Genre: Hip-Hop/R&B

Jazzy, sensual, poetic and body movin’ is the music MoJoe brings to audiences nationwide. Tre and Easy Lee, an intense duo from San Antonio, Texas were offered a contract on the spot while performing at a Christmas party in 2005. MoJoe’s songs appeal to the cerebral with tunes such as Third Coast Anthem, Gold Tooth Diva, Voodoo Coochie and many more. We caught up with the guys in New York City at a Sony Showcase to hear them perform and snag an exclusive interview with this amazing new band.

CR: Ok guys! Hi!

MJ: Hi!

CR: Nancy Kennedy-Carrieri, U Magazine, collegeradio.com, colleges.com and I’m here with Tre and Easy Lee and you’re Easy and you’re Tre, and it’s November 7, I’m here in New York City at Sony Studios and we just had a really cool session, uh, what do you call it, when all of the artists get together - showcase.

MJ: Showcase!

CR: Alright, so you guys had the, what I would call the feature showcase, being the last act, and obviously Matthew Knowles is very proud of you and rightfully so. You’ve got a lot of talent and it really shows. So in reading about you, the description of combining your musical sounds with artists of the past was really interesting and that’s actually what captured my interest in listening to you and I personally am a big fan of Motown, when I was in high school I used to listen to Curtis Mayfield.

MJ: Oh yeah! Yeah yeah!

CR: Believe it or not!

MJ: You said it right now!

CR: And a really good mix of music, so your influences are right on and I think that it’s really good that you’re bringing a different type of Hip-Hop to the world because it seems like there’s a lot of angry music and I didn’t feel that with your music. A couple things that I wanted to just comment on before we talked is that I really liked that your, my first question is, I’m sure everybody’s first question is, how did you get to the name MoJoe?

MJ: (Tre ) (Laughs) There’s a lot of different meanings to that name actually, Easy and I were just trying to come up with a name that kind of describes our music, you know what I’m saying. We came across the word MoJo being kind of a southern word, you know what I’m saying - southern slang, like “You got your MoJo working?“ We looked up the definition of the actual word “mojo” which is spelled “M-O-J-O” and it means “spiritual and magical” and that’s what we think our music is. And also, I don’t know if you’re familiar with a blues singer named Robert Johnson who really...

CR: Malted Milk,

MJ: Exactly! Yeah, you know!

CR: I have the collection

MJ: So you already have it! See, so we just put it all together behind those two.

CR: Is he from Texas?

MJ: (Tre) No, actually, he recorded his music in Texas. All of the music that he has on his album, his record, was recorded in Texas and as a matter fact, where we’re from, well actually, Easy’s from New Orleans, I’m from San Antonio, Texas, but he actually recorded like 23 songs?

(Easy) No, 21 or 19, yeah, 19 songs.

(Tre) 19 songs in San Antonio, Texas

(Easy) So the bulk of the material he recorded before he died was in San Antonio there’s blues organization that salutes him every year; there’s a landmark, at the hotel, where he recorded...

(Tre) The Gunnar Hotel (Easy) Yeah, the Gunnar Hotel

(Tre) It all sort of worked out for us; you know what I’m saying? Being fans of blues and fans of jazz, fans of good music, you know what I’m saying, we definitely wanted to trademark that name, trying to give a holla to him too.

CR: Oh, he was great and I imagine that you, Easy, coming from the Big Easy (laughs) Is that where you got that name?

MJ: (Easy) A little bit, it’s just like MoJoe, it has different meanings - means different things. My personality is real laid-back, you know what I’m saying, so the Easy came from that; The Big Easy, the music, the jazz; the second ground I grew up on, and that’s where the name came from.

CR: I see! Well, the other element was the Marvin Gaye element and kind of the mixture that I saw tonight. Your band is incredible as well, your keyboard player and your drummer, just fantastic.

MJ: Two for Ten, Two for Ten

CR: Really, they add a lot of “plus” to your music. What I read about you was that you like to perform with a live band and I see why.

MJ: (Tre) We wouldn’t go anywhere without them. It’s how we started. I couldn’t even imagine performing with a DAT or just an audio CD. We’ve been doing this for so long, it’s become a part of us, not just to our performers but it’s a part of us, you know what I’m saying? We have to feel the music behind us, we have to, in order for us to do what we do on stage.

CR: And that’s what will make you successful.

MJ: Exactly.

CR: So you have the number four college record right now! How does that feel?

