Ray J is still a very young man but his career has almost spanned a decade. He has been in the music game for a minute. His 2001 hit "Wait A Minute" was produced by The Neptunes and featured Lil Kim. In addition to his music he also appeared on the series Moesha alongside his sister platinum recording artist Brandy. He currently appears on BET where he hosts BET Top 10 Countdown and occasionally appears on 106 and Park.

Ray J is focused on his music for the moment (among other things like a role on UPN), but his album RAYDIATION drops on September 20th and the first single "One Wish" is really good.


I have a funny story about my Ray J interview. I was so surprised when Sonja Norwood, Ray J's Mom called my house, I admire her a lot...I wrote all the details in my blog here. I'm a big Ray J fan now this was a fun interview.
Dorrie -www.sparkledoll.com & Thabiz.com webmaster

"Wait a minute" was a huge hit and I really enjoyed the last album. What was the delay in between albums all about?
Ray J-The big delays with the albums was changing record labels. I got off Atlantic Records and I just wanted to find a team, a family that would just let me be a little more creative and I definitely wanted to be a young entrepreneur and I have always looked up to the bosses in the industry like Puffy and all the CEO's. We have our label Knock Out and we did our deal with Sanctuary. I'm here now, we are putting our blood sweat and tears into this album and I just want the world to like it.

You are on BET now too?
Ray J- Definitely.

Are you living on the East Coast now?
Ray J-I'm always in New York. I went on the audition for that and started doing 106 just guest hosting and it went to doing the BET Top 10 Count Down, it's doing real well right now and I want to thank all of the fans for making that show one of the number one shows.

I saw…you did the Ray J's Barbecue thing was that for the 4th of July?
Ray J-Yeah! You saw that?

That was pretty cool.
Ray J-They let me have some fun on the 4th. They brought the cameras over to the house. We actually prerecorded it when the BET Awards was out here. Just had a little bit of fun at the crib.

You mentioned being an entrepreneur do you have plans to start your own label one day?
Ray J-Yeah, starting right now with Knock Out, it's going to launch Knock Out Entertainment. We just want to make it a legitimate record company. Also Brandy came onto the company too, she signed under Knock Out. She is her own boss at the company but we are going to make it a big family label and take it to the new millennium.

I know what I was going to ask, with Moesha airing on "The N" and in syndication are you discovering that you have a whole new fans who are just now seeing the show in the syndication run? Ray J-Yeah I like that though. I was definitely looking forward to doing some more shows on Moesha but unfortunately it didn't happen. That was one of my greatest times as far as TV, doing that show.

How similar are you and your character you played on the show?
Ray J-I was very similar back then. I was young. I was wilin' out, making mistakes and stuff and having fun. Messing around with girls and a lot of girls. We were similar back then. I think he made a little bit more childish mistakes than I would but I think we were related back then. It was something I was doing. It was almost like I was being myself back then.

Now I know you mentioned changing labels and Moesha going off the air and now you are on BET but what else were you doing the last few years?
Ray J-I came back with BET recently about a year ago. I was just working on my album and putting all my time in the album. I felt like I wanted to come back strong vocally with this album and touch on situations that people can relate to that came from the heart--love, relationships, ups & downs in relationships and on this album I just explained life from living in Carson flirting around with gang banging and changed my life around and started fresh and new mentality and it takes you to a world in my life. I wanted to call it Raydiation because I had to destroy and rebuke, destroy all my demons and all on the negative side and just build on the positive.

You sound excited about it. So tell me all about the new album?
Ray J-The album is coming. It's called Raydiation. It will be out September 20th. I think it's my life in one and a story you can vibe with. I got Timbaland on the album. Brandy is on the album, R Kelly is on the album, Dark child is on the album, Mya is on the album. For the most part it's just displaying where I am vocally as a singer. The situations that I am touching on are everyday situations that people go through in relationships and in life. I'm just a regular dude next door. I'm the same person as the person next to me so I think people can relate.

So what is the current single?
Ray J-The first single is "One Wish." We just shot the video. We just shot the video last weekend with Little X. We are going for ads today on radio so we're looking forward to doing good things.

Since you are so young and you have been in the industry so long how do you manage to stay out of the tabloids?
Ray J-Well I feel like if you are in the tabloid you have been elevated. I don't think I have been in the tabloids because I haven't reached my peak yet but I am looking forward to doing major things and hopefully I can stay out of the tabloids and stay on the positive tip.

