*The Interview*

VIBE: How is it to be competing for sales with the likes of ‘N Sync and Britney Spears, children who were basically born at the height of your fame?

MJ: It’s a rarity. I had No. 1 records in 1969 and ’70, and still entered the charts in 2001 at No. 1. I don’t think any other artist has that range. It’s a great honor. I’m happy, I don’t know what else to say. I’m glad people accept what I do.

VIBE: What are your thoughts on the current state of R&B?

MJ: I don’t categorize music. muziki is music. They changed the word R&B to rock n’ roll. It was always been, from Fats Domino to Little Richard to Chuck Berry. How can we discriminate? Its what it is – great music, wewe know.

VIBE: Are wewe feeling hip hop?

MJ: I like a lot of it, a lot of it. I like the music. I don’t like the dancing that much. It looks like they’re doing aerobics.

*Biggie Smalls*

VIBE: How did wewe decide to feature Biggie Smalls on “Unbreakable”, off Invincible?

MJ: It wasn’t my idea, actually. It was Rodney Jerkins’s, one of the writer/producers working on the album. It was my idea to put a rap part on the song, and he said, “I know just the perfect on – Biggie.” He put it in, and it worked perfectly.

*Jay-Z*

VIBE: Why did wewe choose Jay Z for the remix of the first single, “You Rock My World“?

MJ: He’s hip, the new thing, and he’s with the kids today. They like his work. He’s tapped into the nerve of maarufu culture. It just made good sense.

VIBE: What was it like for wewe to appear at New York’s Hot 97 Summer jam, jamu tamasha as Jay-Z’s guest?

MJ: I just showed up and gave him a hug. There was a tumultuous explosion of applause and stomping, a lovely, lovely welcome, and I was happy about that. It was a great feeling – the love, the love.

VIBE: Does it bother wewe to see people emulate you, such as Usher, Sisqo, Ginuwine, and even Destiny’s Child?

MJ: I don’t mind it at all. These are artists who grew up with my music. When wewe grow up listening to somebody wewe admire, wewe tend to become them. wewe want to look like them, to dress like them. When I was little, I was James Brown, I was Sammy Davis Jr., so I understand. It’s a compliment.

*Thriller & Off The Wall*

VIBE: Did wewe know that wewe were creating timeless classics when wewe were recording Thriller and Off The Wall?

MJ: Yes, not to be arrogant, but yes. Because I know great material when I hear it, and meoldically and sonically and musically, it’s so moving. They keep the promise.

VIBE: Do wewe feel there’s a greater acceptance of black artists these days?

MJ: I think people have always admired black muziki since the beginning of time, if wewe want to go back to Negro spirituals. Today, the market is just accepting of the fact that that’s the sound. From Britney to ‘N Sync, they’re all doing the R&B thing. Even Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees he always tells me [immitating a British accent], “Man, we do R&B.” I say, Barry, I don’t categorize it, but it’s great music. I understand where he’s coming from. I upendo great muziki – it has no color, it has no boundaries.

*Parent*

VIBE: wewe seem to be enjoying life as a single parent.

MJ: I never had so much fun in all my life. That’s the truth. Beacause I’m this big kid, and now I get to see the world through the eyes of the really young ones. I learn zaidi from them than they learn from me. I’m constantly trying things and testing things on them to see what works and what doesn’t. Children are always the best judges to monitor something. If wewe can get the kids, you’ve got it. That’s why Harry Potter is so successful – it’s a family-oriented movie. wewe can’t go wrong there. We want a wide demographic, and that’s why I try not to say things in my lyrics that offend parents. I don’t want to be like that. We weren’t raised to be like that. Mother and Joseph [Michael's father] wouldn’t say stuff like that.

VIBE: What do Prince and Paris listen to?

MJ: They listen to all of my music, and they upendo classical, which plays all around the ranch. They like any good dance music.

VIBE: How would wewe feel about your children becoming pop icons, based upon your experience?

MJ: I don’t know how they would handle that. It would be tough. I really don’t know. It’s hard, since most of the children of watu mashuhuri end up becoming self-destructive because they can’t live up to the talent of the parent. People used to always say to Fred Astaire Jr., “Can wewe dance?” And he couldn’t. He didn’t have any rhythm, but his father was this genius dancer. It doesn’t mean that it has to be passed on. I always tell my children, wewe don’t have to sing, wewe don’t have to dance. Be who wewe want to be, as long as you’re not hurting anybody. That’s the main thing.

*Artist Inspiration*

VIBE: Which artists – past and present – inspire you?

MJ: Stevie Wonder is a musical prophet. All of the early Motown. All the Beatles. I’m crazy about Sammy Davis Jr., Charlie Chaplin, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson – the real entertainers, the real thing, not just gimmicks, showstoppers. When James Brown was with the Famous Flames, it was unbelievable. There are so many wonderful singers – Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis. Real stylists. wewe hear one line, and wewe know who it is. Nat “King” Cole, great stuff. Sam Cooke – they are all ridiculous.

