I am so happy that GI & Shazam are continuing the H-Town legacy. RIP my beloved Dino a.k.a Drochey. Their long awaited new CD is due to release in 2004. When asked why they waited about 5 years to prepare their comeback, GI replied, "well, we needed a break since we've been touring since '93, it was a break well deserved." I know all H-Town lovers are excited to hear that they are coming back on the scene. So, we must be asking/wondering what the new album will be about. Well, as per GI, "it's a balance of all 3 CDs plus you'll hear a little rock as well. Very hot, this time you will get a little drama." H-Town loves originality, so when asked his thoughts on today's R&B, GI says, " not too many are being original, too many copy cats but I love B2K, Ashanti, Nivea, they are hot." Now, I know everyone remembers H-Town's current albums, FEVER FOR DA FLAVOR (1993), BEGGIN' AFTER DARK(1994), and LADIES EDITION (1997).

The fellas southern soulful & sexy sound made them a favorite of many. Their smash hit single, KNOCKIN' DA BOOTS placed them on the Billboard charts and won them a Best New R&B Artist Honors Soul Train award in 1994. I must say their Ladies Edition album was the bomb because it dealt "STRAIGHT UP" with loving and respecting us ladies. It produced affirming songs like "Natural Woman," and "Woman's World" which in my opinion are love letters to us ladies. This is one of the reasons why I enjoy and love them. When I listen to their music it takes me to a special place...a feel good place deep inside. A place that is nice and warm, a place where there is peace, so much tranquility, a lot of love, laughter, fun, comfort, power and strength. The fellas are hot, blazing hot; so sexy and seductive in style.

Their soulful heartfelt sound is awesome, so much so, that
it sometimes takes my breath away. It appeals to all my senses.It touches my soul and warms, encourage and uplifts it. Songs like WON'T U COME BACK, KEEPIN' MY COMPOSURE, TREAT U RIGHT, BABY I WANNA, BEGGARS CAN'T BE CHOOSEY, I SLEEP U I WEAR U, just to name a few; makes me imagine sitting in my lounge chair ( and its a beautiful day outside) reading love letters
from my favorite male group. I finish reading feeling refreshed, renewed and encouraged. I believe again, confident in the fact that in the mist of life's trials and tribulations, good outweighs evil. True love/friendships, positive relationships still exist and is
attainable. I move forward. H-Town is supreme...a quality R&B music talent. I know I will enjoy them in the many years to come. My beloved Dino: in your bio. you stated that one of your goals was to make a positive difference in this world, well baby boy you have certainly accomplished this. I hope you are looking down from heaven
and smiling on us, watching and enjoying your fans/love ones enjoy what you have left for us. Just know that we miss you and love you always. Your music will live on in our hearts forever.

So, yes, I am a BIG BIG fan/admirer/friend of H-Town. But its even more than this for me. The fellas feel like family. When Dino died it felt like I lost a family member....a brother."I never meant for you to die, say I cried and I cried, I cried and I cried; my heart went out when I found out you were dead. Felt like I bled inside, I nearly died inside.
It was gone, my soul was gone," my Dino Conner. My heart is full of love for the fellas, therefore; I am encouraging everyone to consider buying the music artists CDs instead of downloading and bootlegging it. Illegal copying is affecting the entire music community. We do not want our artists to disappear, and this could very well happen because unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted music cuts into the artists' and label's profits. Eleonora of Underground Soul(www.underground-soul.com) states, "If you take minor artists (not platinum selling) such as Marc Dorsey, Link, Horace Brown or Andrea Martin, just to name a few, well, it really can make a difference for them!

We all can state these people are talented (Andrea wrote such hits for Monica and En Vogue. Link wrote "My Body" for LSG) but these artists never had a come back, and I'm sure they never will! That's the problem: downloading can be annoying for platinum artists, but can be vital for minor and underground acts!" CNN.com reported that according to the RIAA(Recording Industry Association of America) www.riaa.com the music industry lost more than 4.2 billion last year through pirated, counterfeit, and bootleg recordings. For further information please refer to www.musicunited.org, where music artists are speaking- out about people illegally copying and distributing their music. RIAA/Federal law states that violators can be punished with
up to five years in prison and $250,000.00 in fines.

GI of H-Town says: "I would like to say to those that are downloading our CD: you are not helping us at all, in fact if you keep downloading our CDs, there will be no more us. It has been brought to my attention, we've been downloaded 4 million times. In 4 years music will be no more if we don't stop burning, downloading and the most famous of all bootlegging.

You might take it as a joke but we will be no more. We pay
to record a cd at least 300 thousand and it cost you only $16.00: who lose you or us? We do, so bootlegging and downloading have to stop. If not there will be no more music to download and the music world will be deceased, now how ya like that?"

So, let's be fans against downloading and bootlegging. Let us keep our music artists in our mist so that they can keep on giving us great music, year after year.

Welcome back on the scene H-TOWN. Much love and success to you always!

By: Sheryl, www.h-town-4-life.com