Aaliyah "If Your Girl Only Knew"

Album: One In A Million (Blackground/ Atlantic)
Songwriters: Melissa Elliott and Tim Mosley
Hit #1: September 28th, 1996 (2 Weeks)

The day teen R&B star Aaliyah entered the studio with the then-unknown Virginia songwriting/ production duo Missy Elliott and Tim "Timbaland" Mosley would be the day Black pop would change forever. Both parties were in desperate need for eachother; Aaliyah needed to distance herself away from the stigma that she was R. Kelly's puppet (as well as the potentially image-killing ordeal of being his underage wife) and Missy and Tim needed the benefits of an established artist to break into the business. They all got their wishes and along the way, introduced urban music to it's future.

"If Your Girl Only Knew", the first single from Aaliyah's stunning sophomore release, One In A Million, arrived like a mysterious force from another dimension far, far away. With Timbaland's ambient electro-hip hop masterwork and Elliott's daytime talk show-derived pen skills, the track embodied R&B of "The Jetsons"' era.

Betwixt serpentine metallic-synth strands, a thunderclap drum beat and creepy wails seemingly echoing from the bowels of Hell, we enter the thoughts of Aaliyah as her ears are being bombarded with the mouthpiece from some slick-tongued player. Fully aware that he's already got a girl at home, Aaliyah lets her mind wander on what homegirl would think if she knew what her man was doing ("If your girl only knew/ That you was trying to get with me/ (What would she do?)". While amused by her imagination's vividness ("She would probably curse you out and unplug her phone," she smirks), the singer also holds some guilt of her own, recognizing that her slight interest in dude implicates her as an equal partner in his betrayal.

Too cool to show him that she's falling for his tricks though (she barely shifts from her drowsy, disaffected vocal stamp), Aaliyah eventually snaps back to reality, deciding it's best that she stay away from the drama. "It's dumb to put up with you/ I won't be no fool," her inner dialogue concludes, as she pulls herself up and slowly struts off-scene to the sharp rhythmic pulse of Timbaland's ever-morphing futuro-funk odyssey.

Unlike anything else R&B had ever been privy to, "If Your Girl Only Knew" launched an electric chemistry between artist and producer that would stand head-and-shoulders above the suddenly bland competition while introducing the masses to an appealing new groove it would never be able to forget.

Best Moment: That winding, snake-charmer bassline that runs throughout the cut.

Aaliyah.-.If.Your.Girl.Only.Knew
Uploaded by jahlo

DL: "If Your Girl Only Knew" (YFH)

New Edition "Hit Me Off"

Album: Home Again (MCA)
Songwriters: Michael Bivins, Dinky Bingham, Ronnie DeVoe, Jeff Dyson and Silky
Hit #1: August 31st, 1996 (3 Weeks)

Within their own splintered off successes as solo acts and sub-groups, the members of New Edition continued to keep alive the promise of a reunion album in interviews, but few thought it would ever really come to pass. Guess pigs took to the skies in 1996, because not only did the group reform to record their first LP in eight years, they took it a step further by re-inviting Bobby Brown into the act, a move that made the industry and R&B fans really take notice. Brown and his replacement Johnny Gill on the same record? It seemed too good to be true.

The highly anticipated premiere of the six-man entity came with Home Again's jump-off "Hit Me Off", a hip hop-informed club jam that planted the group in the day's trends while also getting each individual member a chance to shine.

Just as girl-crazy as thirty-somethings as they were as precocious pre-teens, NE pay tribute to the new breed of "candy girls" on their radar, getting all hot and bothered beneath a sturdy groove featuring sampled swipes from Black Moon's gritty "I Got Cha Opin". "Let's spend an hour in the shower/ Where it's nice and wet," growls Gill. "Let me take you for a ride," the devilish Bobby adds. Later Biv and Devoe trade off rhymes with images of booty slappin' and threesome sex sessions ("Word around camp is that you like it with two"), reminding listeners of BBD's playful raunchiness.

