Lyfe is good.  After creeping up on the music scene in 2004 with the critically acclaimed and platinum debut album, Lyfe 268-192, the singer-songwriter finds himself at a high peak in his career.

With two platinum albums, a legion of female fans, and the respect of his peers Lyfe is enjoying his blessings without resting on his laurels. His third album, Lyfe Change, finds the gritty street-soul-singer-philosopher evolving as an artist and man; with some up-tempo jams to balance out his trademark ballads and socially conscious anthems. 

Lyfe kicked back and chilled with Sixshot as he talked why he’s creating a family support system for his children outside of his own family, being scared of change, why he’s not a hood dude, exploring rock music and rapping, his thoughts on the AIDS crisis, why he keeps his faith in the people, his love of a big butt, and more.

The album is entitled, Lyfe Change, so what’s the most significant life change you’ve dealt with?

I guess moving away from home and just trying to make sure that I build a great family around my children.

How are you building that family structure for your children?

You know just running across different people coming in and out of my life.  Sometimes your kids need that uncle; tha t smart uncle; that mean uncle; that older guy that they can talk—to the granddaddy.  I’m just trying to find those people that are around.

What’s your relationship like with your own family?

I don’t get to see them a lot.  I definitely talk to them.  I guess it’s the life of anybody who doesn’t live at home.

But you mentioned looking for uncle figures for your children.  You don’t have familial figures in your own family for your children?

Yeah, I’m definitely looking outside of my family for that.

Why is that?

[Laughs]  First of all they don’t all live in the same city that I live in.  Second of all I was gone for a while, so I'm not really familiar with them.  I don’t have a chance to really rekindle that relationship right now ‘cause I don’t live there so...

Are you looking for a mother figure in their life too or is that there already?

Yeah their mom is great.  She’s a great mom to them.

Were you ever scared of change?

I think we all were scared of change at one point or another.  I think for me one point was coming home from prison and doing all the time.  You get out and want to be successful.  So I guess that was the biggest fear of a change in my life.

I read that if you could change one thing about yourself it’d be how you’re perceived by others.  Since you spent time in prison people seem to think you’re a hood dude.  Did you ever internalize people's perception of you as that and felt like that’s something you had to live up to?

Naaahhhh, I’m not no bully or none of that stuff.  I’m like the nicest guy in the world.  But just the style that I came out with and even the music—a lot of people think I'm just this serious, serious dude all the time and I am, but only sometimes

You’re trying to change especially musically.  Are there any musical changes that you wanted to take on this record that you held off on at this time?

Yeah I wanted to do more rock stuff.  I wanted to do some straight rock stuff.  I thought for my core audience it was important for me to give them what their comfortable with and add little variations.  I didn’t think I could take it that far.

Will you do some rock stuff in the future?

Definitely. Definitely.

On "It’s Real" and "Wild, Wild, Wild" you continue to address social topics such as AIDS.  What do you think of people’s perception of AIDS these days?

It’s definitely some people that are not as sympathetic as they should be to it.  I think that the awareness has grown.  I think that anytime you’re trying to spread any message not just AIDS but mental, physical, and social stability—whatever it is you always hope that you’re gonna be able to see a growth.  I think that people including myself that are pressing that growth can see the growth

On this album you got the women’s anthem "She's the Ish."  What’s the one deal breaker for a woman and the one thing that instantly attracts you to a woman?

A big butt.

And the deal breaker?

The deal breaker is dirty tennis shoes.

I hear that you’re pursuing a rap career.  Who is Lyfe the rapper?

I’m not really a rapper but old time rappers are poets, like most musicians are poets.  So it’s really like poetry to a different kind of beat.  So I don’t want to be categorized as a rapper.  I think that these kids need to hear a spoken message instead of having it clouded up in a melody that they may not like.  So it’s really just another way to get the same messages out without as much competition musically or melodically.

You don't really do the celebrity thing like parties and clubs.  Are most of your friends inside or outside of the industry?

Outside of it.

Why?

It’s a lot of wannabe thug guys, a lot of rhetoric from a lot of guys in the industry.  There’s also jealousy involved.  If a guy’s not keeping it real with me—and it tends to be more those types of guys in the industry.

Is there anyone in the industry that you consider a friend?

Oh yeah I got a couple of friends like my partner big Snoop [Dogg].  Snoop is a good guy.  Katt Williams is another find of mine—that’s a good guy.  Steve Harvey is a great guy.  Snoop he’s real and what he tells you that’s the law.  Wyclef [Jean] is a great personality—a very humble real guy.  Cats like that.

I also read that you’re friends with Young Buck.

Yeah that’s my partner too.  Young Buck—real guy right there.

You seem to be very spiritual.  How do you describe your faith?

My faith is evolving. My faith is really in the people.  I got a lot of faith in people.  A lot of people write people off such as people in prison.  My faith is in people ‘cause I think those people are attributes of God.

Do you have a formal religion?

Yeah I guess I’m more leaning towards Christianity, but I have a a place for other doctrines as well.

How has being a parent made you evolve personally and musically?

It made me more respectful.  I was already respectful because of my mom, but sometimes I might have slips.  So now I try not to even cuss on the album.  One time my son was listening to one of my songs and when I cussed he said it with me.  I popped him in the mouth and when he cried I thought about it like he’s only repeating what he hears.  So I’m a lot more careful in that respect.

What are your dreams for yourself and your children?

My dream for my children is that they learn discipline.  That’s one of the first things: discipline, discipline, discipline.  I don’t mean physical.  I mean more so mental discipline.  I try to keep them involved in stuff that’s gonna take them a long time to accomplish, so they can have victories.  That allows their attention span to grow.  I wish them health and long lives.  Don’t die before I die! [Laughs]

What are your dreams for yourself?

To watch them [children] grow.  At this point I’m really blessed.  I hope that I can continue to keep on blessing people in some fashion or form—maybe not with music.  It may be—but to always have an arena where I can be creative and share that with somebody else.  That’s pretty much it.  And get money.  I gotta take care of them kids.  Get money too.  Get money.

You seem to be really chill and laid-back.  What is the one major pet peeve that ticks you off?

I hate for people to say that they can’t do something before they even see if they can.  Like if I ask somebody to do something for me and they say “Well I don’t think I’m gonna be able to do that because those people…” I hate that.  It’s like go see first.  See if there is a no and then come back and tell me that.  Don’t tell me that before you even try.  You get fired for that.

For more information on Lyfe Jennings please visit:
http://www.2lyfe.com
http://www.myspace.com/lyfejennings