TEAM RNS PRESENTS

ARTIST: Truth Hurts

TITLE: Ready Now

LABEL: Pookie Entertainment

RIPPER: Team RNS

187kbps avg - R&B
0hr 41min total- 58.8mb

RELEASE DATE: 2004-05-11
RIP DATE: 2004-03-16

07 WhatchU Sayin Feat Loon        3:49
08 Lifeline Interlude             0:52

10 Cant Be Mad                    3:53

It’s often been stated that the truth
can only make you stronger. It steps to
your conscience and your soul with a
realness that defies fakery, frivolity
and euphemism. Truth is bold, daring
and unabashedly unapologetic. Truth
stands tall against anything put in its
path. It’s also been said that "Truth
Hurts." However, when it comes to
singer/songwriter TRUTH HURTS, she’s
dropping "Hurts" from her name because,
as Teddy Pendergrass once sang, "It

"I prefer to call myself just Truth
now," she explains, "because in all of
my music, I’m about bringing some truth
to the table." As the title of her
sophomore album suggests, TRUTH has
exhaled and is READY NOW.

READY NOW is TRUTH’s sophomore album,
which will be released May 11 on Pookie
Entertainment (distributed nationally by
the Navarre Corporation). It’s her
first for the label founded last year
by Grammy® Award

an Raphael Saadiq. The album’s title
track will be released to radio March 30
with a video following shortly

"‘Ready Now’ is a love song, but as the
title of my album, it means I’m ready
to do me. I think it's a well rounded
record. More magic happened because
people came together for something more
than just the money. Raphael promotes a
very natural and creative environment,
so I'm going to continue to grow in

The album is indeed a more intimate
glimpse into both the personality and
musicality of TRUTH--born Shari Watson
in St. Louis, Missouri--than her more
hip hop debut, TRUTHFULLY SPEAKING. That
album debuted at #5 on Billboard’s "Top
200 Albums" chart and #4 on Billboard’s
"Top R&B Albums" chart, and spawned the
#1 hit single "Addictive." In a review
titled "Truth Will Set You Free," USA
Today described the songstress as "...a
sultry, soulful singer who - as her
stage name indicates - uses veracity
like a blunt object." While the Los
Angeles Times declared: "...this
strong-voiced singer captures the
pleasure and pain of love and life with

Regarding how she landed at Pookie
Entertainment with Raphael Saadiq, TRUTH
states, "I just got bold and asked him!
It was the next logical step for me as
an artist. I came to the studio to meet
with him about doing some tracks and
quickly knew that wasn't going to be
enough for me. I wanted to be under a
roof where I could really work with
someone. So I turned it into a meeting
about signing with him. He thought about
it and when we met a second time, he
told me, ‘I’m doing an independent
thing. If you're open to the
sacrifices that requires, then we can
work together.’" And the rest is

READY NOW features many special guests,
including the Pookie President, who
sings backing vocals on "Knock Knock" and
wrote "Lifetime," a ballad so deep,
TRUTH swears it’s going to "change the
game." "The track is beautiful," she
shares. "He plays banjo on the hook and
this other weird guitar that sits up
like a keyboard. It's mid-tempo with some
bottom, but lovely."

Other writing and producing contributors
include controversial rapper Loon,
up-and-coming innovator Alonzo Jackson,
West Coast production king Battlecat on
"Love You Better," Brian Wilson and
Cassey Wilson (the second generation of
The GAP Band) on "Whatchu Sayin" and
"U," and Kelvin Wooten (who plays tuba on
"Still Ray" from Raphael Saadiq’s
Grammy® nominated and critically
acclaimed INSTANT VINTAGE album) on
"Knock Knock" and "Ready Now." Asked if
Dr. Dre, the hip hop production
powerhouse whose Aftermath label
introduced her, was contributing,
TRUTH states, "We did this so fast that
Dre didn't have time to offer anything.
But he's behind me and my move over to
Pookie 100%. We're friends...and we're

Further expanding on the sensuality of
TRUTHFULLY SPEAKING, TRUTH once again
shows that she’s quite the outspoken
provocateur with "Phone Sex," on which
TRUTH breaks down a concept she calls
"The Mobile Kama Sutra," reprising a bit
of the mesmerizing Middle Eastern vibe
(with a touch of Africa) that made
"Addictive" so...addictive. "It's not
as blatant as it sounds," she insists.
"It takes you into a dream world. I’m just

"Like I said at the top," she
concludes, "it doesn't hurt now. I feel
so much freer to be Truth as well as
Shari...combining the two...and doing all