Showcasing all six men without the track feeling at all cluttered or overwhelmed (and accompanied by a stylish, action-adventure music video with the guys playing Bond-like secret agents), "Hit Me Off" successfully dodged disappointment, landing as a major R&B event that thrust one of the genre's most influential boy bands back into the limelight as a solid man band. Too bad the reunion was brief. By the time the group hit the road to support the disc, old wounds had re-opened and members began dropping out of the tour, an anti-climactic (though, not all that surprising) conclusion to one of the biggest musical comebacks of the year.

Best Moment: Ronnie's to-the-point mack: "What's up love/ How you doin?/ What you think about me and you screwin?" (2:32)

New Edition - Hit Me Off
Uploaded by Dante35

DL: "Hit Me Off" (YFH)

Keith Sweat "Twisted"

Album: Keith Sweat (Elektra)
Songwriters: Lavonn Battle, Athena Cage, Tabitha Duncan, Eric McCaine and Keith Sweat
Hit #1: August 17th, 1996 (3 Weeks)

With a slight refinement in his sound, Keith Sweat surprisingly bounced out of the uninspired lull of interchangeable loverman midtempos for his 1996 self-titled effort.

Lead single "Twisted" found the man adding a welcome spritz to his smooth brand of R&B with the glassy harmonic touch of girl group protegee Kut Klose. Though their presence was nothing more than background support, their input magically transformed an otherwise weakly-written tune about confused emotions with chipmunk-y vocals that served as the perfect contrast to Sweat's mangled tenor.

It's astounding that it took five writers to come up with something as Seussian simplistic as "Baby baby I know/ Baby I love you so/ But you don't feel like I do/ Tell me what can I do", but Sweat was never much of a prolific lyricist anyway, so "Twisted"'s main pull came with it's slick, sophisticated contemporary soul production (a well-measured soundbed of a light drum beat with pleasantly layered keyboard work) and the striking male/ female dual vocal arrangement.

Further stretching the song's life at radio, the remix perfectly married the yearning vocals of the original with the romancing reggae-lite soundtrack of "Sexual Healing", whose timeless luster proved just as appealing as it did fourteen years before.

Best Moment: Kut Klose's entire contribution.

Keith Sweat Twisted
Uploaded by covik

DL: "Twisted (Remix)" (YFH)

R. Kelly "I Can't Sleep Baby (If I)"

Album: R. Kelly (Jive)
Songwriters: R. Kelly
Hit #1: August 3rd, 1996 (2 Weeks)

"I Can't Sleep Baby (If I)" doesn't really sound like the kind of record R. Kelly would keep for himself. Neither an extended sleazy come-on or gag-inducing tribute to a Higher Power, "Sleep" is instead, a fairly plain plea from one man to the former lover he foolishly let go. "Oh sometimes a man can say some things/ That he don't really mean," he spews in this sappy, long-form apology letter, his voice trembling with the un-shakable fear that his words are falling on deaf ears. She has good reason never to come back, as he stupidly let his insecurities get the best of him, accusing her of having an affair with her close male pal.

For anyone else, this would be grade-A material, but for the far more visionary R. Kelly, the song feels much too common, milked of any of his engaging melodramatic tricks with it's standard R&B male sensitivity and by-the-numbers pop/ soul production.

The tender, melancholy remix only plants him deeper in bland, adult-soul territory (most of the song sounds like it was tailor-made for Brian McKnight while the hook steals a bit from Toni Braxton), but at least it offsets all the drippy self-pitying with a striking third verse in which he gets a bit personal, denying any rumors swirling about in connection with his appearance in certain "freaky magazines". It wouldn't be the last time he would defend himself against allegations through his music.

Though fine enough on it's own merits (it seems to be cut out of the same sappy cloth as the Michael Jackson song he penned, "You Are Not Alone"), "I Can't Sleep Baby" falters because it just doesn't cut it as a stand-out R. Kelly number, lacking the lip licking erotica or soap-styled drama we'd come to expect from the man.

