Taalib Johnson or Musiq Soulchild as we know him, has truly been a breath of creative fresh air to music today. In a day of one hit wonders Musiq continues to be an artist of substance as he entertains us with his own version of hip hop, soul and funk. His fans are always looking forward to what the next song title will be.

Originally from Philly and now holding it down in the ATL, Musiq is the oldest of nine and has been on his own since he was 17. As he looked for every opportunity to sing and be heard he finally signed with Def Soul in 2000 and released his platinum selling CD “Aijuswanaseing” with his sophomore release “Juslisen” being just as successful. His originality always keeps us guessing and his most recent release does not disappoint. “Onmyradio” his 5th CD released on December 9th is surely to be another chartopper and a must download to your iPod. With the title single “Onmyradio” and “Ifuleave” with Mary J Blige already in the #1 spot, it is just a taste of what’s to come according to Musiq. I had a chance to catch up with him on a visit to Chicago and get to know a little more about the man behind the Musiq .

ICC: Who are your mentors?

Musiq: Donnie Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder. I was with Stevie Wonder in L.A. and told him that if it weren’t for you Musiq Soulchild would not be who he is. His music has inspired me like that.

ICC: How did you get your big break?

Musiq: I didn’t really have a big break, I don’t believe in them. It implies that you have arrived somewhere, because we are always arriving, it is a huge misconception about the industry. My big break out song was “ Just Friends” from the Nutty Professor 2 soundtrack then came the song “Love”. I’ve been in the express lane ever since.

ICC: Who is behind the creativity of your song titles?

Musiq: It’s definitely me even though I write and produce the songs with other people. The mastermind behind it is mostly me.

ICC: What inspired the new look?

Musiq: I feel like I’ve played the game a lot for most of my career. It’s been a lot of what people have been telling me I should do. I finally felt like “I’ve been dressing myself now for 30 plus years I think I can do this”. I don’t feel misrepresented in any way, I’ve learned a lot, but this is just more me. And I haven’t even gotten started yet. I feel like its time to show people who I really am.

ICC: A lot of artists are breaking out into acting and other areas of entertainment. What about you?

Musiq: Whatever I can use to express myself creatively I’m going to do it. I don’t believe in just restricting myself to just one area or one form of creativity. God gave me the gift to make music and I intend to use it to inspire people and I want to make people feel that they can be the best they can be and do anything they want and then pay it forward.

ICC: Do you have a muse?

Musiq: God is my muse. I’m inspired by God because he inspires me to do better at any given moment. I know at times as a human being I may fall short but he is the example. Shoot for the moon and even if you fail you may land on the stars.

ICC: How do you manage to stay under the radar with your personal life? You hear very little about what you’re doing and who you are seeing.

Musiq: I don’t believe in exploiting my personal life because that’s not what I’m here to do. I’m here to entertain you through music. I understand how things surrounding my personal life have some relevance. But it would be the same as if I came to your house and asked you a million things about what you are doing. I came here to present you with my creativity, not to tell you my blood type or how many times I made some smooth moves, if you know what I mean (Laugh). All that doesn’t matter because it doesn’t add to or take away from the fact that I am here to entertain you. If you notice back in the day it wasn’t that much of a concern, people would just enjoy the music. You can call them off. I mean people weren’t perfect and had issues but that is real. It didn’t stop them from wanting to do what they love and entertain you. The sacredness of it was probably the ingredient that made them so magical. Now that everyone is always digging for the dirt to expose people it takes away the mystery and makes things boring. At first I was reluctant to get in the music business because of the loss of privacy and to a large degree that is true. Sometimes I forget and I’m out and about and people approach me and I’m like whoa. I am very grateful for my fans and I do my best to be accommodating but people forget at the end of the day I am a human being like everybody else and deserve some privacy. Take for example the Jennifer Hudson tragedy. That’s not entertainment that’s her real life, but to some it’s just another celebrity going through something. And even though it shouldn’t matter what people say to some degree we are all affected by what people say. So at the end of the day I live my life and try to enjoy myself, I don’t go out and party much. I spend most of my time working and performing.

ICC: Well after that I have to ask, hopefully without being too personal, what do you do when you have a day off?

Musiq: Ask anyone who knows me, I sleep.