100% interview with Ginuwine
It was nearing 6 p.m. in Waterloo on Friday, June 9, and everybody and their mama was outside for My Waterloo Days. Sunlight flickered between kids’ feet and heads as they swung around the Ferris Wheel. Tinged in tangerine, Lincoln Park and the streets around it were slammed with vibrant, sunglass-wearing hip-hop lovers of all ages, hungry for a healthy hit of nostalgia.
Just before Ginuwine’s headlining appearance at My Waterloo Days, the “Differences” singer sat down with IPR’s Lucius Pham in the cab of his trailer to discuss his friendship with 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Missy Elliott, discovering Shaggy in Jamaica and the next phase of his career: The Grandfather. Also, The Director.
Ginuwine at My Waterloo Days
My Waterloo Days is a four-day, citywide celebration of Waterloo, presented for the first time this year with Experience Waterloo at the helm. For 41 years, the event has hosted festivals, parades and performances from local and national acts.
This year, Experience Waterloo estimates over 15,000 people attended the Friday festivities alone, thanks in large part to Ginuwine, the Ying Yang Twins and the organization's renewed emphasis on accessibility. Unlike years prior, the mainstage concert was free and open to the public.
With 26 years in the touring biz, Ginuwine, born Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, is no stranger to Iowa. However, his co-headlining gig at My Waterloo Days marked the singer-dancer’s first trip to The Loo. Ginuwine has performed before in Davenport, Sioux City, Dubuque and recently Des Moines, where he and Nelly packed the Grandstand at last year’s “beautiful” Iowa State Fair.
That night, face-to-face with a roaring Lincoln Park crowd, Ginuwine played the hits. The audience grooved to “When Doves Cry” and melted at the unmistakable first “womp” of “Pony.”
Ginuwine… The Entertainer
Long before Lloyd and Young Money started making beds rock in 2010, sexy music was Ginuwine’s special practice. Responsible for “Pony,” “All Nite All Day” and the lives of countless twenty-somethings, the 52-year-old entertainer has been a fixture of American hip-hop and R&B for 26 years.
“It's just great, man,” says Lumpkin, “to continue to be on the path that I’ve been on right now. You know, I try to follow in the footsteps of Frankie Beverly and people like that, Charlie Wilson… Their music is timeless. And so they just go on tour in the summer and everybody come out and just, you know, support them. That's what I'm trying to pattern myself after.”
Ginuwine, the entertainer, was born out of two colossal moments in American music. The first, Michael Jackson’s 1983 televised performance of “Billie Jean” during Motown 25, dropped millions of jaws, including young Elgin’s, with its Earth-tilting, gravity-defying debut of the moonwalk. Lumpkin equally credits Prince’s groundbreaking album Purple Rain and its film adaptation with inspiring him to pursue his passion for entertaining.
“It's those times in your life that you have a spark in your head,” says Lumpkin. “And those two guys were two of the people that inspired me. Rest in peace Michael and Prince. And that's why I… paid homage to them while they were here.”
“She’s Out of My Life,” the sixteenth and final track on Ginuwine’s 1999 sophomore album 100% Ginuwine, is a spin on a Jackson 5 classic, beginning with an orchestral prelude and a whole lotta sniffling. And Ginuwine's run-filled rendition of Prince’s “When Doves Cry,'' on his 1996 debut studio album Ginuwine… the Bachelor, helped introduce the D.C.-born performer to the world.
“I wanted to make sure I paid homage to them, whether they liked me or not,” says Lumpkin. “That didn’t even bother me. But I did have the opportunity to meet Prince and he said I did a good job. That was reassuring, I was happy, so that’s all I needed to continue.”
By 2001, both Elgin’s parents had died, within a year of each other. His third album, The Life, featuring songs like “Differences,” “Open Arms” and “That’s How I Get Down (feat. Ludacris),” unpacked that tragic loss and became a vessel for his pain. To this day, Ginuwine refuses to perform his gut-wrenching “Two Reasons I Cry” in concert.
“You know what,” says Lumpkin, “that was during a time where I needed, I needed a release. I had went through a lot of trauma with my mom and my dad leaving this Earth, peace to them. RIP to them. And so it was just all… it was all bundled in me and I just needed a release and music was my therapy, man.”
Directed by Elgin B. Lumpkin
These days, Ginuwine is quietly at work diversifying his portfolio. The “So Anxious” songwriter, who penned "pretty much 90%" of his 10 album catalogue, has shifted his focus to Hollywood.
“Writing a song is truly like writing a movie," says Lumpkin, "but you’re condensing it into like three to four minutes and [you’re] getting your point across. That’s why music is so… you’re not addicted, but you’re so attracted to music because you get it right there. Movies is just long form songs. I used to be in the house, man, and I used to write scripts for my kids, and so that’s how I used to get my practice. They used to do the scripts.”
In addition to his experience directing home movies with his children, Ginuwine's boot camp-esque devotion to the studio in the '00s, following the death of his parents, hardened his storytelling abilities. Back then, the "Only When Ur Lonely" singer was incentivized to bang songs out at a furious pace, both as an outlet for his grief and for a little extra cash.
