Tag: New Jack Swing

Don’t Be Cruel: The 30th Anniversary

Continuing on the subject of New Edition’s 30th anniversary of “Heart Break”, Bobby Brown, who at the time was no longer a part of the group, released his sophomore breakout album the same day. “Don’t Be Cruel” was not only a mega hit for Bobby, but the album was stamped as one of the staples for the New Jack Swing movement at the time in R&B music. Also stamped as one of the greatest albums in R&B history, Bobby was on top of the world. Winning awards, killing stages, music videos, and doing interviews, it was a great time in R&B music to witness something that big. To be a huge success outside of your group while they’re also getting bigger with a new member, it’s hard to ignore the slight competition that was going on and placed on the fellas by the industry. This was all just a master plan to see who would flop and who wouldn’t. Pure R&B brilliance. “Don’t Be Cruel” was done by the man himself, Teddy Riley. The man who at the time was with Guy and their album was just out weeks ago. The album also gave birth to and open doors for future R&B acts like Usher, Omarion, and Chris Brown. 30 years of pure greatness and it’s still untouched. An album that signifies a revolution in a young man’s rise to the top. Reminding the world also that it’s his way, it’s his prerogative and that’s the way he just wanna live. Not giving a care about what others say but unapologetically just being Bobby Brown, the original bad boy of R&B. 

30 Years: The Story of GUY

Coming from Harlem, NY, two childhood friends joined forces with a third member who they recruited to create a group. Not only were they great singers but they were great songwriters as well. So great that they also written for others such as Bobby Brown and Johnny Kemp, just to name a few. Teddy Riley, Timmy Gatling, and Aaron Hall were the trio known as Guy. Teddy was already a known producer for joints like “Go See The Doctor” by Kool Moe Dee, “The Show” by Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick, “I Want Her” by Keith Sweat, “Just Got Paid” by Johnny Kemp, and “My Prerogative” by Bobby Brown. In 1987, a year before their debut album released, Guy became a group and was managed by Gene Griffin and on June 13th, 1988, their self titled debut album was released. The group became the pioneers for the “New Jack Swing” style and era of R&B during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. With four singles released on a 10 track album, none of the singles reached Billboard 100 but it sold two million copies and the singles were still great hits. The album was filled with only both party and love songs. You can enjoy a night out at a party rocking and grooving and then go back to your lover’s place for a romantic evening afterwards. That’s the vibe you get when you listen to this R&B classic. After the release of the album, Timmy Gatling left the group to go solo and continue writing for other acts and was later replaced by Aaron’s younger brother Damian. They continued on with the success of the album with a soundtrack joint for Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing in 1989 with “My Fantasy”, which was another hit for the group. The group then split after their second album and the Hall brothers continued on with solo careers while Teddy continued writing and producing for other artists and even formed a new group called Blackstreet. 30 years later, there’s no denying the impact of this group and what they’ve brought to the group. New Jack Swing became a movement in R&B music up until 1993 or 1994. So many artists worked with Teddy Riley to have a similar sound to reflect the times. The times were about partying and having a good time and indeed, there’s no party without New Jack Swing to get it going. 30 years later, “Guy” is still a timeless R&B album that people still enjoy and play til this day. Big Sean even sampled “Piece of My Love” on his single “Play No Games” featuring Chris Brown. Mary J. Blige used “Goodbye Love” on a track she did on her “My Life” album called “Don’t Go” and even “I Like” appeared on the “Love & Basketball” soundtrack starring both Sanaa Lathan And Omar Epps. One of the greatest R&B albums of all time. 

