&B stuff even though I have other interests. You can definitely see me putting out some different kind of material. Was there any hater in particular that was the inspiration for your new single “Haters”? Just haters in general inspired the song “Haters.” The media, they’ll take one thing, lie about it and twist it all up, that don’t make it true just because its on TV or in a magazine or something. Can we expect to hear any collaborations on this album? Yea, definitely. You can expect some collaborations on the album. From a Ludacris to an Anthony Hamilton to a Bobby Valentino to a Fabolous. These are all records that we have, we don’t exactly know what’s going on the album. I’m assuming some of them features are going to be used because we spent our money on them. What producers did you work with? See, I don’t be knowing these guys names. This is my first time working with a lot of producers. I know Warren Campbell did some stuff, Hyenas did some stuff. I did a track with the kid who did “Flashing Lights,” I forget his name. Dre & Vidal, some other cats. You’ve started your own record label, Jesus Swings. Can you tell us about that? I came up with the Jesus Swings label because I felt like there is not enough positive music out there. Not even necessarily positive, just alternative music, not meaning the style of music but alternative lifestyle. Like when we talk about diamonds and ice and spending money we should also compliment that with taking care of your kids. Before a man can become a good statesman he’s got to become a good husband or a good friend or good son, things like that. So I started the label, its called Jesus Swings and its because Jesus, throughout the course of his life, it was like a pendulum, up and down, like the chain right here you see, Jesus on a swing. But he always talked about it responsibly, like you ain’t never see Jesus in a bar cussing nobody out or jumping on folks so…hence the name. Is this your last album? Yea, I think so. I think it definitely is. I got two little boys that are at the age right now, they really really need me there. They’re 4 years old and 2 years old. So this being my last album is really like my first opportunity to really give them what they need. You know? I can’t keep on being on the road like 8 months out of the year or nothing like that.

MissTheda.com: What made you go by the stage name Lyfe? Lyfe: I chose the stage name Lyfe because that's pretty much what I talk about-life situations. MissTheda.com: How would you describe your sound? Lyfe: Lyfe Jennings' sound is real. What you hear I can almost guarantee you, it's probably something you done been through in your life before or something that you're probably going to go through in your life. MissTheda.com: How are you able to remain so positive? Lyfe: What makes me make songs that are inspiring and uplift people is that I think a person can do more by encouragement than by someone coming down on everything negative. I done tested that out. People definitely respond differently to criticism than they do to praise, you know? MissTheda.com: What was the biggest lesson going to prison taught you? Lyfe: I hate using prison as a pedestal saying that prison did anything because I don't want a cat to be thinking that's cool or something. The thing that it did give me is that it gave me time to really reevaluate my life. I could have gotten that time on the street, it just so happened I got it in prison and through that reevaluation I think that any man's actions are an overflow of his heart so it gave me the opportunity to get my heart right and therefore the actions are just, what they are. MissTheda.com: What motivates you to keep making music? Lyfe: What motivates me to keep making music, its what I like to do. It's allowed me the opportunity to express a lot of stuff that I might not tell somebody because either they ain't listening or I just don't want to tell them.

Lyfe Jennings - Must Be Nice

Lyfe Jennings - Never Never Land

Lyfe Jennings - Cops Up

Lyfe Jennings - Hypothetically

Lyfe Jennings - Will I Ever

Third video fromm Lyfe Change

Lyfe Jennings - Stick Up Kid

Lyfe Jennings - Cops Up

Lyfe Jennings - Let's Stay Together