R.Kelly - I can sleep
Uploaded by welcomeback

DL: "I Can't Sleep Baby (If I)" (YFH)

I Can't Sleep Remix
Uploaded by ice1906

DL: "I Can't Sleep Baby (Remix)" (YFH)

2Pac featuring K-Ci & Jo Jo "How Do U Want It"

Album: All Eyez On Me (Death Row)
Songwriters: Bruce Fisher, Johnny Jackson, Quincy Jones, Stanley Richardson, Tupac Shakur and Leon Ware
Hit #1: July 6th, 1996 (3 Weeks)

On All Eyez On Me, 2Pac's first release since his his eleven-month jail big and the first- and second- installment of a three album deal with Death Row, the rapper expressed a largely celebratory mood, filling the double-disc with slickly-produced "thug-life"-repping rhetoric that dominated over the more conscious slant of past releases. "How Do U Want It", though manages to sneak in a little of both amidst the sultry funk of a Quincy Jones-sampling jeep jam.

Paired with the West Coast-hyping "California Love" as a double A-side single, the frisky "How Do U Want It" found Pac indulging in the benefits of being a multi-platinum "gangsta" rapper (or as the sweaty church croons of K Ci & Jo Jo so eloquently state: "Comin' up as a nigga in the cash game/ Livin in the fast lane"). With his infectiously bouncy flow riding atop a pure pimp groove, Pac dishes on his Alize-fueled sex-cravings ("I'm hittin' switches on bitches like I been fixed on hydraulics"), cruising the Cali streets looking for the next honey to pounce on, no strings attached ("Tell me is it cool to fuck?/ You think I come to talk?").

Then, as if he suddenly realized how irrelevant the material seemed, Pac deads the search for "America's Next Top Hoochie" mid-verse and turns his focus to the politicians obsessed with condemning him. To well-known rival C. Delores Tucker: "You a muthafucka/ Instead of tryin' to help a nigga/ You destroy a brotha" (The stinging line led to a lawsuit from Tucker the following year). From there, his poetry teeters with near-explosive angst at the list of escalating problems (some real, others formed out of paranoia) he's now facing: "They'd rather see me in a cell/ Livin in hell"; "Media is in my business and they actin' like they know me"; "These taxes got me crossed up and people tryin' to sue me." With all this pressure suffocating him from all sides, the carefree horniness that opened the track takes on a deeper meaning. All he wants is a brief escape from his troubles.

Was "How Do U Want It" the best Pac had to offer? Far from it. But his ability to cleverly sneak in dark introspection on what's otherwise a very commercial-leaning track offered a snippet of the multi-directional talent that would make him such an iconic rap figure.



DL: "How Do U Want It" (YFH)

Toni Braxton "You're Makin' Me High"

Album: Secrets (Laface)
Songwriters: Babyface and Bryce Wilson
Hit #1: June 29th, 1996 (2 Weeks)

Secrets' image-switching lead-off single, "You're Makin' Me High" finally allowed adult R&B singer Toni Braxton to explore the sensual edge her jazzy, seducing vocals had only passively hinted at before. Breaking free of the tear-stained ballads and church-y look that dominated her debut, "You're Makin' Me High" premiered a more sexy, kitten-ish Toni, who preferred diva wigs and revealing, tight-fitting outfits and openly sung about the joys of masturbation.

Babyface helped initiate this tantalizing R-rated makeover, lacing Toni with a porno-funk creep built on a thick bassline strut, nipple-erecting synth lines and vocoder effects that subtly shade this record in a futuristic gloss. Her deep voice slithers in and out of the erotic groove as her sticky sexual fantasies force her hands all over her body. She purrs: "I can imagine you/ Touching my private parts/ With just the thought of you/ I can't help but touch myself", her pleasureful self-exploration session sending electro-charges through the speaker.

