We’ve seen him in his mom’s videos, then we heard him in Winans Phase 2. At 21 years of age, Marvin L. Winans Jr. obviously has a vision, and it’s now apparent that it’s a whole lot bigger than any of us ever knew.

In hindsight, he already told us about it in the single "I'm A Winans Too" —a song from the Winans Phase 2 debut project: "God called us to reach a whole ‘nother day and time".

The new corporate entity, M2Entertainment is set to fulfill that. As CEO, Winans Jr. is claiming it for the youth of his generation.

"It’s a God-given vision," he says. "My heart is for people of my age. That’s why M2Entertainment is here, it’s for the young people. All my friends, people my age, they're all looking for something like this. M2Entertainment will generate creative, fresh sounds for them to enjoy."

Describing it as a company devoted to delivering the message of Christ, and referencing Ecclesiastes 11:9, Winans Jr. capsulizes it eloquently in his press material: “We want to show the world how to enjoy life, without degrading life. M2 is dedicated to providing quality and excellence in all areas of entertainment for the enjoyment of our consumers, and if not simply because we're representing God.”

Elaborating, Winans Jr. told GospelFlava.com that the plan is "actually for seven different companies: recording, production, publishing, management, what I call music tech (engineering), fashion and choreography. These will eventually become their own entities, but right now they’re all under M2Entertainment. We’ll have one building, with recording studios, dance studios, classrooms, microstudios, writing booths, production rooms and more. We just want to take the standard that we in Gospel have already set, bring it all under one company, and continue that standard in everything we do.”

"I have distribution deals on the table and people ready and willing to back M2Entertainment financially in whatever needed. God truly is setting this up to be incredible."

It’s a given that with the depth of musical wisdom within his own immediate and extended family, Winans Jr. won’t have far to go for advice or counsel. For example, his aunt, CeCe Winans has also recently begun her own entertainment company, Wellspring Gospel (see interview).

Winans Phase 2

Before their debut dropped on us, Winans Phase 2, along with their manager Carvin Winans, spent some time with GospelFlava.com, going over their album, their values, and their bowling careers. Click here to go to the 1999 interview.

“Yeah, I was just speaking to my aunt on the phone earlier today in Nashville, and we were talking.” Suddenly laughing out loud, he says, “It’s funny, you know people think all of us in the family talk all the time. But I didn’t really know much about her company until recently. Last month I went to sit down and do some reading about it!”

So what’s up in the immediate future for Marvin Winans Jr.? “Well, Michael Winans Jr., he’s doing some writing with me, and my mom’s project [on Tommy Boy Gospel] is due out this year. It’s called Kids Love Jesus Too, and I'm doing some writing and production on that.”

Winans Jr. is also handling co-producer responsibilities for another Vickie Winans project slated for the coming year, titled From My Two Son’s Point of View. His brother Mario 'Skeeter' Winans, an established producer himself, is joining him in producing on that album, also slated for a 2001 release.

On the M2Entertainment front, things are heating up quickly for the fledging company, with three young artists —all based in the Detroit area, having already signed to the label.

“There’s this dynamic duo of girls, Kai and Kandice. Being in a family surrounded by music, I can tell you that I’ve never seen anything like them. They’re twins, they rap and sing. They're the daughters of one of Fred Hammond's Radical For Christ members, which is excellent."

"I also signed a rapper, Genaro. He’s been thru a lot of things, had a stereotypical bad person’s life, but he was brought up in the church and he’s got himself together. He has a heart for God, a heart for worship. Genaro’s different for a rapper, because he doesn’t really have an attitude, he’s just himself, ready to minister. He’s done some underground stuff so far, but he needs some good production to be ‘overground’ you know? His album’s going to be called Even Grown Men Cry".

"There’s also Lance. He’s been a friend of mine for years, since high school. Lance has a real smooth R&B, pop style, and sings about loving God and relationships with God. He’s going to be ladies man in Gospel if you want to call it that. His stuff makes you get up and dance, and worship. He's anointed."

Winans Jr. says that although M2Entertainment is planning to release some music by the end of 2001, you can catch his artists before that on the Kids Love Jesus Too Vickie Winans project. "Lance is producing a bit on the album, along with Josiah Bell. Actually, Josiah is the brother of Kai and Kandice, who will have a song on there two. They’ll be singing on a song that I wrote with Lance doing the track."

What about Winans Phase 2? It appears that with the recent restructuring over at Word Records, that it may take a while before a date for a sophomore project firms up.

“We’re just waiting and seeing what happens. Anyhow, business is in front of me right now.”

With a vision as large as his, even his passion for bowling has taken a back seat.

"Yeah, my cousins, I’m sure they want to kick me off the tournament, they’re always asking me to get more involved. We’re also movie critics, and I don’t get the chance to do that. My cousins want to take my card away."

For Kingdom business, it sounds like a small price to pay.