Real Talk: They Are Family

Outside of Cherish, Nina Sky and the Clipse you just don't see too many family groups in urban music anymore. But Geffen's out to change that with its new sister act Brick & Lace. The pair, Nylanda and Neilah, hail from Kingston, Jamaica, but don't want to be pigeonholed as either dancehall or straight-laced reggae. No pun intended.

"Brick & Lace is all about feminine strength and the two sides of a woman," Nylanda says. "Her sexy and her tough side, and you bring it out when you need to bring it out."

The pair perform tunes like the album's title song "Love Is Wicked," and they describe their sound as a "fusion between dancehall and R&B and some reggae." They've even got heavy-hitter Akon, who recently jumped into R&B production by remixing India.Arie's "I Am Not My Hair," along with Tony Kelly, Will.i.am, Full Force and Cool N Dre. Akon produced their first street single, "Get That Clear," among others, for the "Love Is Wicked" album.

" 'Get That Clear' is just about setting the rules right from the start with guys in the beginning," Nylanda says.

"It's not male-bashing," Neilah adds with a smile.

The girls were signed by Polly Anthony and Ron Fair and they'll shoot the video for their new single, "Never Never," soon.



BRING THAT BEAT BACK: I've found a new favorite mix tape in the Aphilliates' "Déjà Vu Starring Pharrell" produced by Don Cannon and Ludacris' DJ, Jaycee. Tracks like Ciara and T.I.'s "King and Queen," the hard-to-find Nicole Wray featuring Gillie Tha Kid's "I'll Take Your Man" and Shareefa belting out "I Need a Boss" over Scrappy's "Money in the Bank" is a definite treat from the R&B world. And thankfully, there isn't a whole lot of gruff "it's the Aphilliates!" drops, just a moderate number not enough to overshadow the music. Good job, guys.



HEAL THE WORLD: Fresh from creating Beyoncé's best Sharon Stone impression in "Ring the Alarm," Swizz Beatz is saving the world one superstar at a time. Gathering Sean Paul, Cassidy, Chris Brown, Eve, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Floetry, Lyfe Jennings and Mario, Swizz is basically creating 2006's "We Are the World," except it's called "One Day."

"I'm just telling them to do what they'd like to do within the lines of why it's important to express peace," Swizz says. "And it's pulling the best out of everybody."

Chad Elliott, VP of Sony Urban Music and Rich Garson, president of Garson Entertainment, tapped Swizz to produce the track. It will air live from the International Peace Day Concert in the Coliseum in Rome on Dec. 9. Eve and Cassidy were in a New York studio recently laying down their verses, while Swizz wrangled a certain celebrity couple during another all-nighter.

"I brought it up to Marc Anthony in the studio at 4 o'clock in the morning and he agreed, and then Jennifer [Lopez] really liked the idea as well," Swizz says.

Meanwhile, Swizz is producing songs for Eve, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Cassidy, Anthony, Lopez, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, his own album and a posthumous 2Pac album. But his most exciting joint is still Beyoncé's "Ring the Alarm."

"It takes a lot of guts to pull off a song like 'Ring the Alarm' with an artist like Beyoncé," Swizz says. "If you're known for making songs one way and then you come with alarms ringing, and your voice distorted, that's a big risk. But Sean Garrett, who wrote the song with me, and we were like, 'Do it!' The key is elevating. Her last album sold around 317,000. We rang the alarm this time and it was around 541,000."