MJ: (Easy)Yes we do! The song “Yesterday”, we’re happy, we’re proud that it’s doing so well. We figured the college crowd would take to it, we’ve got the live trumpet going through there, we’ve got the poetic lyrics and the catchy hook. We’re just happy it took, that the people like it.

CR: That’s another great element I wanted to touch on, the poetry aspect that is a very intelligent part of your music. That shines through in your lyrics, even your body movement while you are performing, it’s poetic. That is something really great to tap into and I saw the audience feels it as well. It is a “magic” thing when you can engage hundreds of people sitting out there who have never heard your music, I had not heard you perform live until tonight and it’s very powerful so keep the poetry going. I’m sure it’s a great catalyst.

MJ: (Easy) It is, yeah. It’s really the foundation of what we believe in. Along with the soul singing, it’s the foundation of “MoJoe” We’re definitely going to keep that going.

CR: Who are some of your favorites, currently? What are you listening to right now?

MJ: (Tre) I’m still listening to a lot of old-school music that my mother put on.

CR: Your mom?

MJ: (Tre) Yeah, my mother used to play, you know what I’m saying, like back in the day. I’m still listening to old soul music. As a matter of fact, me and Easy still go to “Juke Joints” back home. Some people go to the clubs, some times we take a break, go to juke joints, shoot some pool and listen to some blues.

CR: Texas style

MJ: (Tre) Texas style. Southern Style, period. But out right now, (thinks) I’m digging Jill right now, I’m digging Wayne, I’m digging Wayne, his style right now, it’s flowin’ as far as hip-hop. I’m feeling Kelis new album, Kelis has a new album that’s real hot right now.

(Easy) I’m digging Gnarls Barkley. They’re holding the torch right now for alternative hip-hop and they doing it real big with the Live Shark Carnival out in Houston. It’s off the chain and I learned a lot from those guys. We always play a lot of Goodie Mob, Dungeon Family, OutKast, we dig Erika - Erika BadCR..

(Tre) Common, you gotta say Common - Common is doing his thing.

(Easy) Ludacris has a good album out right now too

(Tre) Yeah! I like Ludacris’ album, I think what he did with that album, he’s showing his presidential side, what he’s capable of. Him and Jay’s, they’re like trendsetters, just like OutKast - they’re trendsetters. They come in the game and everybody’s on that.

CR: They’re good role-models.

MJ: (Tre) Exactly. They always set the trend or whatever.

CR: Those are great aspirations.

MJ: (Tre) And I think that’s the effect that we have. That’s what we are. I believe we come out with our music and basically, this is what we are going to do. That’s it. Like it or love it, hate it whatever, this is what we about to do.

CR: I don’t think one person in that room hated it!

MJ: (Tre) No, I’m sure they didn’t. I know they didn’t!

CR: I loved the Diva Dedication, I have to say, and for those of you who haven’t heard it yet or don’t know what that is - why don’t one of you tell us how that came about.

MJ: (Easy) The Diva Dedication, well “Gold Toothed Diva” was a song we came up with to move women that we grew up around and might have had a hard time growing up in the south. Men put gold in their mouth to represent different things. And women, sometimes, do the same thing, but as they grow up and get into different jobs and have families, the gold doesn’t go anywhere, so it represents where they come from. So the song came from that. The Diva Dedication came from a way to trying to come up with a way to bring the song in, with a little humor, something a little light so we could bring the song in, and the producer for the song, Roger Blevins, came up with the music for it, we went in the lab, Trey got on the vocals and I just went in the booth and freestyled just talking about who we were dedicating the song to, and it just worked out to be, like a real special moment on the album. We get a lot of comments on that interlude, so... It’s old school, it’s real throwback, but the talk and the speech on it is current, so it represents everything that album is doing.

CR: A lot of emotion in that song, and as a woman, even, it’s great. I really love that.

MJ: The ladies like it!

CR: The ladies like it, I can see that! It says a lot about -

MJ: Peppermint Pork Chop Patty girl!

CR: Yes, you have quite a few phrases in your music that we won’t touch on right here...

MJ: Yeah

(Everyone laughs)

CR: We will leave that up to our listeners to go ahead and just tap into and look at MoJoe’s new CD Classic.Ghetto.Soul which was actually written a while ago and just remastered! I think your name is very true to you, you are very much more than the average Joe, and I really appreciate you bringing us great music and I think you have great things ahead, with Matthew Knowles behind you, you have excellent leadership and you’re going to do great! So we’ll get your message out to the college audience!

MJ: Thank you very much

CR: And thank you very much for your time!

MJ: (Both) Thank you!