Prior to his performance in
Cardiff (UK) at ‘Glam Nightclub’, Lloyd
known for his recent top ten hit single; “Dedicated To My Ex” took much
coveted time out of his European single release tour for, “Do it Again” to sit down
and have a discussion with, the ‘Radio Cardiff Young Carers Show’
about his childhood and teenage years prior to his solo career launch in 2001.
Crossroads Care for Young Carers and Radio Cardiff collaborated in an effort to train young people under
the age of 25 who care for a loved one living with an addiction, disability or
long term medical illness. This was a 5
week course including Introduction to
Radio, Radio Scriptwriting, Broadcasting, Interviewing Skills and Production.
Crossroads Care for Young Carers is a registered charity that
offers support to young people under the age of 25 in order for them to
alleviate the stressors involved in their adult responsoibilities as carers, giving
them the opportunity to socialize with their peers who they have a common
understanding with, as often there is no one they can talk or relate to about
their home life or concerns as a carer.
Radio Cardiff ; is a Black Minority Ethnic community radio station,
which allows groups or individuals to broadcast their diverse stories to its
local, and international audiences by sharing their experiences through music of
black origin.
Two out of the five young carers
training at Radio Cardiff, Becki and Christopher, have since secured a slot on
the Saturday Morning ‘Youth Beats’
show with fellow young DJ’s, Broadcast Journalists, Producers and Presenters
all under the age of 18.
Lloyd warmly greeted the young
carer’s, making them feel at ease, they explained their roles as young carers to
Lloyd, and he listened intently, looking
quite interested in what their roles entail.
Becki cares for her twin brother who lives with Autism, and Christopher cares
for a parent who has Fibromyalgia and Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder. Lloyd instantly sympathised with both
Becki and Christopher, he is all too familiar with the vital role a carer has
to play in a loved ones life, as his mother has also been diagnosed with
Fibromyalgia. He goes on to state how he
“always” recommends healthy eating to
his Mum and referred to Fibromyalgia as being the “Phantom Disease”.
We were then invited to sit down
as the interview commenced.
Q: “I’m here with Lloyd it’s good to meet you thank you for having
us here...”
A: “Thank you for having me!”
Q: “When you were a teenager did you know you were going to be
someone one day?”
A: “Of course! Every kid has
that feeling, I think the difference for me than alot of other kids was having
people around me, who helped facilitate my ideas and my parents were always
more encouraging than less. I think my
Mom she always allowed me to be active during the summers, when I was outta
school rather it be my love of sports, at one point I wanted to be Michael
Jordan, and then I got into music really heavy, I used to do a theatre
programme with my older sister, and I just think from there you know the most
important thing that I took from my summers in theatre were, I was ridden of
fearness and I just think fear is one of the larger hinderances when it comes
to success or happiness...”
Q: “How did you get to meet Lil Wayne?”
A: “Ok let me go back in the
archives here, uh I was 15, 16 years old recording music in Memphis Tennessee, out
of the music I recorded it was about three songs and one of the songs was
called, ‘Trance’. About two years later,
I would release this song on my first solo album “Southside”, but way before even
releasing an album I was just recording music and one of the songs was
something that I wanted to feature a rapper on for the first time, I never ever
had a feature. I got some mutual friends
to reach out to Wayne for me, and we happened to be recording in the same
studio so he sent someone to my room, I grabbed the music brought it down to
his room, shook his hand, talked about the ‘Saints’ versus the ‘Falcons’ which
was that week it’s a huge American Football rivalry, New Orleans versus Atlanta,
and from there that’s how we started working; and then uh we would hang out
through the years and stuff like that!”
Q: “Growing up as a teenager in New Orleans how did you manage to
stay grounded?”
A: “number one I was smart, two
nothing in the world would give me the same satisfaction that I get from what I
do, being too busy, being distracted from destruction was a big part of it.”
Q: “What is the first thing you bought when you made it big?”
A: “The first thing I bought
was a car, this really old nasty dirt bag of a motor vehicle, it only had one
door that opened, uh I didn’t have a window roller, I had to use some grip
pliers to roll the window down, the rear view mirror on the side wouldn’t stay
up on it’s own so I had to fold up a piece of newspaper and put it underneath
the mirror to set it just so right, um the power steering went out, and it
literally felt like you were lifting weights trying to make turns and I put the
most top notch sound system in there that was my first you know spenditure.”
