It has been some time since Tank released an album, it was five years to be exact which was the album One Man. Tank on the other hand during that five year tenure still keep busy working hard in the industry on some of the most powerful R&B records you could remember. Tank is a man of many talents so with that being said it’s not hard to realize he wears many hats. Singer, songwriter, producer is his grind and I bet some of you would be shocked to find that he even co-produced the hit single “One Minute Man” by Missy Elliot that had the airwaves hot back in 2002.

In 2007,  Tank came back out strong with a new album Sex, Love, and Pain which did great first week numbers, especially giving his fans a hit single with “Please Don’t Go”.  Sixshot  now gives you some R&B love linking up with Tank on some personal talk about the album’s success and takes you in on being a father. Not only that he admits that us men makes stupid mistakes which sparkled some inspiration for “Please Don’t Go”.

Tank not too long ago was the Grammy’s, so how was the experience?

Aww man it was crazy, going out there and meeting people that show you support is always a good thing. It was a cool thing man, it was really cool.

I bet you’ve meet some people out there for your future plans and music career?

Oh yeah, I’ve politicked it on out you better believe it [laughs]. I was talking to everybody letting them know “I would like to work with you” [laughs].

Being a singer that’s been in the game for some time what made you decide to work with someone talented like Chris Brown?

I’ve been working with Chris Brown for years and I’m like a big brother to him. I’m one of the cats that he listens to and I’m kind of a go to guy for him. It’s just really big brother and little brother getting on the record and making it make sense. People don’t even realize that Chris Brown can sing, he’s a singer, dancing and does all of that. The records I’m a do with him is really gonna showcase that.

So I assume you feel the same for Anthony Hamilton too [laugh]?

Aww man, Anthony Hamilton is the truth. T hat’s that talented singing right there. That’s what I like right there, he is so good and that’s my brother from another mother.

Everybody knows your out there writing songs and you do your solo thing with the albums and everything. What do you like doing most, you like being on the scene or behind the scenes?

I think it’s good to have it all at the same time. Being hot as a writer, being hot as a producer, and being hot as a artist. Having all of that at the same time is bigger than one thing. I like having them all at the some time, I love using them all and having them come together.

As a song writer you have pretty big decision making. When your writing a song for a particular artist how does the ideas go into mind like “Ok this is for Anthony Hamilton, this could be for this person, this could be for that person”.

Well I do it two ways, I kind of listen to them and listen to where they have gone. I do it from a standpoint as if we in the studio and I vibe with these people. We will just come up with an idea together, we will vision on what they see on the project and see it going.

Do you have a hard time sometimes?

You can have a hard time when you just don’t know an artist you know. I’m not the type of artist that likes to impose my will on other people. I feel like as an artist we are all our own individuals and we should have our own individuality.

If you don’t mind telling me describe your best experience with an artist and your worst?

I would say my worst experience was Terry Dexter. Now mind you Terry Dexter is a great singer, she’s beautiful and everything. When we was working together she was probably having a very, very, bad day the day I got there. I was thinking “She could not be this rude”. I was like “Wow is this how it really is in Hollywood”. That day was a bad day for her and the totally next day she was a very different person. She’s a good friend of mine and is always cool, but I always talk to her about that day [laughs].

My best studio day was working with Glady’s Knight and I’m a tell you why. I put together a song and she said “Let me listen to it for about 15-20 minutes”. She listened to it for about 15-20 minutes just studying it, taking down notes, and said “Ok I’m ready”. We got in there started recording and from top to bottom she knocked it out in one take. I was like wow if I could work with someone like Glady’s Knight all the time it would make my job much easier.

I know it felt good for you to work with somebody like that?

Y eah, that was one of the best moments of my career.

Last year you released an album Sex, Love, and Pain, so tell me now was there ever a situation in which you got into all three from somebody?

Oh all the time, it’s always gonna be sex, love, and pain. It’s just reality, I’ve been in situations where it was sex, love, and pain. Some was just sex, some just love, and some just pain. The thing is after pain it’s really not over after that, after pain whether you decide to get over it or not get over it that’s when you start building.

But I bet Tank doesn’t look forward to no baby momma drama do you?

No I’m to old for that, I’m cool with my three baby girls and I’m good.

What you love most about being a father?

I think I love being needed you know. My three little girls need a father in their life and it takes a lot of responsibility to be that person. I’m a really be that for them and make sure they grow up positive black women.

Back to Sex, Love, and Pain, before that it’s been a few years since your last album. How did you feel about the success of “Sex, Love, and Pain?

It’s been five years before Sex, Love, and Pain. One Man came out in 2002, Sex, Love, and Pain came out in 2007.

Nobody has taken a five year layoff and came back doing 15 weeks number one, nobody has done that. It goes to show that I still have my fans. It just showed a lot about what people wanted to hear. They was saying stuff like it wasn’t no room for real music, good subject matter, and I just kind of proved them wrong.

To come out with a real R&B album not just talking about sex, but talking about everything. Then to be nominated for Grammy’s executives are saying hey “This works for you”.

It’s going back to that real music and you can see with the success I’ve had, Ne-Yo, Musiq, Raheem Devaughn, it’s going back to that now. People are now finding it and accepting it.

When you took that five year break and came back out in 2007 with another album were you surprised yourself that you did the numbers that you did?

Totally because like I said nobody has done that. That’s crazy how I came back, not only that but from a five year break. I got to count my blessings for being able to make that kind of return.

On the hit single from the album “Please Don’t Go” there is one line where you go “She found the numbers I had in my car”. Can you speak on that?

Yeah man, were idiots. Us men do the dumbest stuff you know. We hide numbers in our pockets, she goes to wash the clothes and finds them. We just do the dumbest stuff so, I just wrote on that and that’s just some of the dumb stuff we do. That was one of those classic lines where cats can relate to.

[Laughs], So is Tank saying women are smarter than men?

Women are definitely smarter than men.

Aside from that what’s going on with TGT?

TGT (Tyrese, Ginuwine, Tank) is looking good, we get on the phone and work things out. Were getting closer to finalizing a deal, but in the meantime I’m just doing Tank.  TGT is going to be a special thing that enhances R&B and all of our careers too. It’s gonna happen and will be something special to look forward too.

What do you respect most about Ginuwine’s and Tyrese’s music?

We all respect each other’s music, we cuss each other out everyday. At the end of the day when we say each other we give each other a hug and move on to the next thing. That’s how close we are.

Tank, I appreciate you for showing love to Sixshot.com getting down with us. Final message for the fans and throw out that myspace.com.

I appreciate Sixshot.com for showing me love and check me out on www.myspace.com/get2knowtank

This interview was conducted and written for Sixshot.com by Quinton Hatfield