' 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗠𝗘 𝗦𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗜𝗡 ' › D. SWING

12.

It was none other than producer Jermaine Dupri. I had heard a lot about him through people in the industry and they said he was pretty good.

"Surprise! It's JD", Radiah had said as she throws her arms in the air, being extra as usual. I laughed and went over to introduce myself to him.

"Nice to meet you, JD. I'm Rhonda—", I started to say.

"Our manager and co-writer", Melissa added. I shot her look. When did I become their manager? What the hell is she thinking?

I grinned awkwardly and nodded my head, unsure what was going on. He waved for me take a seat next to him, "Look, I'ma be honest with you. Nobody I've met has a sound and look like these four girls. They're unique and talented, but I'm sure you know that so lemme tell you somethin' you don't know. I can make these girls into stars. I've done it for many artists and I know I can do it for them. But in order for this to be possible, you gotta' be on board with this. I can tell you ain't managed a day in your life but they trust you enough to call you theirs and that says a lot. We can work on this one song together and you can see if you like it or not. If you don't, then I'll let you go ahead and part ways with me. You know, find somebody else to work with." Let me? I was gonna' leave without your permission. I didn't like this guy already. He was rubbing me the wrong way but for the sake of the girls, I decided to go ahead and give him a shot.

***

Melissa was in the booth, laying down her vocals.

"My girls
Been goin 'round talkin'
They say that you been
Watchin me boy
I know
By the way you're talkin'
That you're really tryin'
To get to me boy
Not anyone I'll just let in my heart
You have to be hungry for me"

It was La'Shawn's turn to get in the booth and of course she was excited, smiling ear to ear and giving it her all.

"Girls may have been easy
But you have to please me
What makes me think that I can say this to you
I know how bad you want this"

Chonita and Radiah harmonies were heard in the background, as well as my chords on the piano. The song was coming to life right before my eyes but it doesn't feel like it did when I was working with Jodeci. Don't get me wrong, it sounded great, but it wasn't the same.

I was used to sitting next to Donald, not this short man with cornrows and crooked teeth. Lord, forgive me.

We had finished recording the track around 6am and everyone was exhausted. We said our goodbyes to JD and headed home, too tired to even speak. He said we would call us tomorrow evening after he had finished mastering it but I wasn't going to hold my breath. I didn't trust him enough to.

***
( The Next Day )

Today, I was meeting up with Nasir at the record store again, this time bringing Melissa with me since we had a lot of stuff to talk about.

"I'm not management material. I can barely manage my life let alone four women's careers", I said and she just laughed, shaking her head and throwing her arm around my shoulder.

"You have more management skills than you give yourself credit for. Besides, didn't you work at Uptown Records?", she inquired, looking over at me.

"Yeah, but I quit", I replied nonchalantly. I didn't really want to talk about it but she didn't care.

"Why?", she asked, growing more curious. I knew she wasn't going to drop it.