Hip-Hop Media Training

Boyz II Men’s Wanya On Working On With Justin Bieber

By | Hip-Hop Media Training – Tue, Nov 29, 2011 7:39 PM EST

Boyz II Men member Shawn Stockman, Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber teams with some of his idols, Boyz II Men, on his Christmas album, "Under The Mistletoe." Wanya Morris of the popular singing group that just released its twentieth anniversary album, "Twenty," explained how they met the teen pop star.

"We met Justin Bieber at the LeMontrose Hotel, standing outside," Morris told Yahoo! Music via phone. "His mom and manager came over to us and was like, 'Man, Justin loves you guys, and he'd love to meet you. He came over, and he was glassy-eyed, very excited, and was like, 'Yo man. Y'all my favorites. Y'all inspired me. You guys are one of the reasons why I do what I do. 'I'll Make Love To You' was one of my favorite songs, and I couldn't sing it because I was too young. So I went inside my room and would sing it when my mom was not around.'"

Boyz II MenBieber and Boyz II Men began discussing ways to collaborate. The "Baby" singer invited the trio to make a surprise appearance during his show at Madison Square Garden in August 2010. Bieber later called them again to appear on "Under The Mistletoe."

"When his holiday album came up, he felt like it would be a great opportunity for the both of us to be able to get in there and start putting down some vocals and see what people think and it was incredible how many people gravitated to the song once they heard it," Morris added about the "Mistletoe" track "Fa La La."

Though Bieber receives a lot of flak from music critics for singing bubblegum pop, Morris came to his defense. "He's for real," Morris said. "He's a talented young dude. He got his stuff together. He owns his craft. You can't say nothing bad about him. He's awesome. And it's rightfully so that he is as success as he is."

In the video below, super producer Babyface, who wrote and produced "I'll Make Love To You," said Boyz II Men initially did not want to include the song on their album "II."

Related:

The Aftermath Discusses Ludacris, Drake And Big Sean Beef, Mary J. Blige's 'My Life II'
The Aftermath Discusses Dr. Dre's Planned Break, Drake's 'Take Care' Album
Big Sean on being a nerd, Drake and Kanye
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