"The guys that was in the studio, they used to take bets," says Lumpkin. "They was like ‘He ain’t gon write this in 15, 20 minutes.’ And I used to just [snaps repeatedly]. Everything wasn’t no hit, but I wrote songs in 20 minutes. It was a great release and I was able to continue on my career, you know, do multiple albums and just continue to spread love.”
Those unfamiliar with his music may recognize Ginuwine from a notable cameo on NBC’s Parks and Recreation, where the “Pony” singer memorializes the life of a beloved miniature horse named Lil’ Sebastian on the show’s star-studded season six finale, which also featured Jeff Tweedy, The Decemberists, Letters to Cleo and Yo La Tengo. Lumpkin also starred as a fictionalized version of himself as a love interest on the Brandy Norwood sitcom Moesha.
Touring, slipping and “not tripping”
During a performance of “In Those Jeans'' at Lovers & Friends, a massive '90s and 2000s throwback festival held this year in Las Vegas with artists like Mariah Carey, Usher, Boyz II Men, Miguel and 50 Cent, Ginuwine leapt several feet from the stage down onto a platform. He did not stick the landing. As the R&B star slipped backwards, he managed to latch onto the collar of the show’s ASL interpreter, and almost took him down too. By the time Ginuwine’s left foot had reached the level of his head, the Soul Train Award-winning singer disappeared into the dark chasm of the under-stage.
“Lovers & Friends has always been good, you know. I’m always acting a fool onstage, having fun,” says Lumpkin. “That’s the benefit of me being in the business as long as I’ve been in it. It’s just... now it’s about fun. Sometimes you slip up, you do something crazy and hey! You own it, you do what you do and it continues to make you relevant, so it’s all good with me. I’m not tripping, I’m not tripping at all. I’m a seasoned vet and I’m just having fun.”
In a front-facing video en route to a show in Atlanta, Ginuwine let fans know he was A-Okay: “Shoutout to everyone at Lovers & Friends, that was a crazy, crazy show. We had so much fun, um, besides my lil slip [Laughs].”
During our conversation, the “Stingy” singer assured that he's in good health, and claims his OG status entitles him to the occasional whoopsie. The countless memes, GIFs and jokes that followed the incident simply slide off the veteran public figure, who doesn’t let it bother him.
“No, man, it’s all in fun, I don’t care, no one can really take me off of my square.” Says Lumpkin, “I’m cool. Listen, I go home, I’m living good, I’m comfortable. I don’t worry about anything, my kids are all safe. My kids are good, I’m buying them houses and cars and all. There’s nothing you can say. I’m successful in being a father. Nothing means more than that.”
Lumpkin, whose “Pony” was included on the Magic Mike XXL original motion picture soundtrack alongside Jodeci’s “Freek’n You” and 112’s “Anywhere,” is father to nine children, and is a newly minted grandfather.
Friendship with Missy Elliott
On Nov. 3, Missy Elliott will join the likes of Willie Nelson, Chaka Khan, George Michael, DJ Kool Herc and Rage Against the Machine in the annals of rock & roll history. Ginuwine, who featured on the sensual, early Missy track “Friendly Skies,” never had any doubt the songstress and music video pioneer would make history.
“That is just one of the things that I've always seen in her as a writer, as a performer, entertainer and producer and all that.” Says Lumpkin, “I already knew that that was where she was headed. I mean, she always had that ‘it’ factor so seeing that [nomination] was gratifying, but I always knew it was going to happen. She deserves it. It is well deserved by her so salute to her all the time. I always knew that she was going to do it.”
Miss E and Ginuwine go way back. The pair spent a lot of time together, especially back in their Swing Mob days (approx. 1991 - '95), crafting music under the same roof as Timbaland, Magoo, Tweet and the Jodeci brothers. A year after Ginuwine’s ‘96 debut The Bachelor, following both artists' departure from Swing Mob, Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott released her classic, debut album Supa Dupa Fly.
Discovering Shaggy
Just as songs like “Show After The Show,” “Hell Yeah” and “G Thang (feat. Missy Elliott & Magoo)” are synonymous with the '90s and early 2000s, so too are “Boombastic,” “Angel” and “It Wasn’t Me (feat. Rik Rok).” Ginuwine described discovering Shaggy in Jamaica, before his 1993 debut Pure Pleasure, and details his own surprise upon hearing the reggae rapper’s signature “toasting” style for the first time.
“I met Shaggy before he came out really,” says Lumpkin. “It was ‘91 or ‘92. It was me, Chad Elliott - he's a producer. And he was trying to do something for him. I met him in the studio. And then when he did [Shaggy imitation], I was like, ‘What the!?’ I didn't even know that was his voice. It was great meeting him. He's a great artist, too.”
What's next for My Waterloo Days
After the success of this year's MWD, the team at Experience Waterloo is already planning the next one. Experience Waterloo Marketing Director Lindsay Pieters says the organization is committed to keeping its shows accessible to the community, with a focus on the hip-hop and R&B that drew crowds to Lincoln Park this year.
