The members of Atlanta-based funk pop group 3D the Boss have been working together for over a decade in some capacity, even though their debut album Push It just released this past April. Musical veteran Chanda Leigh (stage name: Boss Lady) and fitness guru/musician Day Adeogba began as trainer and client, initially. Leigh was an accomplished jazz musician while Adeogba wrote songs in his spare time while developing his fitness app, the YourDay 3D Balance Game.
At some point, the pair realized they should try doing music together, all while working to grow the online fitness and wellness community that YourDay had become. In 2016, another YourDay denizen, Donna Hawkins (Lady Boss), joined the team and the three of them began making music, coaching and building their brand. Now with the release of Push It, all the dimensions are coming together for the trio.
Musically, Push It is heavily funk-inspired and has great throwback 80s vibes. Inspired by a Pantheon of pop, rock, dance, funk, jazz and soul artists, Leigh, Hawkins and Adegoba are focused on fun, motivation and musical play on this album. There’s also a strong element of fitness/dance music running through the album. To that end, their music videos all have a fitness and dance element to them, and on the 3D the Boss YouTube page, there are also actual workout videos set to the tracks.
It’s all integrated for this trio, and the lifestyle app created by Adeogba and spearheaded by Leigh and Hawkins doesn’t just cover fitness and music. It’s the mind/body connection, the honesty and accountability and what they call “Abundant Love” that makes 3D the Boss not just a music group but a lifestyle brand.
Your EDM sat down with 3D the Boss to get some more information on this expansive concept that covers mind, body and soul, and why it may quickly turn into a movement.
Starting from the beginning, how was 3D the Boss formed?
Day Adeogba (DA): Chanda (Boss Lady) started personal training with me in 2008, so that’s how the fitness element started. When we all came together with the music, I started thinking about what we would stand for. I thought about what brought us all together and it was the fact that we all played the YourDay 3D Balance Game. We address fitness, lifestyle and consciousness, so that is where 3D came from. We evolved it to a three dimensional approach to music: deep with meaning, wide with variety and high with excitement. During our recording of a few songs, one of our past members used a lyric that alluded to being the Boss. 3D The Boss clicked and I brought it to the team. They liked it and 3D The Boss became our name.
Boss Lady (BL): We first started writing songs together. We were not a band, but rather a songwriting team. I (Chanda Leigh) had my own music that I was working on and recording, and I’d agreed to come on board with the team and collaborate. After writing together for a while, we were like, “hey, why don’t we sing our own songs instead of trying to get them placed?” That was the beginning of the conversation about being a pop group. I was a jazz artist at the time, and I was not crazy about that idea. I always loved pop, but didn’t see how I could make a real musical impact on that world, the way I was with jazz. It took me about 9 months to warm up to the idea because I was used to being a solo artist, but I realized that I wasn’t going to go much further than I already had on my own. Once I understood how important it was to have a team, I was in.
Lady Boss (LB): I didn’t become an official band member until 2016 and 3D was already rolling very powerfully by then. I can remember Boss Lady sharing that the initial intention was to collaborate with Day and a former member, Theo. It was exciting to watch 3D become this dynamic movement. Everyone was already living a healthy lifestyle and trained together; and they all had the passion, talent, musicality and love for performance. I was already a professional musician and performer and was beginning to venture into becoming a solo artist. I was definitely honored when they invited me to become a part of the movement.
How did you come up with the idea to incorporate your music with fitness?
BL: The way we all initially met was through Day. He was already my lifestyle coach and personal trainer, and the same was true for the others. I didn’t even know he was into music like that! He’d told me he wrote songs, but I didn’t really take him seriously. But after a while, I started to hear some of the songs he wrote and was inspired to ask him to write a song with me. It came out beautifully. So here we were, working out, writing songs. Two things I love to do. Also there were a lot of musicians and colleagues of mine dying around that time. Everything from diabetes to cancer to heart disease. These guys were my age! We started looking at that for what it is, an epidemic due to the typical musician’s lifestyle. And we wanted to do something to change that. To offer a new paradigm. Eventually, we realized that we could use our music to introduce and inspire others to choose their health and fitness.
