UB Interview & Acapella Performance: 4EY “The Future” – “Scoot Ova” They Got Next

For those living in the Northeast Corridor, the DMV is the name of the trifecta better know as DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The DMV is the birthplace of a long list of super talents and it has given birth to the future of R&B, pop, rock, gospel and soul. Washington DC-natives Kenny Iko and Demetrius Mechie have joined forces with Maryland-native Tre Anthony to form the super-group 4Ever Young “The Future”. Signed by CEO Russell Webster to his 4Ever Young Music Group imprint, 4EY “The Future” adopted their name from the label and are determined to do take their brand of soul beyond the limits.

With the release of their debut single/dance anthem “Scoot Ova”, penned by Santino Rose and produced by Zaytoven-Beats, 4EY “The Future” is already being compared to that of The Jackson 5, *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys and Boys II Men, all of whom are major influences to their sound. 4EY “The Future” promises that they’re tentatively titled debut album, 4Ever, slated for June 9, 2015 will require listeners to do nothing except press play.

At 18 years old, Demetrius Mechie’s background was steadfast in the church choir, basketball and of course secular music. Rapper/Singer Tre Anthony, also 18 Years old, had been performing since the age of 15. By the tender age of 13, Kenny Iko was dominating local talent showcases and opened up for the likes of Chrisette Michele and Bow Wow. Once the dream-team was formed, they’ve been like a family ever since.

The ideology of family motivates 4EY to be the greatest. As a family they share the spotlight. Family doesn’t call themselves members. In this case they are brothers. 4EY “The Future”, refers to themselves as Brother. One brother, like bad-boy Tre Anthony, cracks jokes and does a stellar impression of comedian Katt Williams. Another brother, like ladies-man Demetrius Mechie, dyes his hair blonde while the other peace-keeping brother, like Kenny Iko, constantly reminds them of their motto to always be humble, honest and hungry. 4EY “The Future” is 4Ever.

With music being in such a flux these days, it’s enjoyable to see that a group with some originality and skills can rise to the occasion and 4EY is that band! It’s been a long time since a band delivered a smash single, hot music and a great look – the time is now!

UrbanBridgez.com recently caught up with the hot new trio. Josiah spoke with the fellas about their bangin single “Scoot Ova,” their debut album, their influences, why they keep everything PG and much more.

The guys also sang Miguel‘s hit single “How Many Drinks” exclusively for us acapella, check them out!

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UrbanBridgez: How did 4EY first form?
4EY (Kenny): I got signed to Forever Young Music Group first as a solo artist. Then Mechie got signed as a solo artist also. Then we both were in the in-house studio and we would see each other and hang out. Our CEO Russell Webster saw that and was like let me put these guys together and form a phenomenal group. Mechie knew Tre and then we brought Tre on and the rest is history.

UrbanBridgez: How did you guys come up with the group’s name 4EY The Future?
4EY (Mechie): Trust me we came up with so many terrible names before we got 4EY. Red Velvet, High Definition, HD Definition and so many wild names. Then we just came to the conclusion that we wanted to represent our label. We were the first male group to be signed and also put out music through the label. So we just shorted the label name from Forever Young Music: We are the Future to 4EY “The Future.”

UrbanBridgez: What I love about you guys is that you actually dance and really dance. It’s been a while since we’ve seen an R&B male group like that. I know some if not all of you play instruments as well correct?
4EY (Tre): Well we dance and sing (smiling).
4EY (Mechie): I play the piano.
4EY (Kenny): I write and also play the acoustic guitar.
4EY (Tre): I play the drums and the saxophone.

UrbanBridgez: You recently dropped the video for your debut single “Scoot Ova.” As a new group tell us about your experience shooting your first video as 4EY?
4EY (Mechie): That was actually just the first video that we released. We actually shot over 10 videos.
4EY (Kenny): We shot “Scoot Ova” with Alex Acosta.
4EY (Mechie): He’s a phenomenal director and photographer. He made everything so smooth while filming the video. And then the song is produced by Zaytoven who also produced “Versace Versace” for Migos, songs for Nicki Minaj, Usher, etc. So just making that record with him was a blessing and then we just added dance to it.
4EY (Kenny): I agree. It didn’t feel like work. It was so much fun. We brought all of our fans out to come be in the music video. So we were signing autographs and taking pictures with some of our diehard fans. Shout out to team 4EY. After a while it was just a big party of “scooting ova” and things like that.

UrbanBridgez: You guys also have a big viral movement going on with the “scoot ova” dance online. How do you feel about that?
4EY (Kenny): It’s been crazy. We knew how powerful the song could be and how big of a movement that we could have. The industry is missing a group right now and our team is so phenomenal. So we just had fans coming from nowhere wanting to be a part of the dance movement. We have a team 4EY in Australia now and people in Russia have been sending in dance videos to the “Scoot Ova” song on YouTube and Instagram. If you pound search “scootova” on Instagram you’ll see thousands and thousands of different kids, grandmas, Asians, Hispanics, all types of cultures doing the dance and it’s just been crazy!

UrbanBridgez: Absolutely love the album. “Vacation” has hit written all over it. Have you guys decided on the next single as of yet?
4EY (Tre): I’m in love with that song. I would really like to see it in the industry. I appreciate the good vocals, the time that was spent into the word choices and I think it’s just a great song.
4EY (Kenny): Man if you think that’s a great song, wait until you hear everything else that we have. We are still actually cutting more songs. Every time we get back to the DMV we go record more songs in the studio and we also write. Our pen is getting stronger; our team is crazy with the beats. So we definitely have some heat for you.

