R&B singer O’Neal McKnight got his start as a stylist to the stars and by killing the game as a back-up dancer for Diddy, but music has always been his first love.
From styling Diddy to R&B singer Usher, O’Neal McKnight has done it all. He recently dropped the video for his pop smash “All Night (Crazy).”
GlobalGrind caught up with O’Neal to talk about his admiration for Michael Jackson, his relationship with his cousin, record executive Andre Harrell and of course, his music.
Check out the exclusive interview below!
What’s been a lot of the inspiration behind your music?
My inspiration always starts with Michael Jackson. He’s just the blueprint for me. The kind of artist I would love to be: which is an international, raceless artist that just transcends time. I don’t care what’s going on in pop culture — if you throw on a Michael Jackson record in the mist of a Drake, Kanye, Jay-Z, Puff, whoever, it’s still going to stand out and make you feel good. I listen to a lot of Mike, a lot of Tupac, a lot of Duran Duran, a lot of Culture Club. I’m an eighties baby, so I love all that very nostalgic eighties stuff.
Where did you grow up and how did you get your start?
I’m a country boy, from South Carolina. Now I’m in New York. I lived in L.A. for five years, so a lot of times people write about me, blog about me and they’ll say ‘L.A. based artist, stylist.’ But I say, ‘I’m originally from South Carolina!’
Andre Harrell is my cousin, I got in the game through him. I was a dancer first, I danced for Puff, danced for Outkast, danced for everybody. Then I got into styling. Through DJ Cassidy, I made a record “Check Your Coat,” which was my first single and it got a lot of buzz. Then I signed to Universal Motown.
After putting out a couple of singles over there, I got out of my situation and recently just signed with E1. Junior Sanchez and Michael Moog produced my first single that’s on E1, it’s called “All Night (Crazy)” and it’s a real ode to that New Jack Swing kind of ’90s Bobby Brown “My Prerogative,” Johnny Kemp “Just Got Paid,” type of vibe. I just want people to have a good time and celebrate life. There’s a lot of things we can be worrying about, but when you’re listening to me I want you to forget about all that.
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If you could collaborate with anybody, who would it be?
Michael Jackson.
What about somebody who’s currently making music?
Kanye West.
If you were sent away to a deserted island and you could only bring three albums with you, what three albums would you bring?
Off The Wall, Thriller and Tupac’s All Eyez On Me.
Tell us something most people don’t know about you.
I’m a cartoonist. I draw, I doodle a lot. I create little characters and little people. I put dog heads on people and cat heads on girls. If a Marvel movie comes out: Thor, Green Lantern, Captain America, whether it’s good or bad I gotta see it. I collect comics. I collect old magazines. I have a ton of Michael Jackson memorabilia. Michael gave me a bunch of stuff when I was at Neverland. I collect sh*t, but I’m not a pack rat.
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What’s your most prized possession?
My life is my most prized possession. I lost my mom 11 years ago. And my older brother, he was killed on a motorcycle, four years ago. My grandma, she died two years ago. Michael died two years ago. We take it for granted, we don’t think about it. While we’re here, we think we’re going to be here forever. But if someone would have told me in 2007 that my brother would get killed on a motorcycle, I would have been thought, ‘You’re buggin.’
If somebody would have told me Michael Jackson would have died from cardiac arrest, heart failure due to Propofol and all that stuff, I would have thought, ‘You’re buggin’.This guy had so much life. I had a chance to hang out with him and laugh with him and have dinner with him and joke with him. Hear him talk about girls and hear him talk about how people think he’s weird, but he’s not.
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What’s your favorite thing to do besides making music?
Making love. I swear, ain’t nothing better than that. The mood is right and the chemistry is right, what’s better than that?
Where’s the craziest place you’ve had sex?
An airplane.
How does that work, because those bathrooms are super small!
You’ve got to be super flexible.
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Are there any girl celebrities you have a slight crush on?
Scarlett Johansson.
What is your favorite liquor to drink?
Cîroc of course. But my own drink, ya’ll got to start drinking the O’Nealy Wheely. The O’Nealy Wheely consists of Cîroc Red Berry and Raspberry Lemonade. That’s a real summertime, put on your white summer dress and open-toed sandals and go to the beach and have a O’Nealy Wheely. It’s refreshing!
