Inside The BOX.: Donell Jones

Q&A with R&B crooner Donell Jones
by Samantha Luck

Longing for the sultry, sensual R&B sounds of love, romance, courtship, and love-making? Fifteen years in, Donell Jones still has the remedy. Since his debut album, Heart, where he gave us the hit cover of Stevie Wonder’s ballad “Knocks Me Off My Feet,” to now with Lyrics, Jones shows us that good, honest, sexy music can never fade especially when it’s done on his terms.

I caught up with him after his Park Unplugged performance sponsored by The Park at Fourteenth and Beny Blaq Entertainment and here’s what he had to say.

Check out more after the jump.


Samantha Luck: Now that you aren’t with Jive, you are now with E1?
Donell Jones: E1 is my distributor and I’m on my own label, which is Candyman Music. [Lyrics] is my first album that I’ve put out on my own label. It’s been about four or five years.
How does that feel? Putting out your music on your own label?
It’s beautiful. It’s a hell of a lot more work, ya know, but it’s beautiful. One of the things I wanted to do in my career is have some ownership in what I make. And the other records that I’ve made, I don’t own them. I mean they’re my records, but I don’t have an ownership in those records. Moving forward…when guys write movies, they own those movies; so when I write a record, I want to own it.

What are your favorite songs to perform from this album?
“Love Like This,” and then “Just a Little” is one my favorites as well.


Since you’re Mr. R&B, what’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever done?
You know, the song “Do You Wanna” was actually something that I did. Run bathwater, rose petals, the glass of wine–just have it set up before she gets home. I’m not gonna say that I’m super romantic but, sometimes I like to do things like that, just to throw her off. I’m a Gemini, so it’s hard to figure me out so, you know, I like to do small things just to keep the relationship spicy.
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Check out more from Donell Jones:
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Inside The BOX.: DMV Followers

These dudes are taking over the city one Twitter follower at a time, point blank (and you know you’re doing something right when you catch Wale’s attention). Luckily, JukeBOX was able to catch up with them at the Stop The HIViolence: Interstate I95 tryouts (of which I believe they were judges) to talk to them briefly about the moves they have been making in the city and surrounding areas (not to mention down in Georgia as well). Take heed…this is how you grind.

Biggie’s Courtship Techniques

Ever wonder why Biggie got all the Hunnies Puff tells you how….


What was he like around women?

Around women he was a charmer. He didn’t really make the first move, and a lot of times it just happened from, “Pleased to meet you.” He would get introduced to people and when he said “pleased to meet you” to a girl it rang a different way. I guess they was caught off guard by how much of a gentleman he was, how smooth he was and also how he didn’t try to continue on the conversation. That made her feel comfortable. They’d lay in the cut, something else would happen, and then they’d start laughing. They’d see the humor and it was a wrap.

What is your most vivid memory of Biggie?

When I think of him I think of him sitting in a room by himself, rocking back and forth, smoking a blunt down almost to the roach of it, doing that for hours in deep thought while writing. His mouth is not moving, he’s not mimicking what he’s going to do in the booth. It was him in deep, spiritual rap meditation.

Listening to him rhyme, he always seemed so worldly.

I don’t know where he got that stuff from … I don’t really understand how he knew all that stuff. I never saw him reading a lot of magazines, reading a lot of books, watching a lot of TV, watching a lot of movies. I think he was just put on the earth this way.

S/O VOLTURE