Lainie: And he did a couple of songs solo.
Clivilles: We broke, you know, we just broke worldwide, let’s give them another album and then we’re work on your solo career. And, that success changed him so much, you know, that he just felt that no, you know, it was, I mean me and David felt like a doormat, like, you know, now the record was broken, we’d turned him into a star, so, I’ll take it from here guys. That’s pretty much the way it was done. And he went and sold fifteen records, you know, when he came on solo.
Lainie: DAMN.
Clivilles: And, even with that, we had asked him back on the album that has Boriqua Anthem. We had taken a break and when we stopped with the C&C thing while he went solo and we went to work with Mariah and we worked on the Bodyguard album, we just kept going. And even with all that success that we had, I still asked him to come back and work on a second album and he didn’t. And, yes, it’s kind of messed up to see that he didn’t think the C&C Music Factory was important for him, but that’s the only thing that has fed him for the last ten years, and that he dares use mine and David’s name to put food on his table, and to this day.
Lainie: And so he hasn’t called you or sent a Christmas card?
Clivilles: No, to tell you the truth, me and Freedom have talked in the last two years about possibly doing something together, and every time we get to talking about it, it always ends up the same, you know, the same way it happened before. I feel that he doesn’t put his feet on the ground, and I think that that’s why I’m still around. With all the success and all the starts and all the glamour and everything I’ve been surrounded with, I still know where I came from, and that’s very important to know where you come from, because that’s the only way you’re going to know where you’re going to. And if you don’t know that, then you’re stuck in this big hole just doing the same thing over and over and over again. And that’s pretty much what’s happened with C&C Music Factory, you’ve got Angel Deleon doing Boriqua Anthem as C&C Music Factory, and then you have Freedom over here and then you have Zelma over there. And it just shows you the tragic part of it that none of them can get together and just do it together, and it’s always about the dough and it’s always about, it’s not really about C&C Music Factory. It’s about I’ve got to go do a show because I need this money because no one signs me. And that’s the terrible part, but I don’t get mad at it because…
Lainie: I mean, you’ve been pretty good about letting it just go, because there are a lot of people who won’t let…
Clivilles: Yes, let it go.
Lainie: You know, a lot of people won’t let performers that they’ve worked with still use the name or the…
Clivilles: Yes, it’s not worth the hassle, it’s not worth the stress. It’s really, it’s really not important to me anymore. I mean, actually l I’ve been asked to do a C&C Music Factory album with Stagga on the other side of the world to feature him, and I’m thinking about using C&C Music Factory in it for the first time.
Lainie: That’ll be good.
Clivilles: Yes. And…
Lainie: I love Stagga
Clivilles: He’s very, very talented, yes, he’s very, very talented and very nice, he’s a very humble kid.
Lainie: I think sort of worries me with some of the hip-hop community, he is very nice and very humble and he has a great talent, so now they’re like OK, how are we going to make him…?
Clivilles: No, let’s not mistake nice and humble with not growing up in the street.
Lainie: A soft touch, yes.
Clivilles: Because that is not a soft kid. I mean, when you look at him you know he grew up, you know, he don’t look like no dude that just came out of a suburban house, you know, he looks…
Lainie: He’s A Rock.
Clivilles: Yes, he’s, you know, he’s had him some problems, it’s just that he’s hip-hop, he’s grown up hip-hop. I mean, you know, he’s twenty-six years old and hip-hop is twenty-six years old, so he’s grown with hip-hop all his life so he know the grades, he know the Rakims, you know, he knows the BDPs, he knows the Nas. You know, he’s grown up with some big MCs, and that’s what Stag is all about, the essence of having talent which are lyrics. And he comes from the base, you know, Nice and Smooth, you know, Leaders of The New School, A Tribe Called Quest… And he doesn’t want to do the same thing, you’ve already got a white kid out there angry, so he doesn’t need to be angry and, you know, and he’s just going to be following in somebody’s footsteps. He doesn’t need to be part of it…
