![]() ![]() Santana has also given his blessing to the Khaled redo, saying that it brings the original track to a “new dimension.” But Moore and McRae say that while they’re grateful for the musical shoutout, they can’t help but lament that “Wild Thoughts” strips the original of its association with West Side Story, where the musical’s character “Maria” stood to represent both the grim reality of gang violence and poverty and the hope for a better life. There’s no substance to it,” he explains. “I think it’s important for the youth to hold on to something, and believe in something.” I think today, music is, it’s good, but there’s no message. McRae says the Product G&B “story” is simple: “Music with messages. Where we are now, now we can try to resonate the right way and tell our story and brand us again, the way we wanted to be.” “Sometimes you miss out, you skip things. “When you’re moving so fast, and you’re going all over the place, it’s like, ‘Woah,'” Moore says, indulging a habit of half-singing the end of his sentence. But in many ways, they’re both still processing just how “Maria Maria” catapulted Product G&B to fame, and how to craft a comeback. ![]() Moore and McRae have grown in other ways, too - both are now fathers, and McRae splits his time between studio sessions and studying to be a registered nurse. In the meantime, the two have worked on several tracks with Kingston producers The Heatmakerz, before dropping European hit “V.I.P.” with Kay One in 2013, and in 2015, the dance track “Summer Nights in Brazil” with Mr. Moore and McRae say they’re now working on their debut studio album, Party, to arrive later this year as a “carnival, festive, feel-good” record. But ultimately, Ghetto Blues fell through - “things happened, the business happened,” Moore says - and the duo still hasn’t dropped a studio record. A second single, “Cluck Cluck,” doubled as the lead single for the Dr. The duo wasted no time releasing a second Santana collab, “Dirty Dancin,'” in 2001, meant to be the first single off their debut album, Ghetto Blues. Still, he can only describe what happened next as “magical.” “ was a genuine mesh, a synergy, and it just worked,” continues Moore, who co-wrote the song along with McRae, Santana and Wyclef. “That’s why they’ve got ‘Wild Thoughts’ now.” “You would have thought he was somebody’s grandfather coming from the bus stop, real talk.” “He came in with magic marker drawn on his sneakers, and we were thinking, he’s a guy who brings in the guitars or something, and he’s actually Santana,” Moore explains, laughing. Consequently, they failed to recognize the legendary artist when he walked into the studio. “We were like, ‘Who the hell is that?'” Moore says. Though the duo claim they pored over everything from gospel music (Moore while in church choir as a teenager) to The Temptations to Whitney Houston, they admit they’d never heard of Santana. The only problem? Moore and McRae didn’t actually know who the Latin rock band leader was. And then brought us along to make history.” “That was the next big thing, to come do something with Carlos,” says Moore. One thing led to another, and soon, Davis introduced Moore and McRae to Carlos Santana. But things really got moving once Moore and McRae met Wyclef - who had just kicked off an explosive solo career with his multi-platinum album The Carnival, and who the duo would come to view “like a big brother.”Īfter guest-spotting on the Wyclef, Khadejia and Funkmaster Flex track “Here We Go Yo” in ’98, the duo signed to Wyclef’s J Records imprint, Yclef, where they got to working with music industry giant Clive Davis. McRae and Moore had spent years working toward that moment. Back in the mid-1990s, the twenty-somethings were a burgeoning “ghetto and blues” act from Hempstead, Long Island, whose ability to both spit verses and sing lead vocals had just caught the attention of Pras, then a member of popular hip-hop group The Fugees with Wyclef and Lauryn Hill. People were trying to rush the stage we had to sing it twice. ![]() “We came out, and the place was like a riot. “The manager handed us the microphones, and he said, ‘watch this.’ We’re like, ‘watch what?'” McRae recalls, beginning to hum the now instantly-recognizable “Maria” intro. ![]()
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