LB: I’ve always wanted a musical family. I didn’t know, at the time, that I was calling it into existence through 3D. I wasn’t even into my health when I envisioned this family. I was a divorced mother of two, bitter, recovering from a heart attack and, at my heaviest, 214 pounds before moving to Atlanta. I’ve always known Boss Lady to be healthy. She was a vegetarian for more than 20 years, so it didn’t surprise me that she was a part of the YourDay Balance Game. She invited me to join the Game to support my health. Move ahead a few years and the Game has literally saved my life and enriched it as well. So 3D is the true definition of family for me. What better way to combine my passions – health and fitness – with music! I’m grateful for choosing to live Life with them and I’m grateful that they made the space for me to do so.
DA: I am the architect and co-creator of the YourDay Balance Game which is in the world of health and fitness. I have 26 years of experience as a trainer and lifestyle coach. I spent 15 years pursuing a career in music as an artist and writer before fitness. Chanda has over 30 years in the music game as an artist and writer and she has always been into her health and fitness. After we became a group, we asked the question, what has not been done yet and 3D The Boss was and is the answer from countless hours of downloads and tweaking from there.
Do you plan to make a whole series of workouts that go with the album? Will they get more complicated as they go?
DA: Yes! Our intention is to create a video for each of the cardio dance routines and we currently have three videos. Also, we plan on making a series of exercise videos from beginner to advance while using our own music in the videos.
BL: We currently have a cardio dance routine for each of our songs on the new album, Push It. These routines are easy to follow, yet challenging enough to raise your heart rate and get you to sweat a little. The goal is to continue to create content that people can follow and enjoy without getting too overwhelmed.
LB: Our goal is to inspire our listeners to enjoy moving their bodies to our awesome original music. There are so many people who don’t believe that they can dance, move or enjoy being healthy and fit. We give them a simple way to challenge themselves and have fun at the same time.
It seems on the debut Push It album, you’re representing a lot of styles and eras of pop music, including workout music. What are each of your main influences for your musical style?
BL: I have several musical influences, personally, beginning with classical and gospel, then jazz, neo soul and R&B. Pop music has been a staple throughout all of those other eras in my life as well. I used to listen to my sister’s tapes when I was really small. She loved Prince, Michael Jackson, Rick James, Level 42, Phil Collins…. you name it. So I had an amazing tapestry to lay my musical ears on.
LB: Well my list may be a little unique in that I grew up in a very conservative home, being a pastor’s daughter. Listening to secular music wasn’t allowed and I was so conditioned to that, that I still didn’t listen to much of it even as an adult! I did manage to get a sneak in here and there. Michael Jackson, Prince, Rick James, Thomas Dolby, Nu Shooz and Cheryl Lynn are a few that come to mind. Walter, Edwin and Tremaine Hawkins, Andre Crouch and Russ staff would be a few from the gospel side. I listen to everything that inspires me, now.
DA: Music genres for m are pop, dance music, soul, R&B, jazz, new wave, neo soul, rock, funk, et cetera. I am influenced by Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, New Edition, Boyz II Men, Salt N Pepa, Dr. Dre, OutKast, Earth Wind and Fire, Cool and The Gang, Isley Brothers, R-Kelly, Jodeci, N-Sync, Backstreet, New Kids, etc.
What is the overall message you’re looking to get across on this album? A lot of it seems to be about perseverance, but what specifically do you want fans to take away other than physical fitness?
BL: Great question. We want to emphasize loving yourself and being the Boss of your life, by making powerful choices for yourself. Creating a standard for how you will live, no matter what others may think of it or of you. In our song “Go,” we say “love’s taking over now” and that love is self love. Self worth. Valuing yourself. That happens when you make deposits into yourself, and a great place to start is health and fitness. Those are just a couple of examples, yet the whole album is coded with self-affirming messages.
LB: I agree it’s definitely love. The message is “love yourself abundantly.” When that happens, life opens up and it’s easier to see health and everything else as a possibility. I mean, that’s actually how it happens. Love is powerful and it is the Source.
DA: I agree with everything Boss Lady and Lady Bass said. You are fully responsible for how you experience your life. Love is a choice and you can learn how to love the whole experience. Also, your self-worth is unique from your net-worth.
