“It was really that thing to show me, ‘it’s possible for you to stand alone.
The Write Stuff is a series about the stories behind hit songs.
Kandi Burrusshas had so many different careers that new fans may be unaware that she co-wrote two timeless No.
“It was really that thing to show me, ‘you’re free to stand alone.
you might stand by yourself, and you will be okay,'” she says.
Now the group is set to reunite for an upcomingVerzuzagainst SWV.
I feel like I was a sponge around him.”
Because literally I remember always being like, ‘Come on, man, let me write something.’
I knew that I could write, but I just neededhimto give me a shot.
How am I going to provide for myself?’
I didn’t have another way to make money."
Reid, and he wanted it for TLC," says Burruss.
“I was like, ‘Cool.
There’s always that low-key rivalry thing that would go around in the industry.
But Burruss would soon receive positive news about the track.
But he wasn’t lying.
He was serious, and he really did.”
Burruss went in with a game plan.
Burruss saw how the girls were decidedly not into the fast and layered production.
“They were like, ‘Yeah, we don’t really hear anything.
We need to just let him know that we’re not feeling it.’
They were like, ‘Okay.’
I remember I sang them the melody of the verse I wrote.
We like that.'”
After some tweaks to the hook, Burruss was invited to work on more songs with the group.
“He started beatboxing it to me,” she says.
“He actually started thinking of the hook and singing, ‘Can you pay my bills?
Can you pay my automo’ bills?’
I was like, ‘I like that.'”
Even then, the future icon displayed a knack for determining how the songs should be sung.
Then she was like, ‘No, I would never say this.
Let’s change that, let’s do this.'"
“I take pride in the fact that, obviously, we gave her her first hit.
it’s possible for you to’t take that away, it’s as simple as that.
She got in the door with that song.”
Burruss takes no issue with the more rock-forward approach that soon became Pink’s signature.
“I love the direction that she changed into.
I love her new sound.
I love what she did withLinda Perry.
It’s like rapping, but melody, maybe you should call it mapping.’
I was like, ‘No.
No, we won’t be doing that.'”
Give me some guys to write for!'"
They felt like that would have been giving away Xscape to another label."
Instead, LaFace gave her a solo deal just as she started writing songs for other artists.
But Burruss did not expect to see the song take on the life it eventually would.
It was really big in Europe, like top 10.
Whenever I perform it, everybody says, ‘Oh, that’s my song!’
And I’m like, ‘But it wasn’t big enough for me back then.'"
“U and Dat” E-40 feat.
I hadn’t been doing anything for a minute so it was new and different.
And when it ended up being a smash, I wasn’t even expecting it."
I’m going to help her.'"
The result was a phenomenon that led to an ongoing trend of otherReal Housewivesreleasing their own vanity singles.
But Burruss reveals “it wasn’t quite that way.”
“They had already reached out to us originally,” she says.
“I guess he was inspired by our song, and they wanted to work out the publishing.
It was like, ‘Okay, cool.
No big deal, they must not be using it.’
That’s all there is.”
She clarifies, “No disrespect to him, because I totally appreciate him reaching out to us.”
Then when it wasAriana Grande, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s great!'"
