John Legend is a very busy man these days. He is promoting a new album ( “Love in the Future” ), headlining his own tour ( “Made to Love Tour”) and balancing being a newlywed. With all he has on his plate, he still finds time to chat with VH1 news on his contribution to the “12 Years a Slave.”
After watching the film, which he calls “One of the best films” he lent his talents to the soundtrack. However, Legend didn’t just join the soundtrack to have his name on the credits he was personally connected to the film.
“I am a descendant of slaves,” said Legend.
“In the film, a character gets kidnapped from freedom in the north to slavery in the south and then eventually wins their freedom back, and that actually happened to someone in my family. I just found out about it when I did the show Finding Your Roots on PBS with Henry Louis Gates.”
Legend later discussed his growth as an artist and finding misogyny annoying and lazy in today’s songwriting.
“As I have gotten older, misogyny bothers me more than it used to,” said Legend. “I’m a bit more turned off by it when I hear it, and I think it’s a lazy way of writing, as well. I think you can be really creative and tell better stories without sounding like a complete a**hole.”
( Source: VH1 )