Kemp Breaks Loose With ‘Just Got Paid’

One recent afternoon, Johnny Kemp, the R&B; singer best known for the hit dance single “Just Got Paid,” was musing about the shackles placed on the creativity of young black artists. Though he was speaking in controlled, deliberate tones, anger was obviously bubbling beneath the surface.

“We’re sort of in this prison,” Kemp pointed out.

Who’s the warden?

“Black radio,” he answered.

A dapper dresser whose hair is done in eye-catching, blondish dreadlocks, Kemp contended he wasn’t looking to generate controversy. He was, he said, just speaking his mind.

“I’ve played by the rules--the R&B; rules--and I’ve finally broken through with a hit record and I don’t want to rock the boat,” he said, while gently rocking that boat.

Here’s what rankles Kemp, who comes across as the moody, intense, potentially explosive type: With few exceptions, the black artist’s road to recording success begins with black radio. There are no standard alternative routes. What’s more, the restrictive format of black radio--which sticks to fairly hard-core R&B; and largely avoids pop and rock--severely limits the black artist.

“Having to go through black radio is difficult,” Kemp said. “They’re very, very limited in what they play. You have to gear your records to what black radio will play. If you’re a young black artist and you don’t get played on black radio, you can kiss your career good-by.

“A lot of people don’t realize the power of black radio. It’s enormous. They have black artists by the throat.”

Black radio, however, has been good to Kemp. “Just Got Paid”--from his second Columbia album “Secrets of Flying”--was a smash on black radio. But, according to Kemp, black radio had to play the single.

“It was a natural hit, one of those sure-fire things. It was huge in the dance clubs--the kind of song the dance crowd liked instantly. The demand for it was too great for black radio not to play it.”

That afternoon, as Kemp--in town briefly from his home in New York--sat in his West Hollywood hotel room, the subject of black radio came up while he was discussing his albums and ruminating about what might have been. Apparently, he had to compromise quite a bit on his two Columbia albums. Both, he said, were made according to parameters of black radio.

The first one, “Johnny Kemp,” was produced by Kashif, who was influential in Kemp’s signing with Columbia. Though an adequate showcase for Kemp’s gritty, gruffly soulful voice, it wasn’t a very good album.

“Lyrically it was weak,” Kemp pointed out. “There was nothing meaningful on it. Kashif was involved with some of the writing and he assigned writers to work on some songs. I was trying to communicate other people’s ideas--ideas that I wasn’t that crazy about. It was a strain trying to communicate those ideas.

“The album didn’t show much range. I didn’t think it would work. It was formula R&B.; I had that feeling while I was making the album. But I couldn’t change it. I didn’t have the power to change anything. I was this struggling singer who finally got a chance to make an album. I wasn’t going to rock the boat too much. It was a totally safe album. But safe just doesn’t feel that good.”

Kemp is much happier with his second album, “Secrets of Flying.” On this one, Kemp not only shows greater vocal range, but the songs are also much better. So is the production. Kemp, who co-wrote “Just Got Paid” and some of the other songs, co-produced the scintillating “Just Got Paid” with Teddy Riley. The single made the Top 10 of the national pop charts. Though Kashif is listed as executive producer, according to Kemp “He didn’t have that much to do with the album.”

Still, this album isn’t what Kemp wanted it to be. “If we didn’t have to worry about black radio, we would have taken more risks,” he said. “We could have stretched out in a few areas. We did as much as we could within the parameters. ‘Dancin’ With Myself’ (his current single) is a bit more different than the average run-of-the-mill dance song, but still not that adventurous--not as adventurous as it could be.”

Fledgling black recording artists, Kemp complained, simply don’t have the luxury of taking risks. “There’s a lot that could be done to improve these songs on this album if you get too creative and too far from the standard black radio song, you won’t get played on black radio.”

There’s more to him, Kemp contended, than just singing R&B;: “I’d like to show different sides of me--pop, rock ‘n’ roll--but where can I do it without endangering my career? An artist should be true to himself, rather than being totally concerned about getting on the black charts. But for a beginning black artist, no black chart--no career. What a choice.”

Kemp was gushing about two young black artists--Tracy Chapman and Terence Trent D’Arby--who circumvented the conventional routes and made it big anyway. The difference, though, is that neither sings conventional R&B.; Chapman is a contemporary folk singer who happens to be black. And D’Arby really isn’t a typical black artist. R&B; is just one of the jumble of elements in his music.

“Many black artists would sing music that’s not typically black or mix R&B; with something else if they thought they could do it and find an audience,” Kemp said. “It’s frustrating when you know the doors are closed to your creativity and you can’t do anything about it. But that didn’t stop Tracy and Terence. I hope other black artists follow in their footsteps.”

Kemp, smallish and trim, looks to be in his mid-20s, but, judging from his reluctance to reveal his age, might be considerably older. “It serves no purpose to tell how old I am,” he said. “Ultimately it will do more harm than good. Honesty is the best policy and all that, but not when it comes to an artist telling his age.”

In 1979, Kemp, one of 10 children, migrated from Nassau to New York City to be a singer--brimming with youthful confidence and certain that stardom was just around the corner. But it took nearly 10 years to turn that corner.

He played New York clubs in the first half of the ‘80s, until he finally got the Columbia deal in 1985. “There was so much I wanted to do, so many ways I wanted to express myself in recording when I finally got the chance,” he said. “I guess I was naive. I could see what the business was about, that black radio wants formula R&B; music, that you couldn’t be too creative and survive.”

In their defense, black radio executives--who’ve heard these accusations before--claim they play what audiences want to hear.

“They sell black people short,” Kemp countered. “The black audience isn’t as one-dimensional as black radio makes them out to be. That audience would listen to a diversity of music if radio would play it.”

Softening his spiel a bit, Kemp insisted: “I’m not a crusader. I don’t hate black radio. And I certainly don’t want black radio to turn against me. I just want to be able take some risks without feeling that I’d go down the drain because the music wouldn’t get any exposure. I want to make a creative contribution to music. I want to expand musical horizons. I haven’t taken that many risks yet. Maybe, on my next album.”