Usher’s New Look Benefit at TAO Las Vegas
May 4, 2007 – TAO Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV USA
Usher recently stated in an MTV interview:
I feel like these kids have gotten a little too disrespectful, and I’m about to get [back in there], so just be ready…You got your artists who find their way through the circuit and are following and are not giving the respect where the respect is due. If you know (you’re) following and biting, then, hey, give the respect…You can’t come around here and think that you’re really starting the game. Understand, when I came up in the game and I found a trail, I was cool. Bobby Brown went this way, Michael Jackson went this way, Marvin Gaye, he created his little profile and he held to it. I didn’t step on those toes. What I did was find a way and my thing and created my thing. Now you have my thing being built. So I look up, and I’m like, ‘OK, I see you all. I see you all in the videos. I see you moving, I get it, but pay the respect.
You know, there is only one [of me] at the end of the day. You can have a whole bunch of carbon copies of the real thing, but when the real thing comes, daddy’s home! I’m here, man, and I’m not afraid to let it be known. When it’s hiatus, you have fun, but when daddy’s home, daddy’s home.
[Source]
Where do I begin? It’s one thing to be confident, but it’s another to be cocky. While Usher isn’t man enough to name who he’s talking about, the article suggests that he is referring to Omarion, Ne-Yo, and Chris Brown. Usher is a great artist and performer but why in God’s name did he feel the need to mention himself in the same breath as Marvin Gaye or Michael Jackson. And if he’s so fed up with people biting “his style” than why do a song with Omarion or work with Ne-Yo on your new album. Seems a bit hypocritical to me!
I think Usher made these comments because he feels a little threatened. Anytime someone makes it a point to say how great they are, it’s usually coming from a place of great insecurity. Calm down Usher. You’re good at what you do. How about shutting the hell up and letting your work do the talking.