30 Years: The Legacy of Al B. Sure!

Once upon a time, he was a star football player. Denied a scholarship to pursue a music career. Today he is known for being one of R&B’s biggest stars during the late 80’s new jack swing era. He started when he won a talent showcase and was hand picked by Quincy Jones as the winner and then got offered a deal with Warner Bros. Records by Benny Medina. He worked with Quincy Jones on “The Secret Garden”, he sang background for Heavy D. & The Boyz and then finally started working on his debut album, which took only 6 months to do. With a little bit of direction and production from Teddy Riley, his debut album was finally completed. With the first single called “Nite And Day”, his popularity quickly rose and on May 3rd, 1988, Al B. Sure! released his debut album called “In Effect Mode.” Besides “Nite And Day”, “If I’m Not Your Lover” and “Off On Your Own (Girl)” were also the singles released from the album. The album sold more than 2 million copies and it was Top Billboard smash hit. Winning Grammy’s, American Music Awards, and a Best New Artist award, Al was the fresh new guy on the R&B scene that drove the ladies wild. With an album that only had 8 songs, Al had a soft, high pitch, smooth voice that drove the ladies insane. An 8 track album that was filled with love and party/dance songs and a Spanish version of “Nite And Day” included. Al B. Sure! is also responsible for writing and producing for others and even helped the careers of Faith Evans, Usher, Dave Hollister, Jodeci, Tevin Campbell, and Case. 30 years later, “In Effect Mode” is still appreciated and loved by true R&B/New Jack Swing fans around the world. Timeless music that still makes people feel so good about love and life.

It’s About Time: The 25th Anniversary

25 years ago, three friends from The Bronx and Brooklyn came together to form as a singing group and then released their debut album. The three girls names are Cheryl, Leanne, and Tamara also known as Coko, Lelee and Taj, better known as SWV or Sisters With Voices. On October 27th, 1992, the group released their album “It’s About Time.” A 15 track album that’s filled with new jack swing, raw hip hop and R&B tracks. Every song from start to finish is a banger. Songs about relationships, love, and two playful but rapping tracks that perfectly gave the world a glimpse of what these around-the-way girls were all about. SWV was the first girl group in the 90’s to come out with the around-the-way girl image and still able to achieve mainstream success, while others had an image that was more colorful and baggy or the typical high heels and dresses and makeup, SWV kept it hood. Coko’s extremely long fingernails, to 5411 Reeboks and Doc Marten boots to oversized baseball jerseys and jeans, they had an image that regular girls back in the hood of the NYC had. I wasn’t even born when this classic was released but it’s an album that I’m super familiar with and love so much. It’s my favorite album from SWV. This album also had the most hits released. As I sit up at 3 in the morning, looking at and holding the album in my hand, I see the girls on the cover just chillin’ in their element. The SWV logo in a lime green diamond with the letters SWV in dark pink on the top right side on the corner. This means that this is the original 1992 release. This release doesn’t have the “Human Nature” remix version of “Right Here”, instead it’s the Vibe Mix but an instrumental. The April 1993 release has the logo on the opposite side on the cover and has the “Human Nature” remix. It’s 3:14am and for the past almost half an hour, I had “Anything” on a loop. It’s the perfect opening for an album like this. Something soulful, smooth, and gets you ready for the upbeat tracks that follow after. The next song “I’m So Into You” is one of the singles released from the album and then followed by “Right Here.” “Right Here” is SWV’s debut single. The song that put them on in the first place. The song with the video our parents saw back in the summer of 1992. They were bopping and pointing and dancing all over the place. Taj’s rap is unforgettable. Love hearing her rap. Then it’s their signature hit “Weak.” This is the SWV song that everybody knows. Even our little cousins heard it and they don’t know nothing about no SWV. LOL! This is the song you hear girls singing in talent shows all the time. “You’re Always On My Mind” was another smooth joint and “Downtown” was on another level. “You’re Always On My Mind”‘was the phone call to your lover and you told them how much you thought about them but “Downtown” was the invite over to theirs or your place to what we call nowadays a little “Netflix and chill.” The lyrics were very clear about what they meant by “downtown.” Real grown folk music at the moment. “Coming Home” took it back upbeat after you come back “uptown”, “Give It to Me” was also another upbeat banger. This is the new jack swing/hip hop part of the album. “Blak Pudd’n” is my second favorite after “Anything.” The track basically could’ve been a remix to “Downtown” but with a beat. The rapping of course is dope and it hits hard with the beat. Taj holds her own as a MC. The title track itself is just as beautiful as “Anything” to me. The song gives me that classic girl group vibe and Coko reminds me of Stephanie Mills on this song. The harmonies, the hook, the chorus, everything about it makes it such a perfect song. “Think You’re Gonna Like It” is the heaviest new jack joint on the album and “That’s What I Need” is a mix of both new jack and soul. The album ends off with “SWV (In The House)”, my third favorite, an a Capella version of “Weak” and then the Vibe Mix of “Right Here.” Definitely a no wrong doer album. A classic. Very nostalgic for me. Another joint I grew up listening to without my mom’s permission but she played this in that Sony 5 disc changer radio that I loved so much as a kid. The good old days. SWV will be celebrated for their reaching 25 years in the game at the Soul Train Awards in November. It’s the perfect time. It’s about time.

