USA Today Truth Hurts Article

[AfterMathematics]

USA Today 4/04/02

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/2002/2002-04-05-cover-truth.htm

This Dre protégée speaks truthfully

By Steve Jones, USA TODAY

Truth Hurts knows a little bit about surviving in the music business. Dr. Dre's newest protégée has been doing it her whole career.

Her soulful album, Truthfully Speaking, features the brutally honest lyrics that mirror her personality and inspired Dre to give her her name. It's an attitude she says comes from years of setbacks, false starts and picking herself up and moving on.

"I've been around the world and back, and it's something that kind of happens when you deal with the hardcore reality of things," she says.

Her toughness helped her cope with being on the road for months with the Up in Smoke tour, featuring Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Xzibit and Ice Cube. She'd known Dre since the mid-'90s, when she was a staff songwriter at his Aftermath Records, and she stayed in contact even after he purged the roster. He used her on the song F- You Too, an unreleased female response to a song on 1999's Dr. Dre 2001 album, and was impressed enough that he offered to produce her solo album.

On her first single, Addictive, her hypnotic vocals float over a quirky DJ Quik track and present a sound that's not easy to categorize.

"I don't really call it R&B," says the church-trained singer, who also studied classical and opera vocals for eight years. "It's a little edgy, but it does have the same values of old-school R&B in terms of melody and lyric. I just call it bringing some truth to the table."

The St. Louis native has been working to get to this point since childhood. At 13, she did her first gigs at local clubs, fronting her cousin's jazz/blues band after he'd sneaked her in with fake identification. When she graduated from high school, she forfeited a scholarship to study opera at the University of Chicago and took off to Los Angeles, where she and a friend landed a recording deal with Giant Records as hip-hop/R&B duo Shug and Dap. They put out one single before the label folded.

Her songwriting ability saved her, though, and she teamed with Mario Winans to pen tunes for the likes of Monifah, L.V., and Phajja. She also wrote for Eric Benét, Shanice and Ray J before she joined Dr. Dre's camp.

Now it's her turn to move to the forefront, and she's already gotten some exposure from a pair of film roles — a lounge singer in Ali and Snoop's girlfriend in The Wash. But acting is something she plans to keep on the back burner until she can study and become really good at it. What she's good at now is singing, and after all she's been through, she's ready.

"I am a survivor," she says. "And this has been well worth the wait."

Truth Hurts (Shari Watson)  
 
Age: 30

Birthplace: St. Louis.

Single: Addictive, featuring Rakim, is picking up steam at R&B radio.

Album: Truthfully Speaking due June 18.

Style: Blunt, edgy; messages on love and life with a church-fired voice that's been trained in opera and classical music.

[Don Seer]

nice.. cleavage shots next time plz  

[AxleF]

Finally we got a picture of her.  Good lookin.




Ax

[=[Euthanasia]=]

Nice update..good looking out.

P.S. Dope Snoop pic Axle  

[serv-on]

thx for posting it, nice article!

[Lil Jay]

[Rud]

He used her on the song F- You Too, an unreleased female response to a song on 1999's Dr. Dre 2001 album, and was impressed enough that he offered to produce her solo album.

Ooooh   Sounds Good...Shame Things Like This Never Leak  :-/


Nice Article


peace

[LyRiCaL_G]

she 30!?!?!? wtf i thought dre was tryna sign a young bitch to be his lead female at aftermath but shes 30!?!?!? lol man im shocked, i think he shudda signed someone in there earlys 20's instead cuz if this album blows up then she could have had a long long future as aftermath, well longers than truths if shes 30. but dope, im still gonna get this album for sho! june 18!?!?! aint that like a week after eminems?? wtf

[ExZit]

Posted by: LyRiCaL_G Posted on: Today at 09:02:16
she 30!!? wtf i thought dre was tryna sign a young bitch to be his lead female at aftermath but shes 30!!? lol man im shocked, i think he shudda signed someone in there earlys 20's instead cuz if this album blows up then she could have had a long long future as aftermath, well longers than truths if shes 30. but dope, im still gonna get this album for sho! june 18!! aint that like a week after eminems?? wtf

singers only get better when they r old..
look at Nate Dogg.. he have never been as tight as he is today..

[Woodrow]

I hope it drops the 18th.... My b-day is on the 19th, and that would be a nice little present!

-Engelwood

[antt213]

she 30!?!?!? wtf i thought dre was tryna sign a young bitch to be his lead female at aftermath but shes 30!?!?!? lol man im shocked, i think he shudda signed someone in there earlys 20's instead cuz if this album blows up then she could have had a long long future as aftermath, well longers than truths if shes 30. but dope, im still gonna get this album for sho! june 18!?!?! aint that like a week after eminems?? wtf

I don't think it matters tweet's 30 too.