Tank, Essence Music Festival 2012: Singer Brings Out Tyrese, Discusses TGT Supergroup

This is proving to be a big year for Tank. The singer-songwriter joined a supergroup, started a label and hit the main stage at the Essence Music Festival for the first time on Saturday evening (July 7), bringing new group member Tyrese along for the ride.

The crooner performed his most popular cuts from all five of his studio LPs, including his latest, This Is How I Feel. He was also gracious enough to give Tyrese a few moments to make the ladies swoon with his latest hit, "Stay."

Afterwards, the two artists told The BoomBox that their group, TGT, will not be contributing to the current electro trend in R&B.

"Uh, nah, we cool," Tyrese deadpans. "Nothing in my bedroom happens that fast. I promise you. I'm so grown and every stroke counts. We don't want to go too fast. We don't want to speed it up. We're gonna keep it R&B through and through and we're proud of that."

They specified that insecurities about first-week sales numbers are to blame for the shift in the genre's direction.

"Ultimately, we're not getting into this group focused on album sales," the "Fast & Furious" actor says. "We're focused on reminding people of why they fell in love with R&B music in the first place. We want to be the face of R&B."

The two spoke on the behalf of absentee group member Ginuwine, stating that they are hoping to release their first joint project at the top of 2013, just around the time they begin their ladies-only Shirts Off tour.

"In all of our experiences as individual artists, we feel like the fellas do support the music," Tyrese says. "But when they come to the concert with their lady, she'll sit there and act bored because she doesn't really want to start screaming for somebody on stage."

Tank reveled in the spotlight, speaking on his stage performance a few minutes earlier.

"It was incredible. When I saw my name and that I was going first..." he paused, grinning. "Normally, when you see your name on the bill first, you're like, 'Aww man, I haven't made it yet.' But just to be on that main stage, the energy and the people that were already in the house were amazing."