LYFE JENNINGS

Lyfe Jennings was in our South studio putting the final touches on his upcoming Sony BMG release, “Change.” The 11-track album, which is to be released in March, features Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Wyclef Jean, and two of Lyfe's protégés, rapper Doc Black and singer Gritz. Producers include The Underdogs, Rich Keller and Wyclef Jean. All engineering duties were handled by Rich Keller, assisted by Travis Stefl.

“The album is called Change because I’m changing it up a bit,” explains Lyfe. “In the past I didn’t work with different producers, I produced and wrote most of my albums by myself. But on this project I actually worked with different producers and a few writers.”

Lyfe, a native of Toledo, Ohio, entered the music world in 2004 after the release of his critically acclaimed, platinum debut Lyfe 268-192. Hailed as gritty and raw, the album created devoted fans from everywhere. With its brutally honest lyrics, Lyfe walked listeners down his rough, turbulent road, brilliantly giving them an edgy autobiographical history lesson that made many able to relate to him. He captured an even broader audience last year with his sophomore effort, The Phoenix, which expanded on his story, taking listeners through different phases of a man with new fame and money. The Phoenix featured the smash hit and cautionary tale, “S-E-X,” and made him a household name.

But what makes this album different from Lyfe 268-192 or The Phoenix is that Lyfe has matured and he’s ready to take his life and music career in a different direction. He also opted not to include his signature story interludes. “I wanted people to just flow from song to song,” explains Jennings. On this album, he’s looking forward to showing how he’s evolved. “People have become accustomed to me singing about sad stuff. When they listen to my albums, usually they’re in their car or they’re at home doing something,” he says. “But I added some up tempo songs to this album, so some of them can be played in the clubs, some of them are happy and funny, but there are some serious songs as well.” Lyfe admits that he didn’t do a lot of planning for the album, which is definitely hard to tell from its exquisitely written ballads, melodic beats and the remarkable vibe of the entire album. “I wanted Change to be a fly album. I just went in the studio and just liked kicked it and came up with the songs.”