Tag: Atlanta

The Evolution of Ciara: The First Lady of Crunk & B

The year was 2004 when she popped up on the scene with her debut single and album with the same name. Petey Pablo provided a verse and Jazze Pha was the man behind the sound. It wasn’t the first time we heard this sound on radio. The first time was Usher’s club banger “Yeah!” featuring Lil’ Jon and Ludacris and was released the same year at the same time but it was this beautiful, young, talented and fresh faced singer on the scene named Ciara who gave us the beautiful sounds of the combination of Crunk and R&B music. Nobody else had pulled off the sound before her and not too many people understand that she pioneered the sound in a dope way and what she brought to the game. When you’re a music fan like myself, it’s easy to point out what’s new, fresh, and dope at the same time and it definitely worked in Ciara’s favor. I can honestly point out that the reason she’s so underrated is because she’s from Atlanta and the South had a lot to prove that they also had something to say, props to Andre 3000. Anyways, when Ciara first came out, I thought she lacked vocal ability and power in her voice. I remember when “Goodies” first came out, the moment I heard it, I wasn’t so fond of Petey Pablo alone and then I couldn’t stand the sound of Ciara’s voice but that song is a reflection of the Atlanta sound and wave at the time. After “Goodies”, there was “1, 2 Step” featuring Missy Elliott, “Oh” featuring Ludacris and my all time favorite Ciara joint “And I.” “And I” was a slow ballad that was the first joint Ciara ever written, that’s what I read a long ago. It wasn’t a hype track like the other singles, it was a slow joint but it was a dope ass joint. Ciara caught my attention full on when she came back with her second joint “Ciara: The Evolution.” This album to me is her best work. She stepped it up a whole lot. She went from being the young Atlanta girl fresh outta high school to being this full on entertainer. She went from the honey brown/blonde hair to jet black. She had the whole futuristic look with the silver and shiny clothes, she was dancing more and stepping out of her comfort zone and showing a more hyper Ciara. Her voice was definitely different too but she sings low like Janet Jackson. This is the Ciara I personally loved. I also remember when her second joint dropped because “Get Up” came out for the “Step Up” movie soundtrack and then there was “Promise”, “Like a Boy” and “Can’t Leave ‘Em Alone” featuring 50 Cent. Ciara had this whole Janet Jackson thing going in this era and it worked. She kept that Janet Jackson vibe up and kept putting out more and more bangers and albums. She’s a dope artist whose very underrated. She’s far from her “Goodies” days and is now a mother to a son named Future, who she named after the Atlanta native rapper, who she formerly had a relationship with. Ciara will go down in history as one of the illest artists of all time. She may not be so appreciated like she should be artistically now but eventually, people will catch on. They should’ve been caught on. She will continue to get more and more dope on this evolution in her career. I’m anxious about what she’s gonna do next.

The Man Behind So So Def: Happy Birthday Jermaine Dupri

I consider him to be the Russell Simmons of the South. He’s the man behind some of the biggest hits of Usher, Mariah Carey, Monica, Xscape, TLC, Bow Wow, Jagged Edge and even Da Brat and Kris Kross, just to name a few. He goes by the name of Jermaine Dupri. If you’re a true hip hop fan, you should remember seeing 12 year old JD dancing background for the legendary hip hop group, Whodini, in their music video for “Freaks Come Out At Night.” Homeboy was rocking a serious jheri curl and leather jacket, with those big eyeballs of his directly in the camera as he popped and locked, straight 80’s style. LOL! But let’s fast forward a bit to the 1993. It was the year 1993 when JD launched the legendary record label, aka So So Def but it was in 1990 and 1992 when he first produced for a group named Silk Tymes Leather and Kris Kross. History books say that JD discovered Kris Kross at a local mall and then the rest in history. In 1993, he also discovered Xscape, signed them and their debut album “Hummin’ Comin’ At Cha” was released. Then on an appearance on Yo! MTV Raps, he met Da Brat through Kris Kross, signed her as well and “Funkdafied” was born. Throughout the 90’s, JD started working with other artists like Mariah Carey. He did “Always Be My Baby” and its remixed version featuring Da Brat, he also did “Not Tonight” for Lil’ Kim on her “Hardcore” album, and in 1997 he helped launched Usher’s career with the album “My Way.” A lot of people think that’s Usher’s first joint but he had an album in 1994 that was self titled and super underrated in my opinion. Also in 1997, he remixed “Everything” for Mary J. Blige with the classic “My Name Is D-Nice” beat and y’all know how Mary does it, simply raw and smooth over that joint. Rocking it like she was a rapper and even had this cat named Roc on the joint. In 1998, he met Bow Wow, who was known then as Lil’ Bow Wow. The greatest work done by JD to me is Usher’s 2004 album “Confessions”, which in my opinion is Usher’s best album, along with Mariah Carey’s 2005 comeback album “The Emancipation of Mimi.” There’s a long list of hits done by Jermaine Dupri that’s too much to think about. Hands down one of hip hop’s greatest producers of all time and definitely one from the South as well. He’s the reason why I like southern R&B better than southern rap. In his own words in almost everything he does, “Y’all Know What This Is! So… So…. DEF!”