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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Boyz II Men

Aired June 08, 2002 - 07:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, long before the Backstreet Boys hit the streets and N' Sync got the sync, Boyz II Men were the hottest boy-band on the music charts.

They wowed audiences worldwide with their harmonious melodies, all while racking up hit after hit, capturing a string of Grammy awards. They took a bit of a hiatus, but now they're back with a new single and a new album and an amazing new music video. Joining us live, from New York's studio, to talk more about their return: Nate, Michael, Shawn and Wanya: better known, of course, as Boyz II Men.

Hi, guys.

I am so glad you guys got up early for us. We sure appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, we're not morning people.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did it for you, though.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Oh -- I love you guys. All right, good, because you know I'm going to get you to serenade us, so we'll get there in a moment.

Let's talk about this song. What a wonderful message, what a positive message, especially in light of some things that have been going on lately. Mike, tell us about this song, and the meaning behind it.

MICHAEL McCARY, BOYZ II MEN: Well, this song is called "The Color of Love," and it was produced by Babyface, and basically, it's just to touch all areas of love, you know.

We have so many genres of love right now. That's just amazing, and we wanted to touch upon, in the video, just the world love. You know, just to show the world that you can love one another and not hate each other. You know, and have no problems. You know, you can hug your brother, you know. And have no problems.

PHILLIPS: Oh. Feel the love. (CROSSTALK)

McCARY: It's all about love, man.

PHILLIPS: You know, we could get nice and mushy this morning, I like this, guys. Will you...

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Now, you had to have four different directors, because these were all in different locations. So, Shawn, how did you guys pick these directors, and how did you -- you know, how do you pick directors that were going to fell the love also?

SHAWN STOCKMAN, BOYZ II MEN: Well, actually, the concept of the four directors and the four locations was created by Little X.

And, fortunately, the four directors were friends of his, so when he called all of them, the directors were Benny Boom, Hype Williams, Chris Robinson and Little X. So, when he called the other guys, they were down with it, because -- you know -- they had a respect and a love for the group and we had a love and respect for them as well, so it came surprisingly easy.

You know what I'm saying? We didn't think that it would come so easy because of the fact that it's four directors; it's never been done before. So, but everybody got on board and it was beautiful.

PHILLIPS: And you all went to a different spot. Nate, why don't you tell us about Ghana?

NATE MORRIS, BOYZ II MEN: Ghana was far.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Right, because you did it in 24 hours. I don't know how you did that.

N. MORRIS: Yeah, actually -- I flew in about 11:30 that evening -- there you go...

PHILLIPS: All the kids went crazy...

N. MORRIS: It was great, man. I was actually teaching them -- they had -- their words -- the English words lined up on the board. And I was pointing to them.

I was pointing to car, and they'd say car. I'd point to house and they'd say house. And, there was two spellings to the word sun. It was s-u-n and s-o-n, so I'd point to sun, then I'd point to son, and they'd just keep going sun, sun, sun, sun, sun, sun. They was cool with that...

PHILLIPS: It was -- go ahead.

N. MORRIS: It was an interesting trip. I mean, you know, like I said, it was 24 hours, and we shot a whole lot of stuff in 24 hours. So -- I mean, you know, the people there were just, you know -- really happy to embrace the concept of having us come there and shoot a video.

PHILLIPS: Oh, and Wanya, you went to Puerto Rico. Tell me about Puerto Rico.

WANYA MORRIS, BOYZ II MEN: Puerto Rico was a very beautiful -- it was...

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: So were the women, aren't they?

(CROSSTALK)

W. MORRIS: Yeah, yeah. There was a fort, a place in what you call -- Pearla (ph), and there was a fort actually built around old San Juan, but La Pearla (ph) was outside of San Juan and outside of the fort.

And it just showed like -- you know -- even in the places where we would call -- you know, poverty -- you know -- people still had love -- authentic love for their people and for their families and for the -- that's La Pearla (ph) right there, we were actually sitting in a place where it was just very beautiful, but it was very low-class. It was -- no homes were -- like -- incredibly, like, poverty. You know what I mean?

PHILLIPS: Right.

W. MORRIS: But the love that they had, the smiles and the joy that they -- you know -- holding their children and things like that. It was incredible and it showed that even in a state like that, you know, you still had authentic love.

PHILLIPS: Michael, what about India? Tell me about India.

MCCARY: I was in Jaipur, India. And, like Wanya said, India was much like La Pearla (ph) -- just poverty-stricken. But it made you appreciate home. It made you appreciate all that you have. And it makes you tell a message to everyone out there that things aren't as bad as you think they are. You know, they can always be worse. So, thank God for everything that you have.

PHILLIPS: I love seeing those pictures with the kids, you guys. All of you mixed with the kids. Shawn, what about Japan? Tell me about Japan.

STOCKMAN: Well, I was in Tokyo. That was there.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Oh, Lord.

STOCKMAN: I was in Tokyo. So, it really wasn't like, you know, culture shock too much for me. It was like -- you know -- because we've been to Japan like a million times. So, it was like -- I was in Shabuiiya (ph) -- that's like -- pretty much the Japanese version of Manhattan.

There was a lot of people there, it was real crazy, real hectic. And, the shooting there was real smooth. It was like, no one bothered me, it was cool -- people might of stared and walked by, and might of said "Boyz II Men, what's up?"

And that's about it -- it was, you know -- it was cool, you know what I'm saying. We actually visited another spot that we had to sneak in -- we had to sneak into this temple where it was an 800-year- old Buddha that was in this temple, and it was like 30-feet tall and 40-feet wide or something like that, so we had some problems getting in because they didn't want to, like, they didn't want us filming in there -- but we had to sneak in.

You know what I'm saying? You can catch the footage. But, it was cool, it was a beautiful place. In Tokyo, you know, we're used to that country, of Japan. So, it was all good.

PHILLIPS: Well, I've got to tell you something, guys. After covering all this R. Kelly stuff, you know -- for the past couple of weeks -- it is such a pleasure and a blessing to just listen to all of you and look at this video and see what you're doing and the message that you're bringing out. And, I don't want to take up any more time because I want you to sing. Will you guys sing a cappella for us?

(CROSSTALK)

N. MORRIS: Sure, we'll sing a little bit of the single.

STOCKMAN: We'll sing the chorus to the single, "Color of Love."

PHILLIPS: Terrific. You guys, thank you.

(MUSIC)

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