*30th anniversary special*

VIBE: How involved were wewe in selecting the artists to perform in your 30th anniversary special?

MJ: I wasn’t involved at all.

VIBE: How were wewe able to let go of something so big and so special?

MJ: Trust.

*September 11*

VIBE: What was your experience on September 11?

MJ: I was in New York [after performing at Madison Square Garden on September 7 and 10], and I got a call from Marafiki in Saudi Arabia that America was being attacked. I turned on the news and saw the Twin Towers coming down, and I said, Oh my God. I screamed down the hotel hallway to our people, Everybody get out, let’s leave now! Marlon Brando was on one end, our security was on the other end. We were all up there, but Elizabeth Taylor was at another hotel. We all got out of there as quickly as we could. We jumped in the car, but there were these girls who had been at the onyesha the night before, and they were banging on the windows, running down the mitaani, mtaa screaming. mashabiki are so loyal. We hid in New Jersey. It was unbelievable – I was scared to death.

*Recreation*

VIBE: On another tip altogether, what do wewe do for recreation?

MJ: I like water-balloon fights. We have a water-balloon fort here, and we have a red team and a blue team. We have slings and cannons, and wewe are drenched kwa the time the game is over. There’s a timer, and whoever gets the most points is the winner. If I’m going to do some kind of sport, I have to laugh. I don’t do anything like mpira wa kikapu au golf. mpira wa kikapu is very competitive, and so is tennis; they make wewe angry. I’m not into that. It should be therapeutic. I also like to go to amusement parks, hang out with animals, things like that.

VIBE: Do wewe have a ndoto of something that you’d like to see in your lifetime?

MJ: I would like to see an international children’s holiday to honor our children, because the family bond has been broken. There’s a Mother’s Day, and there’s a Father’s Day, but there’s no children’s day. It would mean a lot. It really would. World peace. I hope that our inayofuata generation will get to see a peaceful world, not the way things are going now.

VIBE: Has imba ever stopped being fun and become work?

MJ: It’s always been fun. Unless I get physically sick, it’s always fun. I still upendo it.

VIBE: Many of us see wewe as a historic figure, an innovator who has set a standard that still exists in music. Where does Michael Jackson go from here?

*Films & Movies*

MJ: Thank you, thank you. I have a deep upendo for film and I want to pioneer and innovate in the medium of film – to write and direct and produce movies, to bring incredible entertainment.

VIBE: What kinds of movies? Are wewe looking at scripts?

MJ: Yes, but nothing has been finalized yet.

VIBE: Are wewe ever lonely?

MJ: Of course. If I’m onstage, I’m fine there. But wewe can have a house full of people and still be lonely from within. I’m not complaining, because I think it’s a good thing for my work.

*The Song Speechless*

VIBE: Tell me about the inspiration for “Speechless”. It’s very loving.

MJ: You’ll be surprised. I was with these kids in Germany, and we had a big water-balloon fight – I’m serious – and I was so happy after the fight that I ran upstairs in their house and wrote “Speechless”. Fun inspires me. I hate to say that, because it’s such a romantic song. But it was the fight that did it. I was happy, and I wrote it in it’s entirety right there. I felt it would be good enough for the album. Out of the bliss comes magic, wonderment, and creativity.

*Collecting*

VIBE: Do wewe collect anything?

MJ: I like anything to do with Shirley Temple, the Little Rascals, and the Three Stooges. I upendo Curly. I upendo him so much that I did a book on him. I got a hold of his daughter, and we wrote the book together.

VIBE: Is there anything that wewe would like to say to VIBE readers?

MJ: I upendo Quincy Jones. I really do. And also, I want to tell the readers not to judge a person kwa what they hear, au even what they read, unless they hear it from the person himself. There is so much tabloid sensationalism. Don’t fall prey to it, it’s ugly. I’d like to take all he tabloids and burn them. I want wewe to print that! Some of them try to diguise themselves, but they are still the tabloids.

VIBE: Finally, how do wewe channel your creativity?

MJ: I don’t force it, I let nature take its course. I don’t sit at the kinanda and think, I’m going to write the greatest song of all time. It doesn’t happen. It has to be aliyopewa to you. I believe it’s already up there before wewe are born, and then it drops right into your lap. It’s the most spiritual thing in the world. When it comes, it comes with all the accompaniments, the strings, the bass, the drums, the lyrics, and you’re just the medium through which it comes, the channel. Sometimes I feel guilty putting my name on songs – “written kwa Michael Jackson – because it’s as if the heavens have done it already. Like Michelangelo would have this huge piece of marble from the quaries of Italy, and he’d say, “Inside is a sleeping form.” He takes a hammer and chisel, and he’s just freeing it. It’s already in there. It’s already there.