R&B singer/songwriter Kevin Cossom has written songs for the music industry’s elite, but he’s stepping out of the shadows of songwriting and into the limelight of a star.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Humble Beginnings! Kevin Cossom’s Journey To Success
With his the release of his new EP Hook Vs. Bridge II, Kevin’s creating his own lane in R&B.
Kevin has written songs for everyone from Mary J. Blige to Justin Bieber, and has worked with rappers like Pusha T and Rick Ross.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Kevin Cossom Talks Being Signed To Danja & The Hook Vs. Bridge II
His endless resume with A-list artist has fostered amazing relationships in music that Kevin is forever grateful to have.
GlobalGrind caught up with the “Overflow” singer to talk about his favorite artist to work with, as well as his first big gig as a songwriter.
Check out our exclusive interview below!
Who has been your favorite person to work with?
I would say Mary.
Mary J?
Yeah, it’s really cool. And it’s just cool to see like, she’s a icon and for her to work as hard as she works in the studio still with the nicest attitude ever and personality. It’s just inspiring. Because you hear stories about people who can be crazy in the game. She’s done so much. She’s Mary J. But for her to still be so down to earth and willing to work and just have such a great personality in the studio, is really cool. So she’s really cool to work with. Keri Hilson is dope. Chris Brown is cool. He’s definitely a cool guy to go in the studio with, and he has a lot of good, creative ideas. Chris can pretty much do anything vocally so it’s dope. But, yeah, I would say me favorite would have to be Mary.
If you could work with anybody, who would you want to work with?
I’ve been thinking about going in with Ryan Leslie.
Didn’t you get your first big break singing a hook for Lloyd Banks?
That was my first national placement, I just sang it. It was Lloyd Banks singing it. And, at the time, when I first started shopping around for a artist deal, G-Unit was one of the places, a while back. This was when Lloyd was working on his first album. I guess it was their way to kind of see my skills in the studio, and see what I can do.
They were kind of like “yo, we got this hook for Lloyd. He’s probably going to come out with his album; lets see what he can do, if he wants to cut the chorus.” At the time we were thinking about doing business with them. So we end up cutting the chorus—long story short, we didn’t do the deal there, but we ended up staying on the song. We had a feeling it was going to be a single, and it ended up being a single.
Since we didn’t do the deal—Avant did a deal over there with Interscope, which is where G-Unit is. So they put Avant on the record, called it a remix. It was the exact same thing, but the good thing about it was they showed love at hometown. I was still on the album version, and you know, being from where I’m from, it was still like a crazy look. To be from Orlando and to be able to do business with somebody that’s at top of the game. When G-Unit first hit the scene, it was all about G-Unit. So, to be part of something that big at the time was a great experience for me and it got me a lot of recognition.
Have you ever given away a song and wish you hadn’t?
Not really. I feel like before, when I first started doing it, me wanting to do the artist thing at the same time, it took a quick scene. Cause, you know, understanding the game.
For a example, “Go Getta.” That’s my first big placement, but they got somebody like R. Kelly on the hook, how can I ever be like “nah, nah, don’t put R Kelly on the hook?” It’s R. Kelly! And he’s bringing his own fan base to the record. Jeezy brought his fan base to the record, which made it bigger!
It’s been times when I felt like I really didn’t like the finished product. For the most part we’ve been able to be successful with the record and people turning them in the right way. You never know what kind of product you’re going to get out. But we’ve been fortunate. I ain’t going to lie. I have gotten…
You have gotten a little tight, huh?
I don’t want to say too much, though (laughs).
