Musiq Soulchild and Hit-Boy have a collaborative album on the way.
In a new interview with actor/comedian Bill Bellamy of Top Billin’, the Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter confirmed he and Hit-Boy have been in the lab crafting a new album titled Victims & Villains that could be released this winter.
“It even being an album is a relatively new thing. This is just months in the working. So a lot of it is moving fast. I’m literally in the beginning stages of mixing. So hopefully we have it out by the top of next year. I want to try to have it out by February,” Soulchild told Bellamy.
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He added, “The title is designed to address the topic of the challenges we all deal with in relationships. But I’m approaching it from a slightly different angle than I’m used to. It’s more abstract at the same time direct.”
Soulchild even dubbed Hit-Boy as a “great goat of our time.”
Hit-Boy, nominated for Album of the Year at the 2023 Grammys for his work on Beyoncé’s Renaissance (“THIQUE”), backed Soulchild’s tease by responding to a tweet.
R&B Hit-Boy otw https://t.co/B03xbPHChB
— Hit-Boy (@Hit_Boy) January 6, 2023
For more than a decade, Hit-Boy has been breaking ground as a producer, especially in the world of R&B. Some of his productions paired him with artists such as Brandy (“1st & Love“), Kelly Rowland (“Lay It On Me“), Rihanna (“Watch n’ Learn“), Mary J. Blige (“Hello Father“), Tiffany Evans (“Lay Back & Chill“), Khalid (“Self“) and Kehlani (“Nunya“), among others.
Soulchild is familiar with collaborative albums. In 2013, he and Syleena Johnson joined forces for 9ine, which had some differences between camps on promotion.
In a 2014 interview with Rated R&B, Johnson explained why she thought the album didn’t get its justice.
“Musiq and his management decided that they didn’t want to go forward with the promotion of the album. I don’t know why. That’s something you would probably have to ask them. I still love the project but him and his management didn’t want to promote it,” Johnson shared.
Rated R&B talked to Soulchild in 2015 to get his side on 9ine.
“There was no real support. There were folks in the background acting stupid. Folks got greedy. I just don’t associate with chaos,” Soulchild explained. “It kind of pissed Syleena off a little bit… I did a couple things with it but for the most part, I kept my distance. It just started to get stupid. I feel bad because we could’ve toured with it. We could of made some cool moves with it.”
Soulchild hasn’t released a proper album in five years. Feel the Real, a double album, arrived in September 2017. It debuted at No. 16 on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart and No. 126 on the Billboard 200.
At the 60th Grammy Awards, Feel the Real was nominated for Best R&B Album, making it his third nod in that category. He was previously nominated for Juslisen and Luvanmusiq.
Since releasing Feel the Real, Soulchild has stayed active as a featured artist. He’s worked with Kehlani (“Footprints“), Dionne Warwick (“Am I Dreaming“), Lil’ Kim (“Pray For Me“), Dylan Reese (“Lose Your Love“) and Robert Glasper (“Everybody Love“).
In February 2022, Soulchild participated in a Verzuz celebration with Anthony Hamilton.
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Up next for Soulchild is a tour with Kem and Ledisi. The Soul II Soul Tour begins Feb. 3, at the Colonial Life Arena, in Columbia, South Carolina.
The tour includes shows in March, April and May. Tickets are on sale.
Watch Musiq Soulchild talk about his upcoming collaborative album, Victims & Villains, with Hit-Boy and more.
