By Emily Jackson
What do you get when you mix the entertaining dynamics of the Black Eyed Peas, with a dash of the big-ballad voice of Seal and sprinkle it with the inspirational message of love, peace, and joy? 3D: The Boss! The Atlanta-based pop trio comprised of The-O, Chanda Lee and David E. Beats will be sharing the love tomorrow night at Smith’s Turkey Twerk Fest along with EDUBB, Trillville and others. Each a powerhouse in their own solo careers, the inspiring music they make as a group will enliven the soul and hopefully inspire some top-notch booty bouncing on the dance floor. Earlier this week, we talked to 3D the Boss about how they first got into music as well as their plans for the future.
You post musical influences on your Facebook. Which artists have influenced you the most?
David E Beats: Jay Z is my biggest influence. Mainly for the fact of his rise from his previous to his current circumstances.
Chanda Leigh: I’ve been highly influenced by Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Layla Hathaway as far as female artists go. The thing about Whitney is her ability to go between her chest and head voices so smoothly that you literally could not tell! I mean, that’s just another level. And she was equally powerful in both voices. Gosh! I still get goose pimples when I listen to her music. I really miss her too. Mariah, well her first album is still and will always be the bomb to me. Just great great great. I love her high register. She hits notes that I’m still locating on the piano! Layla… what she does is just the opposite. She stays comfortably in her range, not too high or too low… and she works the heck out of it! I’m a fan for life.
How did you all first get into music?
David E Beats: I first got into music when I listened to Jay Z’s The Blueprint. From that day on I decided to become a rapper and started writing songs every day since.
Chanda Leigh: I started playing piano at 7 years old. But what got me into professional level was performing with the Spelman College Jazz Ensemble. We toured all over the country every year. I got an opportunity to see what it’s like to be a touring musician. Wow! What an experience to travel around and delight audiences all over. I loved it. There was no turning back for me after that. I got lots of gigs after that. I had my own jazz trio for a while, toured with other bands for a while, recorded my own projects over the years. Also, I put out 4 records independently.
The-O: A neighbor of mine sang all the time and challenged me to learning a Boyz II Men song. Long story short it gave me so much joy that I’ve been singing ever since.
You have a song called Lollapalooza. Is there a crazy Lolla story behind it?
The-O: We were seated in the studio feeling inspired to this awesome beat our producer had sent us. Whilst looking up the meaning of a word on dictionary.com we happened to come across a trivia question of the day and it was, “What word can mean an extraordinary person, thing or event?” That definition inspired us to write about the extraordinary people in our lives and the word happened to be “lollapalooza.”
Your music is great for dancing. Are any of you professional dancers?
David E. Beats: No way!
Chanda Leigh: I am an aspiring dancer with very little professional skills! Give me a 5-6-7-8 and suddenly I have two left feet! I’m planning to change that this coming year though. It’s funny because people often ask me if I am. I’d like to be able to tell them yes!
The-O: We love to entertain on stage and most of our moves are more theatrical and less “dancy”.
Do you plan on dropping any new music soon?
Chanda Leigh: 3D is always in the process of creating new music. It’s what we do! I can’t wait to drop the next record.
The-O: The Lollapalooza album is dropping early 2014.
Get your tickets to Turkey Twerk Fest here.