Now this album’s out, have you started work on follow-ups? How do you see your style possibly evolving?
LB: I see us continuing to grow and become more powerful as influencers in the health and fitness realm. I love that we’re using this unique angle of combining it with music. We’re passionate about inspiring musicians as well to secure their health. It’s time to change the belief that musicians go hard with the wild lifestyle and die young. There are musicians looking for support in feeling great offstage as well as onstage, which is why I’ve become a Musician Lifestyle Coach. We’re looking forward to some awesome musical collaborations with other musical performers who value healthy living.
BL: We have lots of songs already in the works for our next album. I see our style continuing to evolve as life does. There will still be the elements of R&B, pop and funk and I see us collaborating with some other artists to pull out a different uniqueness to our sound. I’m excited about continuing to evolve.
DA: I see us continuing to create three-dimensional music (exciting, variety, and deep) in pop, R&B, funk and jazz. We have a dozen or so new ideas for songs and we will continue to stay relevant. Also, I can see Boss Lady doing another solo jazz album in the future and Lady Bass doing another funk/soul solo album as well.
Re: some of your videos on YouTube, how does polyamory factor in with the music? Was the ‘3D’ in your name a nod to a triad?
BL: We are Abundant Loving Coaches, which means that we teach people how to create principle-centered and accountable practices around sexually intimate relationships. Everything we do is highly intentional. This is a separate concept from polyamory, although it is inclusive of polyamory, monogamy and many other love styles. Day and I are primary partners (we live together and have 3 children) and have been together about ten years. I also have several other male partners as well. We see how we can use our music to also spread the idea of loving in healthy, sustainable ways. Sexual intimacy is one of the biggest pillars to health. Abundant Love is a system we created to help others learn how to use sexual energy to heal, manifest and sustain joy in your life. The first, most important relationship is the one you have with yourself.
DA: I can’t say that our videos are a nod to a triad because each and of us has several secondary lovers who are aligned with Abundant Love. Chanda is my primary lover and Donna is my secondary lover. We are creating a whole new paradigm for sexual intimacy that will transform how people view and practice sex. It is time for us all to mature our sexual intimacy.
LB: Ah yes, that one? I’m so grateful for this modality! I can tell you before Abundant Love, I was flailing around and fucking up! Abundant Love has been such an empowering, confronting, scary and healing experience for me. I’m clear that I would not have seen the possibility to fully accept myself without it. I love that it’s a principle centered and accountable practice. Everyone is transparent and we move through our humanity together. For years, I observed Boss Lady and Day cultivate it in their relationship and it really inspired me! I have four powerful Kings in my life, who love, honor, support, and inspire me. You couldn’t have paid me to call a man a King five years ago! So instead of “sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll,” we are Abundant Love, orgasmic/God/Source energy and dope ass music from the heart!
This project has “movement” written all over it. Are you wanting your fans to get involved in this fitness/music/feel-good lifestyle? How else do you plan to get the community involved?
DA: I love your intuition. We are playing the YourDay Balance game (The YDBG) to influence millions of people to play this game with us and billions of people to watch us so we can awaken the greatness in them. We have created a platform that others can connect to through IOS and Android, and slowly we hope to attract one watcher at a time and transform them into one player at a time. We also plan on using our YouTube Channel as the main source for edutainment.
BL: I love it! Movement literally is what we are promoting. Get off the couch and move those hips! And yet what we offer is definitely much bigger than that. 3D The Boss is one of the brand ambassadors for the YourDay Balance Game, a health and fitness game inspired by love and balance. The game teaches our audience how to make sustainable life habits a new way of life that ultimately creates many more magical moments in their lives. That is the true movement we are playing for. We would like our audience to love abundantly and live a healthy lifestyle that they love!
LB: Water that isn’t moving is stagnant. So many people are literally afraid to move. I’ve been there and know how it feels. I started with baby steps, lots of conversations and the TDBG app. One step becomes two, then three and so on. Feeling the energy of being connected to a community of love and support continues to keep me focused, reminding me of what I said I would do and be for myself, and it can do that for everyone.
Push It is out now on the group’s YourDay Massengers label. Check out their YouTube channel for more videos and information on getting involved with the YourDay community.