Then & Now: The O’Jays Highlight Their Rich Discography, Trump And New Album ‘The Last Word’

Desire Thompson
·2 min read
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Soul legends The O’Jays have seen a lot throughout their time in the game and displayed the state of the world through 31 albums. Their latest and final album The Last Word is no different as the trio dedicates tracks like “Above the Law” towards social injustice and callings of a love movement on “Enjoy Yourself.”

For this session of VIBE’s Then & Now series, group co-founders Eddie Levert and Walter Williams take a trip down memory lane with their biggest hits. It wasn’t easy as the group has a slew of Top 20 Billboard hits like “Love Train,” “Used Ta Be My Girl” and the stirring “Backstabbers,” but the duo made sure to share how the tracks were made with spiritual undertones thanks to Philadelphia songwriting icons Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

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“That song had a big fat message of love, the bible speaks of love throughout it,” Williams says about their 1974 hit “Love Train.” “It was an idea when we went in the studio. They had the track and we recorded the background but no verses. But [Kenny] Gamble wrote the first and second verses and we went in the studio and tried it out and went on to do the adlibs. Because of the lyrical content, you can feel where it was going.”

The two also showed love for those who have sampled their work like Angie Stone and Drake. The rapper cleverly interpolated 1972’s “Backstabbers” in his 2016 hit, “Fake Love” while Stone lifted the track for her 2002 single “Wish I Didn’t Miss You.”

“I like him, I like his message and I liked his delivery,” Levert said about Drake’s approach to the sample. “I like where he’s going in his music. There’s not a lot of profanity and cursing and saying a lot of negative words. There’s a message in his music.”

Often praised for their political undertones, Williams and Levert say their ability to stay consistent allowed them to make some of the most timeless music in R&B.

“It’s tough to get around but you have to be persistent,” Williams said. “You have to go after what you want today. You have to stay relentless and then you get action.”

Levert notes that today’s artists are holding back when it comes to speaking up against the political machine. “I think the younger artists are too afraid to hurt their fanbase by taking a stand,” he said. “They’re too afraid to offend or think, ‘It’s not my fight. Things have changed, we don’t need to address that.’ Things are not gonna change as long as you don’t speak out on it. If you just keep letting things go on and you never have anything to say, they will continue to go that way.”

Watch Then & Now with The O’Jays up top.

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