C’mon kiss the gun

Apollonia 6 was the first and only album released by vocal trio Apollonia 6, which was formed by Prince after Vanity 6 went up in smoke. The album primarily features the vocals of Patricia “Apollonia” Kotero, with backing vocals by Wendy and Lisa ( I love those chicks) and Jill Jones. “Sex Shooter” was the [...]

Mama Feelgood

You gonna dig this. Lyn Collins began her career at age 14 and had her biggest solo hit with the James Brown produced classic, “Think (About it)” (Peoples Records, ‘72). This joint has more samples than Kanye’s MPC and it single-handedly made Rob Base a one hit wonder with his hit, “It Takes Two”. There’s also [...]

The Real Robin Thicke

Ok, he’s not white but Chico Debarge is still the original. Forget all his subsequent albums, Long Time No See was really in it’s own lane when it dropped in’ 97. “Iggin Me” got a little love but the album didn’t really get commercial appeal until he hooked up with Joe for the “No Guarantee [...]

Sisters With Voices

The Neptunes aren’t the most consistent production team in the world, but they’ve definitely had more hits than misses. Today’s joint is from one of my favorite groups of the ’90’s, SWV, and it features some of the Neptunes better production IMO. It’s nothing over the top, but it’s not as formulaic as the stuff [...]

Mellow Monday

Something mellow for your monday mornin’. In an age of recycled samples and weak production, Tweet carved out her own niche (sort of, lol). Depsite her Timbaland produced first single, her debut album Southern Hummingbird featured some really soulful tunes.  Songs like the Bilal duet, “Best Friend” , were a little too adult contemporary for [...]

The Sermon

So I’m in Tower Records (damn I miss that store) and I happen to hear this song playing. I ask the cashier who the artist is and she say’s Jimmy Smith. It was the best impulse buy I’ve made since I picked up Sweetback’s self-titled debut and I’ve become a Jimmy Smith fan ever [...]

Saturday Love

Alexander O’Neal was a member of the historic “Flyte Tyme”, a band that included future legends Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis as well as Monte Moir. Their name would later change to The Time but not before a disagreement between Prince and O’Neal would find the singer replaced as lead singer by Morris Day. He [...]

FUN!

Ahhh, the day we’ve all been waiting for. FRIDAY! I was thinking of what song I’d pull from my vast library of gems and this song happened to pop into my head. There’s so much that could be said of the Oakland, CA natives, Tony Toni Tone, so I’ll keep it short. Raphael Saadiq (born [...]

It’s Your Life….So keep it tight!

Songs like this make me really wonder how an artist like Joi can remain in relative obscurity while chicks like Ciara get 40+ spins a day. If you don’t know, Joi Gilliam is a singer/songwriter who, as a member of Organized Noize’s Dungeon Family, would lend her soulful vocals to Outkast, Goodie Mob, [...]

Shine

Yeah, “Juicy Fruit” is the shit, but funk/soul collective Mtume had more than a few underground classics. With Tawatha Agee (vocals), James Mtume (vocals, keyboards), Raymond Jackson (bass), Leslie Ming (drums), Philip Field (keyboards) and Ed “Three” Moore (guitars), Mtume created a unique sound that would eventually benefit artists like Stephanie Mills, the Bar-Kay’s and [...]