Trey Songz seemingly came out of nowhere with his summertime hit "Just Gotta Make It," featuring Twista. Since he came out with Twista on his first single a lot of people mistakenly assumed he was from Chi town but Trey is actually a native of Petersburg, Virginia.

His debut album drops later this month. He is very charming and it was quite an interesting interview. His debut album I GOTTA MAKE IT hits stores July 26th!

You are from Petersburg, Virginia right?
Trey Songz-Yep.

I'm in Virginia Beach.
Trey Songz-You are from Virginia Beach?

I live here. I'm not from here though.
Trey Songz-Where are you from?

Chicago.
Trey Songz-What are you doing down in the Beach?

How most people end up in the Beach. My husband is in the Navy. That leads to my first question. Being from Virginia did you find it hard to break into the music industry?
Trey Songz-I was blessed to meet my manager Troy and he was acclaimed for doing so much in the industry and I jumped on his ship and got with him. But this was after I decided this was what I wanted to do. Before I met Troy singing wasn't something I wasn't thinking about doing seriously. I would sing around the house and at talent shows, it was just something I played with and was cool to do. When I met him it became more of a reality. Being in Virginia, I was like, "Yeah right I'mma do music." So from there it went to when I met Troy, I can do music.

I read on your bio you won like 20 talent shows. Did you do the talent shows before you met Troy?
Trey Songz-That was before Troy. Before and during the course. It wasn't say twenty, they just picked a number. It was a lot.

Would you have ever considered doing something like American Idol?
Trey Songz-Nah.

So you hooked up with Troy and I read you moved to New Jersey.
Trey Songz-I moved to New Jersey after high school.

Oh okay, so you leave high school and move to New Jersey, was your family hesitant about you leaving to pursue a music career?
Trey Songz-My mama told me, she said, "You gotta year. A year to do it and after that you have to get a job or go to school or something." It happened by the time the year came around deals started poppin off.

That is what I was going to ask, how did you go about getting your record deal?
Trey Songz-I was with Troy and him training me and showing me musically what I wanted to know and led to me being his vocal production assistant. What that means is when he produces peoples vocals I make sure songs are sung right. I would go everywhere with him and people inside the industry would hear about me and people would say, "We like the song but who is that singing." He would tell them, "Yeah that's Trey." I wasn't ready at the time. Before we got my deal we wanted the package well put together and we had to make sure I was a well rounded artist and not someone who would get to a label and not be ready for a deal. Once we decided I was ready there was already a little buzz about me so we put the package together went to a couple of labels and a couple of labels called us. In November of 2003 is when we decided to go with Atlantic.

I have the album sampler and I like it. My question was, you have a unique style, it's like it's R&B and they are kinda like hip-hop songs, even "Just Gotta Make It," without the rap would have a hip-hop feel to it. Was that a very deliberate style?
Trey Songz-That's just me. I wasn't on that singing stuff. When I grew up I was listening to hip-hop. I only started listening to R&B really, right before I started studying it Troy gave me CD's of Donnie Hathway, and Marvin Gaye and everybody. Before that I was listening to Biggie and Jay Z and a little of R. Kelly because that's all that was acceptable as far as R&B. There is a lot of undertone hip-hop. What we call it is R&B with a hip-hop urgency.

Listen to Trey discuss his music

Do you do any rapping on your album?
Trey Songz- Yeah on one song. I was just listening to it the other day. I didn't even realize it. It's playful though.

The reason I ask is because I read about your alter ego The Prince of Virginia. Is he a rapper?
Trey Songz-He is a singer too.

He is a singer?
Trey Songz-He's all over mix tapes. He's more lyrical. I sing the songs to show that there aint nothin I cant do. Prince of Virginia to me is an outlet. I say things I can't say on an R&B record. I have fun, it's all out whatever I want to do on a record. It's crazy lyrical, I say stuff a rapper would say, but I'm singing it.

I know Kwan is another artist out of Virginia. Have you all ever met?
Trey Songz-No. Actually I ain't met Kwan I cant wait to meet him and holla at him he sings and raps on that Nas song and that's dope.

I know you have Twista on the first single do you have any other artists on the album?
Trey Songz-Yep. I have the Queen of Soul Ms. Aretha Franklin, after that. Aretha Franklin, Juvenile and Twista on the single. Other than that I wanted people to get a taste of me instead of getting crazy. When a person comes out and has too many features on the album you don't get to know who they are.

I read you just had a listening party how did that go?
Trey Songz-It was great, in DC that was cool. A lot of people came out for that. They love me in DC.

Did you go to the BET awards last week?
Trey Songz-No, I was at home chillin.

Being a new artists are you surprised you have such a big fan base?
Trey Songz-I'm so appreciative. I wouldn't say it was a surprise because I always wanted it and never doubted it its just people take to it so fast I'm like wow.

I send out a newsletter before I do an interview and I ask people to send in questions, when I told them I was interviewing Trey Songz they were like, "Ohmigod he is such a cutie." They were real excited. Are you doing a lot of touring this summer?
Trey Songz-Cingular Wireless Tour coming, HBCU tour 21 cities, as well as the Pepsi Tour.

And you are doing the summer fest down here..
Trey Songz-In VA. I have a lot of stuff coming.

Now that you are an artist and you have the deal and the album is about to come out is it everything you thought it would be?
Trey Songz- Oh yeah, everything and more. It's hard work. It's more work than anyone would ever know. It's real, I love it. I am in it for the long. I am going to work hard as I can to keep it going.

Do you have any advice for people might not live in big urban Mecca's like New York or LA who might live in places like VA or somewhere else who are pursuing music careers?
Trey Songz- Just grind, you have to grind all the time and believe in yourself no matter what people say. If you see an artist in town run up on them with CD's. You have to pray to God and make sure that is what you are supposed to be doing too.

For more details visit http://www.treysongz.com

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.