5 Questions for Ginuwine on 'Elgin' and S.P.R.U.C.E.

With six albums and 15 years under his belt, R&B veteran Ginuwine is back with album number seven, “Elgin.” The man behind hits like “Pony,” “In Those Jeans” and “Last Chance” is serving up more of the same this time around — just take a look at his latest video “Heaven” for the proof.

ESSENCE.com caught up with Ginuwine to talk about why he decided to make it a self-titled album, what to expect and his his charity S.P.R.U.C.E…

ESSENCE.com: This is your seventh album, and the title isn’t like any of your others. It’s your first name. Are we going to see a deeply personal side from you?
GINUWINE: I named it “Eglin” because of my mom. She’s no longer with us and she told me to use my name for something — before my career is all said and done. She liked Ginuwine, but she’s a mom, she named me Elgin and so she wanted to see my name. That’s why I did it, not so much because I’m getting deep. I think I’ve covered all aspects of my life throughout the 15 years I’ve been in this business with seven CDs. There’s really no other direction to go but the good music direction.

ESSENCE.com: What’s the spirit of the album?
GINUWINE: The motivation for this CD was to be happy and to touch deep feelings in people. I wanted to talk about relationships, things people might go through on a daily basis. I have a song on there called “Why We’re Fighting.” I think I’ve been good at that. And songs like “What Could Have Been.” It’s about what if you stayed with that person you were in high school with. That’s a song that really gets you thinking. I also have a song called “Drink of Choice” that happens to be one of my personal favorites if not my personal favorite, done by Brian Michael Cox. It’s a metaphorical type song but it’s a woman being described a drink. I’ve always wanted to have fun with my music and cover my bases and you know my strength has been ballads.

ESSENCE.com: We premiered your video “Heaven” recently. What inspired it?
GINUWINE: “Heaven” is a song done by Tank, one of my good friends in the business. But it describes love making and when I’m making love to this woman, it feels like I’m in “heaven.” The best way to describe love with her is heaven.

ESSENCE.com: You sing a lot about love and romance and “Elgin” comes out the day after Valentine’s Day. Tell us about love and what has been your experience with love?
GINUWINE: My experience is that love hurts. Love is a never-ending learning process. Me being a husband and being married I know that love isn’t something that comes easy. You can love someone but the love you have for someone is work. If you love someone you have to think about that person before you think about yourself. It’s not only about love, but it’s about marriage too. I think love is a great word and it’s definition is not a few words it’s continuing. In love you are forever learning someone, you are forever forgiving someone.

ESSENCE.com: What is S.P.R.U.C.E. and who are you helping with this charity?
GINUWINE: It stands for Special People Requiring Unique Care Equally. We aid to help the physically and mentally disabled people. We basically house them. People don’t understand that a lot of people take them in and when they turn 18 a lot of people kick them out. We help house them along with the government. We have four homes now located in Kansas City where my wife is originally from.

I’ve been blessed. What’s the saying? “To whom much is given, much is required?” I don’t want anything for it, I feel good about myself and I know I’m helping somebody.

Ginuwine’s album, ‘Elgin’ is available on iTunes.