Tank x Essence Music Festival [Photos x Interview]

Most of you probably didn't get to see Tank perform at the Essence Music Festival this past weekend, but don't worry, we got ya covered! Tank performed on the main stage for the first time, swooning the ladies with his hits from all five of his albums, and even brought out Tyrese to perform his classic "Stay". After the set, the two sat down with The BoomBox to discuss their group TGT, and NOT participating to the current electro trends in R&B. Hit the jump to check out some excerpts from the interview, as well as more photos of Tank's performance!

Tyrese on a possible electro feel for the TGT album:

"Uh, nah, we cool. 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."

Tyrese on first-week sales numbers to blame for the shift in R&B:

Ultimately, we're not getting into this group focused on album sales. 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 on his performance:

"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."