well...i guess r kelly wasn't the first to get intimate with a 14 year old...










this is an old interview.




Chanté Moore is back with the HOT new single "Straight Up" which features Jermaine Dupri. Exposed is her revealing new album that will hit stores November 14th. It features Da Brat, Jermaine Dupri, Tim and Bob, Jam and Lewis, Laney, Tricky and more.
A Change Of Plans
By Jeff Lorez

It's lunch time at New York's cozy Gamut restaurant, and Chanté Moore is uncharacteristically inconspicuous, with much of her attractive face, hair, and neck hidden by the low brim of her hat and her high turtleneck sweater. No one may recognize her today, but the diva's about to release her fourth album, ironically titled Exposed. The new album is the topic of today's conversation--specifically, the fact that its upbeat, dance-floor-friendly vibe (like the Jermaine Dupri-produced single "Straight Up" and accompanying workout-style music video) may leave Moore's core adult-contemporary audience a touch confused.

"We just wanted something young and energetic," explains Moore between mouthfuls of chicken Caesar salad. "And as for the video [which is set in a gym], when I work out, that's what I look like. I felt comfortable in the video, which is important to me. But overall, I feel the album has a lot of different elements to it."

One of the most notable elements is the word "n-gger," which Moore uses repeatedly on the otherwise lush, melodic love-gone-wrong ballad "Bitter." This is another obvious point of discussion. Doesn't she feel like the song's chance for radio play has been harmed by its shocking inclusion of the "N-word"?

"We did a radio version with the word 'mister' instead," says Moore, already anticipating my question. "But what I liked about this record was that I wasn't worrying about radio. I was making the music I felt."

Undoubtedly one of the strongest cuts on Exposed is the mellifluous Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis-produced "Love Is Still Alright," which is very different from "Bitter." "I didn't want anyone to get the impression that because there are a couple of songs like 'Bitter,' that this is some kind of male-bashing album," Moore clarifies. "It's a great song to close the album out with. I'm generally a happy, positive person, and I don't want people to think that it has to end your life because a relationship goes bad."

However, after this interview is over, it is made public knowledge that Moore and her husband, actor Kadeem Hardison (with whom she has a 4-year-old daughter), are getting divorced. It's difficult, in hindsight, not to read her interview quotes and examine her lyrics in light of this new information. While Moore's hit from her last album, "Chanté's Got A Man," was inspired by her then-blissful domestic situation, her desire to head straight back into the studio so soon to record Exposed might have been her way of getting her mind off troubles at home. Or maybe, if Chanté had a man the last time around, this was her way of explaining why she hasn't got one now. Or maybe she just wanted to get another album out there, to keep her name in the mix and make some money. Whatever the reason, any pain Moore might be going through is, for the duration of our lunch meeting, hidden beneath an effervescent yet professional demeanor. Still, it must be said that some of her new material does slot conveniently into the "angry woman" theme prevalent in so much female R&B these days.

"Sometimes it's therapy," Chanté explains. "Sometimes you feel that way about a guy, and it's valid. Maybe radio got on the trend, and not women, because there are songs on everybody's album where we say, 'I don't wanna be with you, you don't treat me well, I wanna leave.'"

As the conversation drifts, and we talk generally about her life outside music, I ask Moore what have been the hardest learning curves for her, either personally or professionally. Her response is surprising.

"When I was 14 years old an older man came into my life," she reveals. "We were together for so many years. The way my life changed because of that older person being in it--some of those scenes were devastating. It's too quick a way to grow up. It's not something that's talked about a lot, but I'm sure it's something that happens, especially these days with girls looking as mature as they do. At 14, you think you're a woman, and it's so important to understand that you don't have to try and grow up so fast. Girls mature faster than guys, so you lean towards someone older, who has more experience or wisdom, instead of the other 14-year-old boys who are talking about Nintendo or something! But you lose your innocence because he's not innocent and you are. Ten years later, you think, what the hell was I thinking? What I've learned from my relationship with my mom is that she trusted me a little too much, and in the end, it was to my detriment. Because of that, I think I'll be liberal with my daughter, but careful, too. I still have to deal with things that happened when I was 14. In many ways, I'm still the same little girl I was when I was 14--the sensitivities, fears, insecurities."

As a little girl, Moore lived in San Diego, California. Her father's jazzy piano playing and the gospel music that resonated throughout her house were early influences, but she didn't decide to pursue an entertainment career seriously until she was 16, when she played Dorothy in a local production of The Wiz. With contacts through her musician brother and the help of her then-boyfriend to buy equipment, she recorded home demos and eventually signed her first deal with Warner Bros. in the late '80's. However, despite recording an entire album for Warner Bros., she was dropped by Warner's black music department head at the time, Benny Medina (who now manages Jennifer Lopez). She was subsequently picked up by Silas/MCA, with George Duke producing much of her first album, Precious. Although the Simon "Funky Ginger" Law-produced "Love's Taking Over" was her first sizable hit, it was Duke who took Moore under his wing and tried to introduce her to as large an audience as possible. She remembers, with a sense of comic disbelief, her trip to the Montreaux Jazz Festival with Duke around the time of the album's release:

"It was my second time singing my own music," Chanté recalls. "The first time was for the executives at MCA. So here I am with George Duke at Montreaux, and I'm so nervous. It's a good thing I smile when I'm scared! It was a jazz band--they played things a little differently, which kind of threw me off. But when things really started going wrong was when I was asked to be one of the performers for Quincy Jones & Friends, who were heading the show. They wanted me to do a song with Take 6. I learned it in rehearsal and everyone was so happy that I'd got it down so fast. When I got out there, I didn't even know what I was singing! I was so off, and Quincy Jones was looking at me like, 'You bloomin' idiot!' I was so mortified. It was terrible!"

Although Moore is a very different woman from the innocent 14-year-old or the inexperienced artist out of her element at Montreaux, she still has some insecurities like everyone else. When I ask Moore what she's most insecure and secure about today, she answers, "My main insecurity is that I worry I can't be the best mother I can possibly be. Working and being away from [my daughter] is so difficult. But I'm most secure about the fact that I know how to love, and I know that if I'm in a relationship I can love you more than anyone else--if I choose to love you."

I'm curious, did this particular album ever get released? It's definitely an old interview if there's a reference to Kadeem, they were divorced in 97(?) . I'm shocked by the fact that she was, in my OP, raped at fourteen. I hope she is happy now with Kenny Latimore, he seems like a decent guy.

nicole kidman said:

UncleGrandpa said:

Yes, the album came out n 2000 or 2001. It was called Exposed. The first single was the Jermaine Durpi produced song Straight Up and the second single was called Bitter. In fact R Kelly was in the video for Bitter.

musicman said:

rule #1 in making songs about people you love--that shit don't last !! chante's got a man one year, the next year she's bitter

billy joel-- uptown girl (christie brinkley)--divorced

Prince--the whole damn emacipation disc 2, i love u but i don't trust u anymore

steve perry--oh sherry

meltwithu said:

How did I miss this? Anybody know what track(s) he did?