Brian McKnight’s adult mixtape idea came to him during a Twitter session with his followers, he claimed in the video. Following that, he created the song “If You’re Ready to Learn,” which shocked fans with lewd lyrics, representing a departure from both his gentle love songs and his Christian upbringing.
“Let me show you how your [expletive] works, since you didn’t bring it to me first,” croons McKnight in the video while playing the piano. “I have lots of things to show you if you’re ready to learn.”
The backlash and outrage of the R&B singer’s fans was immediate and continuous.
“Who told Brian McKnight that was okay? … Isn’t he the brother of a TAKE 6 member?” tweeted Simone Stalls, mentioning McKnight’s affiliation with the gospel group and his Seventh Day Adventist roots.
“I’m convinced Brian McKnight has no family or friends, who let him release that video?” wrote Emilio A.
Brian McKnight and his two sons, Brian Jr. and Niko in a Hollywood Christmas parade November 29, 2009.
Although some fans enjoyed the raunchier style, the singer removed the video, although many copies had been made by that time. Some questioned McKnight’s motives for making the suggestive song, especially when he was previously known for growing up in the church.
“Are or we’re [sic] you really a 7th Day Adventist?” questioned Marco A. Cruz via Twitter.
“I grew up that way,” replied McKnight.
“And now your [sic] not?” asked Cruz, revealing that he, too, was involved in music in his church.
“Religion was man made,” wrote McKnight, promptly ending the conversation. Although the singer publicly abandoned his values learned from his time attending church and in a Seventh Day Adventist university, he seemed unrepentant.
“I wrote this song crude as it may be about satisfying all women and look what happened,” he posted on Twitter.
McKnight’s foray into more provocative content isn’t his first – he was on explicit tracks like Juvenile’s “Addicted” in the past – but the barefaced disregard for values and subtlety in “If You’re Ready to Learn” could be more of a desperation move.
His most recent album, Just Me, sold a paltry 47,000 copies since July of 2011 when it was released, compared to 2.4 million for 1999 album Back at One. One critique many fans had of the album’s single, “Fall 5.0,” was the use of Auto-Tune music software to alter his voice, giving it a digitized sound.
Now, McKnight has offered his fans a compromise for the controversial adult track, and possibly a comeback: “I’m gonna finish [the song] today and I’ll put out a clean and a nasty version how about that?” he tweeted.
