Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men responded to Kandi Burruss’ recent interview on April 28 where the Xscape singer claimed the legendary group was the “worst” act she’s worked with. Morris was on Instagram Live with Jayna Brown — the winner of his Instagram singing competition “WanWednesdays Talent Show” — and celebrity blogger Petty King when he received a call from band mate Nathan Morris asking him if he saw the news about Burruss’ remarks.
Once the “Brokenhearted” singer was informed about what happened by his assistant and King he went into detail about the particular incident that changed the dynamic between Burruss and the group. He said when reacting to the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star’s comments, “That’s not true. I’ll tell the story if y’all want to hear it.”
Morris disclosed that the flap started because of a disagreement between Burruss and the group about ownership percentages of the song “Good Guy.” He added that at the time the “RHOA” star was working with Kevin “She’kspere” Briggs when writing the song, which Boyz II Men later released in 2000 on their “Nathan, Michael, Shawn, Wanya” album. He continued that the group was taught “from the school of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis” that when writing a song percentages have to be split down the middle to “avoid any discrepancies.”
Morris said that by the time the writing process was complete, they still had additional kinks to work out within the song — including adding or removing verses and recording — before discussing ownership. “We finished the song, and once we finished the song, she [Burruss] started talking about splits.
He added that once Burruss mentioned splits, the conversation became a bit tense. “We sat there, we was like, ‘splits.’ First of all, we didn’t even finish singing the song yet. We didn’t finish writing the song yet. Why are we talking about splits?” A split or a split sheet is a written agreement about what each contributor to a song gets in ownership percentage.
Morris explained that the mother of three said she brought up the split conversation because she wrote the “major part of the song,” which was the hook. A hook in a song is a repeated verse that reels the listener in.
He also shared that because of the group’s songwriting and producing experience they knew that’s not how ownership percentage is sorted out. “We’ve been in the game long enough to say hold on a second, that’s not how it works. But we understand that’s how it became. But we don’t write in that lane. We are in whole ’nother thought process when it comes to creating, simply because that can be stagnating. It can stagnate the whole process.”
Morris wrapped the conversation by saying the disagreement made it a bit difficult for them to work on future projects. “We made a little bit of a stink and it wasn’t mean or crazy. It wasn’t like ‘who you think you are’ or nothing like that. It was just like, ‘Look, that’s not how we work.’ From that point it became a little bit harder to work with her.”
He added, “I think we did another song with She’kspeare that she was a part of. We recorded the songs, they went on the album. To me, personally, I could take her or leave her.”
Morris’s response comes days after the Xscape singer named Boyz II Men when asked during an interview with Eddie Levert Sr. on April 26 which artist was the worst to work with. Burruss said hesitantly as she disclosed her least favorite people to be in the studio with, “I hate to do it, I hate to do it. Ain’t no love lost, I mean, this is 100 years later, so it doesn’t even matter, but, yeah, I had a bad experience in the studio with Boyz II Men.”
She further explained that it wasn’t the men’s talent that was an issue but rather their attitudes. “It wasn’t about the singing at all. … We fell out after that. It was an issue. I don’t think I’ve ever been disrespected like that before in the studio in my life. It was crazy. But at the end of the day, that was a long time ago. Clearly, you know, we’re past that or whatever.”