UrbanBridgez: Speaking of the DMV, University of Maryland at College Park is my Alma matter. There’s a lot of artist that are from that area that don’t particularly claim it. Can you guys speak on being from the DMV area?
4EY (Mechie): I think it’s very important. We want to do something that’s never been done before which is be the first 3-male group to come out of the DMV. It’s never been done before. We are proud to be from the DMV. A lot of greats have come from our areas. We’re not gonna never go somewhere and not say that we are from the DMV. We are always going to hold the home team down.

UrbanBridgez: Who did you guys work with on the album?
4EY (Kenny): So far we have the great Zaytoven beats mixed with our in-house producers that have all together 50 Grammy nominations. Huck the pen who worked with Jlo, Melanie Fiona, Pleasure P. We have some features with the legendary Jadakiss, Migos, Soulja Boy, We are Toons. It’s going to be crazy. I don’t think this has been done from an independent label group in a long time.

UrbanBridgez: I love how you guys stay current and true with the club, party and sensual/slow songs but on tracks like “Never,” you guys talk about women knowing their worth. When people listen to your album, what do you want them to get out of it?
4EY (Kenny): We make sure everything is PG from us. We are still young. We want to grow into the sexual stuff. We’re more about love and young love and puppy love. We haven’t really experienced that side yet. We are in love with our music. So a lot of our loves songs come from other peoples experiences. My parents have been together for 25 years. Our CEO Russell Webster is always talking about his wife. So we go off of stuff like that. Our music really is just speaking about us. Sometimes Mechie has a certain type of day, sometime we turn up, and sometimes we just want to have fun. So you’ll see that in the music.

UrbanBridgez: On the intro of “He Knows” I can’t help but hear the Brandy & Chris Brown influence in the group. Correct me if I’m wrong.
4EY (Mechie): On that song we were just in our zone. We recorded that song with this guy named D White. It was just a great experience. We got a great sound and just going in to record the song; it just came out of us. It’s just the type of artist that I am, Kenny is and Tre is. You would think there’s a Chris Brown, Brandy, and Michael Jackson.
4EY (Kenny): But we do look up to those artists. Those are some great artists.

UrbanBridgez: Who are some of your influences as a group?
4EY (Kenny): Ah man. With Forever Young Music Group, we went through a long, vigorous artist development program that we are still going through now. We have 4 hours of vocal lessons in the morning, and then we have weight training, then choreography practice all day and then the studio to record. Sometimes we do media training in between those things. We would also have the privilege of sitting in the studio and watching videos of our favorite artists. So we sat and studied the Beatles, Michael Jackson, The Jackson 5, etc. We pulled from each of those artists who we felt we wanted to be. We added our own youthful edge to it and that’s how we found our sound.

UrbanBridgez: What are some of your goals you have together as a group?
4EY (Mechie): I think first and foremost one of our goals is to stay together. Coming out of the DMV, we want to be an example showing the young black community that there can be something. We are not just doing this for music. We are a movement. We are doing this to make a difference in the industry. The reason why we named our album “Forever” is because we are making timeless music and we want to be a timeless group. We want to be a group that’s here forever. That alone just shows you that we are trying to be here for more than just music. We want to venture off into acting, modeling. We already write. At the same time while we are learning music in artist development at Forever Young Music Group, we are learning everything. We are studying everything. We want to be the first group to do it. So instead of doing something solo, we want to do it all as a group. Or goals are to win a lot of Grammy’s, make very timeless music and venture off as a group and do timeless things.

UrbanBridgez: Each of you tell the ladies your idea of a romantic date.
4EY (Tre): My romantic date would be set in the DMV with a romantic live band. An intimate romantic setting. I have to make sure the food is good cause I don’t want to disappoint you in no way shape or form. I’ll probably end up singing at some point during the date. And probably just end it off with a movie and go back and watch Netflix or something.
4EY (Mechie): I like long walks on the beach (laughing). Sike. I’m a pretty settled guy. I would just stay home and cook my lady something. I’m not too much with the fancy stuff. I set the mood right and have a good time.
4EY (Kenny): See me, I’m an outdoors guy, I’m like the hippy. So she would have to be an outdoor lady herself. I would probably take her camping for a nice little bonfire outside. Some nice vegan food. Anything outdoors is my favorite.

UrbanBridgez: What’s next for 4EY?
4EY (Kenny): I think our name says it best. No one knows what the future holds. We are in the future. We just know that we will be there in the future. If we keep ourselves grounded and keep the team that we have and stay focused, skies are the limit.
4EY (Mechie): We’re also currently touring with WPGC 95.5. We have our clothing line which we are currently wearing right now coming soon. We are also touring the Juice tour with IHeart Media and also the BET Wrap it up tour. With “Scoot Ova” going international now, we are getting calls every day. There’s so much going on. It’s a blessing though that these things are coming our way and we are ready to work. No days off for us.

UrbanBridgez: Anything else you guys want to leave with the fans that’ve been following you as well as new fans?
4EY (Mechie): Please keep supporting us. We love all of our fans. Team 4EY all around the world. We’re going to keep doing everything we can for our fans. We’ve got a lot of things in store for you guys. And for the new fans, definitely check us out. Follow us online WER4EY.com. You can see everything there. It will link you to everything.