This is almost tabloidish, but how do feel about being mentioned in the book "Confessions of a Video Vixen?"
Ray J-Oh that type of tabloid. I mean. I don't know. I thought it was just like whatever.

It wasn't bad.
Ray J-Yeah, It wasn't bad. I don't know.

I said, I have to give Ray J props.
Ray J-I just felt like a lot of people got put on blast with that. I don't think people should believe everything that they read. You know what I'm sayin', but people gotta get their money. So she did her thing and I have to take my hat off to her. It's doing real well.

Listen to Ray J talk about being mentioned in the Confessions of a Video Vixen book.

Have you ever thought about writing a book or making a movie about your life?
Ray J- I mean after that book came out I was like "I need to write a book about my life." It could be interesting.

This is what I think. You tell me what you think. I think that you are at the point in your career where you are Ray J, not just Ray J, Brandy's little brother. Do you feel like you have made that identity for yourself?
Ray J- Yeah I am working hard on it. I think Brandy was so successful at major level where I'm still trying to get there. She is my mentor. It was her dream to come in this industry and do big things and I followed her like, "She did it, so I see that it's possible." It really can happen because if it was just me I would say, naw that could never happen. So when I first heard her song on the radio I went crazy like, "Oh she's really on the radio they were really not lyin' about this." That was my idea about it then and she showed me that all dreams can really come true. So from there I had to shape myself. I had to take over and I'm trying to bring Brandy back out and put 10 more million under her belt and put some more plaques up on her wall too.

I think you can. I think that last record was good it just wasn't promoted right after the first single.
Ray J- It's all good. You just have to just keep putting out music, keep mashing, stay positive. You know what I mean.

Are there a lot of women who hang around the BET studios trying to meet you?
Ray J- No it's real professional over there. I have a real great crew over there. When I shoot my shows at 9, we get done like 3 hours early because we have this chemistry together. I'm going into this new venture, Imma be guest starring on One on One on UPN. I'm starting on that next week, from there I might be the new regular the new cat on that show. I can't say yet but I'm looking forward to doing positive things with UPN and ONE on ONE so look out for that.

Listen to Ray J talk about working at BET and his UPN opportunity.

Any movies in the future?
Ray J-I just want to focus on TV. I will get into movies later. I haven't got all I can out of TV. That is like one of my first loves. TV and just being on that TV screen. So I just want to knock out this TV stuff and see what my future holds

You work so much what do you do in your free time?
Ray J-I travel. I got like a week or two weeks off I try to go to Hawaii or Cabo. Miami somewhere like a nice beach exotic clear my mind with somebody make it right come back and get into the business real strong clear your mind and come back heavy

I know what I wanted to ask you. You came out in the 90's when a lot of young men wanted to be rappers. What made you decide to be a singer verses a rapper?
Ray J-That is what I can do better. I can sing better than I can rap and I felt like the world needs to hear it now, to hear where I am at vocally. If I could rap better I would definitely do it. Like everybody told me I could sing better. I'm going to do it. Do what I can do best.

I'm excited about the project.
Ray J-Thank you. Have you heard "One Wish" yet?

I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. I was working all weekend.
Ray J-You have to check it out. You're going to really like it. I hope so. It's really passionate sexy and something you can vibe to for real.

Tell me about the video?
Ray J- It's like a mini movie like a wish I have and I'm outside in the rain pouring my heart out to this girl that I love, my girlfriend. I'm having this wish to go upstairs and get back together. It's all really happening. So you kind of see us go from the living room to the bedroom to the rain scene to seeing me call her wanting to go up. It's like a little mini movie . When you see it you'll see the plot and everything.

So you are going to be going back and forth?
Ray J- I'm going back and forth so I can do all I can right now. When it's your opportunity you gotta take it. Right now I want to take all I can, all the positive things God gave me and take them and do good things.

For more details visit http://www.rayj.com
Visit Ray J at MYSPACE www.myspace.com/rayj/
Ray J E-Card
"One Wish" Audio Stream

Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2005
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the author of Be My Sorority Sister Under Pressure and the Unplanned Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students. She is the founder of Thabiz.com and Imissthe80s.com and writes for the Rap, Teen, and 1980s section at Bellaonline.com. She is an ASCAP member as a writer and a publisher. Please contact Dorrie for advertising inquiries, lyric writing inquiries, reprint rights, paying entertainment jobs, or general comments.
Visit Dorrie on the web at www.sparkledoll.com or e-mail her at webmaster@thabiz.com.
May not be reprinted, copied or distributed. You may link to this interview.
Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com July 2005.