I love Maxwell's music. I have been admirer of his music since I was in 10th grade back in 1996. I attended Capitol Senior High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana back then. Most of my peers were into Master P's No Limit Records. While they were jamming to "Ice Cream Man" and "Make Em Say Uhh," I was taking an "Ascension" with Maxwell. It was so not cool to acknowledge a love for Maxwell at that time at that school,lol. He was the polar opposite of the thug love and thug life that was popular with my peers but I didn't care. I knew good music when I heard it.
The first Maxwell song that I heard was "Til the Cops Come Knockin." It was love at first note when I heard that song. I loved the intensity with which he sang. I would think,"I want to marry a man who loves me with that type of intensity." The longing, the desire, the one track-minded focus on his object of affection so beautiful. It was an aurally decadent experience. One day, I told my friendgirl Frankie about the song and how I loved his music. Her reaction was that he was weird, because she thought the video was weird. I didn't have cable back then and I had no idea what he looked like. I just knew that I loved his music. My love became solidified when "Sumthin, Sumthin" dropped. I knew for a fact that I was a solid Maxwell fan. When I finally saw him, it was when I finally had money to get his album. I thought he was beautiful. I loved his hair, cheekbones, eyes, and figure. Then, THEN, the piece de resistance came when he was on the cover of a 1997 Essence Magazine. I still have that magazine! I was just awed! I had never seen anyone like him before and I loved it! At that time, Neo-Soul was still known as R&B. I just knew that I thought that he was great. When Suite Lady hit the airwaves, I wanted to meet a mini-Maxwell who was my age at the time and also into chunky, nerdy girls,LOL.
In college, I was still a Maxwell fan. His Embrya album had dropped in 1998. I loved this album. My favorite songs from it were Luxury Cococure, I'm You: You Are Me And We Are You (Pt. Me & You, Submerge, and Everwanting. In 2001, I was 21 and his album NOW was released. I loved it and so did everyone else. I was so used to being into things that most of my peers weren't, including my high school Spice Girls phase, that I was very surprised when I was into something that my peers were. For those of you from up north or anywhere but Louisiana, you wouldn't understand the gravity of the situation. By then, many of my peers were thoroughly absorbed in the Cashmoney Records craze at the time. To see Maxwell getting appreciation on all fronts was amazing and I was happy.
Now it is the end of 2010 and Maxwell is still on my mind. I have been loving his new music since his new album, Black Summer's Night, was released last year. I love Bad Habits. I have been hearing it in my head over and over. Also, I finally decided to look at the video, along with his other videos, on YouTube this month. I thoroughly enjoyed them. Bad Habits
along with his live performance of Pretty Wings on David Letterman
Luxury Cococure
and his live performance of Sumthin, Sumthin on Showtime at the Apollo
are my favorites. If I would have seen that live performance when I was in high school, I would have melted through the floor. I was watching Saturday Night Live back then, though,lol. Now, I am 30 years old and I still think that Maxwell is great. I don't have school girl crush on him anymore - at least I don't think that I do,lol. It's all about the music for me, and Maxwell's music never fails to satisfy, to be my Calgon at the end of a long day.
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