Since his departure from Interscope Records, the 23 year-old, Marques Houston, signed with Elektra records and then promptly released his self-titled debut album which included the hit club single Clubbin' produced by R.Kelly featuring rapper Joe Budden. "I would definitely go with R.Kelly," he says when asked about the King of R&B. "R.Kelly produced the song [Clubbin'] and co-wrote it. And that happened because he actually worked with my boys B2K. And the same company T.U.G. Chris Strokes manages us. They gave a shout out to Rob [R.Kelly] and he was with it. I was honored to be able to work with him," he explains. "Man, I was like 'Damn that's R.Kelly,' so you know that's hot. And I actually wanted Joe Budden to rap on it, I felt like Joe Budden is the hottest new thing on the streets, so I wanted someone fresh."

            He hasn't stopped there. He's been featured in the movie 'You Got Served'. One wonders, how does he juggle both singing and acting? "I'd say both of them is hard work, you know, it takes focus and all kinds of stuff. But I'd say, I like doing both, you know. It's different. Acting is a lot different than singing," says Houston. "I love singing, only because I started off doing it, it's just a great joy to get up in the front of the fans and sing. But also, I really enjoy acting, it's really a whole other life, so it's a great thing."

            Marques younger brother Omarion Grandberry (formerly of B2K) has signed a worldwide solo recording deal with T.U.G./Epic Records while Marques Houston has resigned a solo recording deal with T.U.G./Elektra Entertainment. Houston is all to familiar regarding the business side of the music industry, especially when his self-titled debut album was literally put on the shelf for a good year before his departure from Interscope. "Well, I just felt like Interscope is basically, a rap base label," explains Houston. "I just wanted more attention, I needed to go somewhere that I was the main focus, so we did this independently with T.U.G., that's our own label with Chris Strokes. I'm the only artist of my kind on the label, so I get a lot of attention and that's what I need."