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August 22nd, 2008 at 5:19 pm

Music Video: John Legend “Green Light” ft. Andre 3000 (Official)

John Legend

Here is the official music video for R&B singer-songwriter John Legend’s new single, “Green Light,” featuring Andre 3000 of OutKast. The music video premiered on Yahoo Music and MTV FNMTV on August 22, 2008. “Green Light” is the lead single from John Legend’s third studio album Evolver which will be released on October 28, 2008 and will feature guest appearances from Kanye West and Estelle.

MTV News interviewed John Legend. Here is an excerpt.

John Legend is a nickname that some friends started calling me, and it kind of grew into my stage name,” the singer said. ” ‘Legend’ is something that I never would have chosen for myself originally. It grew to the point where more people in my circle would know me by that name than by my real name. I had to make a decision.

“I was just like, ‘You know what? Let’s just go for it. People are going to pay attention and I’m going to either live up to my name or I’m not,’ ” he continued. “My bet was on me trying to live up to the name.”

Despite being a solo artist, Legend said, he never went through the grind alone and acknowledged some of his fellow artists who struggled with him during his early beginnings, including Jazmine Sullivan, Jill Scott, Bilal and Kanye West.

“Kanye was still grinding it out when I was grinding it out,” Legend recalled. “We did shows together. He actually opened for me at one point. It was weird, ’cause people didn’t know him at all. He was really well-known in the [music] business because he was producing for everybody, but no one kind of in the general public knew who he was as a rapper.

“We did a show at S.O.B.’s, and the crowd was definitely getting restless while he was performing,” he added. “It’s hard to play a live show when people have no idea who you are. I knew he was going to be great and was going to be a big star, but at the time, no one knew. Little did they know who he was going to be.”

Two multiplatinum albums and five Grammys later, Legend is prepping to release Evolver in October, with “Green Light” as the first single, and the singer agreed that his hard work has undoubtedly paid off.

Source: John Legend Reflects On His Early Days — When Kanye West Was Opening For Him

Photo credit: Sony BMG

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John Legend Green Light ft. Andre 3000 single cover