\t\tThe song that inspired him: \u201cWhat\u2019s Going On\u201d (Renaldo Benson, Alfred Cleveland, Marvin Gaye), 1971\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThat takes you to another place,\u201d Jam said. \u201cThat changed the whole world, like, put you in a different place, and that\u2019s one of those songs. What I really love about it, first of all, the fact that it\u2019s lyrically so relevant is very bittersweet, because it shouldn\u2019t be. Those lyrics that he\u2019s saying should not be happening now, but what I liked about it was it\u2019s almost a lullaby, the way he sings it. You can just listen and let the music happen, but then you can dig into the lyrics, and the lyrics are very provocative. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe other thing I like about it was he wasn\u2019t trying to solve the problems, because it wasn\u2019t \u2014 you couldn\u2019t really have a solve the problems moment. But the fact that he\u2019s asking a question, and the first two songs actually on that album are \u2018What\u2019s Going On,\u2019 where he\u2019s asking what\u2019s going on, and then the next song after that is \u2018What\u2019s Happening Brother.\u2019 So he\u2019s kind of asking the questions and letting the discussion happen, and then he\u2019s observing other things like \u2018Inner City Blues [Make Me Wanna Holler],\u2019 and so on and so forth. But yeah, \u2018What\u2019s Going On\u2019 to me is just \u2014 it\u2019s so good that I can\u2019t even be jealous of it, because that\u2019s not even anywhere in my\u2026 I can\u2019t even be jealous.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt was the changing of Motown\u2026 that changed the whole idea. Berry Gordy didn\u2019t want [Marvin] to do that album, because, you know, he was a love song guy. He actually produced a couple of songs for a group called The Originals that actually were big hit songs, and that kind of proved that, \u2018Yes, I can produce my own stuff, so let me make my record.\u2019 And I know it\u2019s Smokey Robinson\u2019s favorite album ever. So yeah, that\u2019s a good one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tThe song he wrote: \u201cRhythm Nation\u201d (written with Terry Lewis and Janet Jackson), 1989\t<\/p>\n
\n\tEmmons opened the discussion by saying, \u201cAll right, so Jimmy Jam, one of the things you had talked about when you picked \u2018What\u2019s Going On,\u2019 that you had said that Rhythm Nation wouldn\u2019t exist without What\u2019s Going On. So we have \u201cRhythm Nation\u201d queued up here, which just got inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYeah, so first of all, thank you, Sly and the Family Stone,\u201d Jam began. \u201cBecause the way that song came about was, we had the concept for \u2018Rhythm Nation,\u2019 but we didn\u2019t have a track for it. We knew that it was, you know, kind of the theme we wanted, and I was out at dinner, and you know, when the restaurants play music, and it\u2019s just kind of background music, like you\u2019re not really hearing it. And I heard, \u2018Thank You [Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin],\u2019 come on, Sly & the Family Stone. So I heard it come on, and I kind of, for a minute, I thought, \u2018Oh, I love this song,\u2019 and then I went back to the conversation, and then, for some reason, when it got to the kind of, I don\u2019t even know what you called it, like the instrumental breakdown, it\u2019s the kind of guitar where it goes, \u2018Jing, ding, ding, ding, ding,\u2019 I said, \u2018Oh my god, check please.\u2019<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI went back to the studio, and I basically took that one little piece of the guitar part from \u2018Thank You,\u2019 I looped it, I put some drums on it \u2014\u00a0and I remember Janet walking in the room, and she just said, \u2018Is that \u201cRhythm Nation\u201d?\u2019 And I said, \u2018I think so.\u2019 And then we wrote it from there. But thank you, Sly & the Family Stone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tEmmons also asked about Jam & Lewis starting work on the Rhythm Nation album, three years after their blockbuster success with Jackson\u2019s previous album, Control.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSo there was a three-year period between records, and she walked in very confident,\u201d Jam said. \u201cShe knew what she wanted to talk about, and that was different from Control [where] she was still kind of finding her way. But Rhythm Nation, she walked in and just was excited about working. The other thing I remember was it had snowed. We were working in Minneapolis \u2014 and the first thing she did, she got so excited when she saw the snow, she lays down and starts making a snow angel. And we\u2019re like, \u2018No, you\u2019re gonna catch a cold.\u2019 And of course, she did. But some of the vocals that she did, she had a cold, but it gave it a kind of a cool little rasp to it. The memories of making that album were really great, and everybody left us alone because we were up in Minneapolis, so nobody could just drop by the studio.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAnd, A&M, I will say, did a wonderful job of letting us sequence the record the way we wanted to, to put those songs up first. There was a suggestion \u2014 not so much from the label \u2014 but there was a suggestion that we should call the album Escapade, put a nice color picture of Janet on the front of it, and basically take \u2018Rhythm Nation,\u2019 \u2018State of the World,\u2019 \u2018The Knowledge,\u2019 those types of songs, and put them at the end of the album. And we were like, \u2018No, no, we\u2019re going to start the album with these\u2026\u2019 like, \u2018We have a whole concept.\u2019 So I will say they were very creative, they let us kind of do it \u2026 And, A&M believed in us, and the fact that they believed in us, and they really backed us on it. And then the fact that it was so successful \u2014 that was to me what made it feel really great.\u201d<\/p>\n