Bobby: The 25th Anniversary

After the release of his breakout hit smash second album “Don’t Be Cruel”, Bobby comes back four years later with an album that’s on another level of uptempo, dance and new jack swing tracks that can definitely get a party started. 25 years ago on August 25th, 1992, Bobby Brown released his third self titled album “Bobby.” With six singles released from this fourteen track album, the songs are all topics mostly about relationships and love but with a groove that keeps you on the dance floor nonstop. A much older and wiser Bobby musically and shows a much more softer, emotional and a lover boy side mixed with that same hype and crazy energy that has a bit of a hip hop influenced attitude with backup dancers in alleys and basketball courts. Snapbacks with gore tex boots and baggy jeans, this was the image that was far from his shiny suits and gumby days as the young rockstar from Boston and breaking away from his group New Edition. This album is my personal favorite from Bobby. This album gives you that nonstop fun and good feeling with an even longer track listing than “Don’t Be Cruel” and the success of the album is continues with a remix album that was released a year later with a heavier hip hop sound than new jack swing. It was more raw, more street, more dancing and more grittier than the original tracks but it’s also a great body of work. This album is also Bobby’s most underrated. It’s his best work to date. No doubt. After all these years, there is no denying that Bobby was the Chris Brown, the Usher, he is what we see in these recent R&B cats before they came along. His impact and influence is like no other.

FEELING THE FORCE WITH THE LEGENDARY FORCE M.D.’s

Have you ever had your partner say “Baby Let Me Love U”? Well, there is a group called The Force M.D.’s, which is an American R&B vocal group that was formed in 1981 in Staten Island, New York. Although the group has old school hip hop roots, it is perhaps best known for two tunes that are widely considered 1980s quiet storm classics, “Tender Love” and “Love is a House”. They are considered major forerunners of the new jack swing. The band was originally named The L.D.s, and then became the Force MCs, but ultimately preferred the name Force M.D.’s, which stood for Musical Diversity. Though the group was not quite always as recognizable as other New York R&B acts when it first started, they were among the first R&B vocal groups to intermix doo-wop-affected singing with and sometimes over hip-hop beats. The group was composed of brothers Stevie D., Antoine “T.C.D.” Lundy, and Rodney “Khalil” Lundy, along with their uncle Jessie Lee Daniels. (Later, friends “Trisco” Pearson and Charles “Mercury” Nelson from the Marines Harbor projects in Staten Island, NY joined the group.) They performed at different venues such as BB Kings, and the Eve Ultra lounge until this day their hit songs are still being played on the radio. Three of the group’s members died within five years of each other: Nelson suffered a fatal heart attack in 1995; former collaborator DJ Dr. Rock died suddenly of natural causes in 1996; and in 1998, Antoine Lundy died of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Trisco Pearson died on September 16, 2016, of an undisclosed illness. But that does not stop the group from performing worldwide. The Force M.D.’s are still standing strong after all these years; you can see them at an up coming performance in June at BB Kings in Manhattan. Did I tell there is new music on the way? Check out their new single Don’t Rush now available on iTunes. May the Force be with you.