Q: “Was ‘Dedication To My Ex’ based on anyone in particular?”
A: “Sure was!”
[We laugh at this point as
previously we had discussed how foolish Lloyds ex may have felt when hearing
this song, Lloyd smiles.]
Q: “Has there ever been anyone you have had to care for because
they were too ill to care for themselves?”
A: [Lloyd takes a moment before answering] “no not personally no, but I have friends who have done so!”
Q: “Did you keep a lock of your hair when you cut off your braids?”
A: [Lloyds shakes his head] “no
I gave it all away, I sent it off to a charity, I cut it and gave it tokids
with cancer, who lose their hair to chemotherapy, when they have all these
insecurities about going out in public they just wanna wear hats and stuff but
they wanna feel regular. I think you know it’s one thing to live a certain way
and bring something upon yourself knowingly, we as humans sometimes we’re a bit
destructive, it’s just our nature, buts it’s another thing for an innocent to
be bestowed with a heavy burden like cancer or something like that so I just
wanted to do something that was for them.”
Q: You’re always on the go you’ve just come from London to Wales,
then you will head to Berlin, how do you find the energy to keep doing what you do,
do you have a special diet intake or a favourite food?
A: “Fruit grapes, I really
have a weakness for grapes [Lloyds laughs] me and my Grandpa used to steal a grape
go and chomp on em for a while, I bet some poor old lady used to wonder what
had happened to em when she would by em... I think it’s a mixture between that
and just the natural joy that you feel in doing something natural that you
love, it never really takes a real toll because even when it’s the hardest that
it may ever be it’s still enjoyable and you can find joy in the hardest of
times!”
Q: “Do you cook and what do you like to make to eat?”
A: “I
make peanut butter and jelly, [Lloyd grins] I’m talking about world class grape
jelly!”
Q: “Does you Mum still make you wash dishes?”
A: [Lloyd laughs] “no she
doesn’t make me was dishes that’s why I moved out and got my own place, but uh
you know I like to go by and help out...”
Q: “Who would you like to do your next collaboration with?”
A: “With whoever will have me
man, uh whoever you know is uh, I guess um interested in working with the kid
and also I would prefer for it to be someone who has alot of respect for what
they’re doing, and who like myself is always pushing themselves and totally
dedicated to music!”
Q: “Would you ever date a fan?”
A: [Lloyd cheekily smiles and laughingly replies] “I would never say never!”
Q: “We’ve seen a lot of pretty women in your music videos, and I
was wondering have you ever been shy, filming or acting during the scenes?”
A: “No...not even injured I’m
pretty tough!”
Q: “What do you best want to be remembered for we just witnessed
the home going of Whitney Houston on TV in 90 years time what to you want people
to remember about you?”
A: “I think I’m so young man
that to think that far ahead is a bit dangerous I’m all about the moment but I
do realise that moments lead to bigger moments, I just hope to be remembered as
one of those who treads life with a certain amount of class I think that’s
important, I think more so it’s a reflection of how I was raised...”
Q: These are random questions are twitter followers are interested
in finding out:
1.
Xbox or PS3?
A: “Ooh you know, Xbox looks
better, PS3 is easier but I’d probably say Xbox because they don’t make ‘Halo’
for PS3!”
1.
Man United or Liverpool?
A: “Man United!! Shout out to
Rio...that’s my homie...number 5”
2.
Blondes or Brunettes?
A: [Lloyd laughs and replies] “...I
was gonna say neither...Red Heads!!! I don’t have a preference I just prefer
who’s ever head is growing the hair is a woman!”
Due to public demand Lloyd will
be back on March 12th to kick off another UK tour where you can hear
his greatest hits like “SouthSide”, “Cupid”, “Dedication To My Ex” and “Do It
Again” now available on Itunes for more information visit http://www.lloydmusic.com
We’d like to extend a warm thank
you to Glam Nightclub, Shaz Harris and Urban Fusion Crew.
very good christopher love it
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