Written Jewels 78

 

 

The King of New Jack Swing: Happy Birthday Teddy Riley

They call him the King of New Jack Swing. He’s the man behind the legendary hip hop and R&B groups like Guy, Wreckx-N-Effect, and BLACKstreet, he helped provided sounds for Michael Jackson’s 1991 album “Dangerous”, Bobby Brown’s 1988 album “Don’t Be Cruel” and Queen Pen’s 1997 album “My Melody.” He did a lot joints for others artists including MC Hammer, Mary J. Blige, Doug E. Fresh, SWV, Kool Moe Dee and a whole lot more of other hip hop, R&B and new jack swing artists. This man is my all time favorite producer, for he is responsible for a lot of my favorite joints. His name is Teddy Riley. It was 1985 when Teddy produced his first joint to reach the Billboard Top 100 charts, Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick’s “The Show” and then two years later, the R&B group Guy was born. The group started off with Teddy, Timmy Gatling and Aaron Hall who pioneered the new jack swing style and movement. With only three albums underneath their belt, they had some of the greatest joints between the first two albums. “New Jack Swing” of course, “Teddy’s Jam”, “Groove Me”, “I Like”, “Yearning For Your Love”, and “My Fantasy”, which is a joint not to many can remember unless you play it like “Ohhhh snap! I forgot about this one. This is my shit!” LOL! To those that never understood what exactly was the sound of New Jack Swing, it was basically hip hop production, R&B vocals, pop infused with synthesizers and heavy bass with instrument sounds. It was the early combination of hip hop and R&B until Hip hop soul came along in the early 90’s, thanks to Mary J. Blige and Jodeci. In 1989 Teddy Riley began working with hip hop group Wreckx-N-Effect. Their main two singles were “New Jack Swing”, a song that celebrates the genre and of course partying with a numerous amount of cameo appearances in the music video and in 1992, their next biggest joint, “Rump Shaker.” In the early 90’s, the new jack swing movement and sound was slowly coming to an end. I would say around 1993/1994, the industry was taken over by a new popular sound called “Hip hop sound.” Hip hop soul was more straightforward and more street. It was like church choirs meet the street corner hustlers. This sound was strictly R&B singing over hardcore hip hop production and it is my favorite sound. Teddy didn’t miss a beat and he still put out bangers even with the new sound at the time. He did Michael Jackson’s 1991 album “Dangerous”, he did the remix to Mary J. Blige’s 1994 single “My Love” featuring the late great Heavy D, another artists part of the new jack swing movement, and then came along BLACKstreet, who is one of my all time favorite male groups. Their first two albums, the self titled 1994 album and 1996’s “Another Level”, I ran to death yo. The first joint introduced Chauncey Black and Dave Hollister. Chauncey and Dave had amazing voices but Dave was miles ahead of Chauncey and could hit some of the hardest and coldest notes I’ve ever heard come from an R&B guy. Their definitely influences on me when it comes to singing. The first album was a banger from start to finish. The sound had a west coast vibe but it was a tad bit new jack swing-ish but very, very smooth and R&B on a hip hop tip that makes you nod your head something crazy. Joints like “Baby Be Mine”, “I Like the Way You Work”, “Physical Thing”, “Happy Home”, “Before I Let You Go” man, that shit is a masterpiece. Their second album “Another Level” had the perfect name and it was exactly that but their first joint was more raw and street. “Another Level” had more church vibes but it was still dope. A couple of joints skipped here and there but still a dope body work. This album had the notorious Teddy Riley joint, “No Diggity” featuring Dr. Dre and Queen Pen. Queen Pen is another one of Teddy’s artists. She was incredible on the mic but very underrated. Teddy did her album “My Melody” a year after “Another Level” and “Party Ain’t a Party” took Queen Pen to the top. Her second joint didn’t do so well but she’s still a monster on the mic. BLACKstreet’s third album “Finally”, was an okay album though. I don’t really care too much about it but it was cool. Very R&B all the way and “Girlfriend/Boyfriend” featuring Janet Jackson, Ja Rule and Eve was dope too. I pretty much only celebrate Teddy’s career from 1985 to 1998. That’s when he was in his prime. Album after album, artist after artist, bangers after bangers, Teddy is definitely one of the greatest producers of all time. He’s pretty much the soundtrack and King of my “old soul” life. He provided that sound I love so much and exaggerates it a lot. Those beats of his was perfect to me. His ear is an incredible one and something you never doubt. I always dreamed of someday working with Teddy in the future. Hope I can.