With her lips (amid other body parts) wet in anticipation for the real thing ("Light my fire/ Blow my flame/ Take me, take me, take me away"), you almost felt embarrassed to hear Toni exposing such intimate thoughts. She was like a soccer mom who had finally gotten past the divorce and, after entering the dating scene again, had suddenly became re-acquainted with her sexuality. The shocking transformation and hot-to-the-touch single served as the perfect comeback record for the Grammy-winning singer; Braxton's career escalated to greater heights, awarding her her first Pop #1 and Platinum hit. Ecstatic by the positive response, Braxton would never wear turtlenecks again.

Best Moment: A guest-laden music video to premiere her new Bond babe look.

Toni.Braxton.-You're.Making.Me.High
Uploaded by val6210

DL: "You're Makin' Me High" (YFH)

The Fugees "Killing Me Softly"

Album: The Score (Ruffhouse/ Columbia)
Songwriters: Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel
Hit #1: May 18th, 1996 (5 Weeks-Airplay Only)

A pop standard that had survived several different variations before The Fugees earned global approval with their hip hop-tinged 1996 rendition, "Killing Me Softly With His Song" first found success after Roberta Flack discovered it from it's 1972 birthplace on singer Lori Liberman's self-titled debut album. It was understandable why Flack fell in love with the song, as it's testament to the unnerving power of music ("Strummin' my pain with his fingers/ Singin' my life with his song") whittled to the core why the art form held such an emotional resonance with the public.

Flack's version redressed the tune with a light jazz-soul swing, her mellow phrasings and ethereal arrangement making it a hit with audiences of various ages and backgrounds. Reaching #1 Pop and #2 on the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts, the song also scored Flack two Grammy's: Record of The Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. From there, all kinds of artists from different genres (and countries) took a stab at the song; by the time The Fugees flipped it, more people seemed to have recorded "Killing Me Softly" than not.

With their unique two men/ one woman make-up and an "alternative" sound that owed as much to reggae and soul as it did hip hop, The Fugees didn't seem to stand much of a chance amidst their edgier rap peers, but it was when they gave in to their uniqueness that they found their largest success, shifting the idea of what a hip hop act could look and sound like.

Few noticed their first album Blunted On Reality, in retrospect, an awkward attempt to conform to trendy hardcore standards. For the multi-platinum The Score, the trio emerged as the new ambassadors of the anti-gangsta, blowing the minds of audiences by blending their hard-hitting conscious rhymes with brave musical choices that felt eccentric in a refreshingly good way. Nabbing attention with the island-tinged/ Teena Marie-biting re-entrance theme "Fu-Gee-La", the Fugees grabbed their small-and-growing audience and guided them far left on it's follow-up.

Essentially an earlier form of the mash-up, Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill and Pras Michel went out on a limb when they decided to record a fairly faithful cover of "Killing Me Softly" and basically attach it to the drum beat from A Tribe Called Quest's "Bonita Applebum". Featuring very little rapping at all (save for the hype-man interludes that pop up now and then), the song mainly focused on the singing of Lauryn in a mesmerizing vocal that brought warmth and melody to an otherwise brittle production.

Never released as a commercial single, "Killing Me Softly" garnered heavy support from radio (including Top 40 stations who rarely, if ever, placed hip hop in their playlists) and it became one of the most unavoidable records of the year. Results: The Fugees became a top-selling global phenomenon, the song was embraced by a new generation of listeners and Lauryn Hill, with all her overflow of talent, emerged as one of the best new artists of the decade.

Best Moment: After Clef directs her to "take it to the bridge", Hill busts out a soulful ad-lib carved straight from the gut. (3:13)



DL: "Killing Me Softly" (YFH)



DL: "Killing Me Softly With His Song" (YFH)

Bone Thugs N Harmony "Tha Crossroads"

Album: E. 1999 Eternal (Ruthless)
Songwriters: Tony Cowan, Anthony Henderson, Steven Howse, Ernest Isley, Marvin Isley, O'Kelly Isley, Ronald Isley, Rudolph Isley, Chris Jasper, Bryon McCane, Tim Middleton, and Charles Scruggs
Hit #1: May 11th, 1996 (7 Weeks)

The legendary 3+3 lineup of The Isley Brothers (in which original members O'Kelly, Rudolph and Ronald Isley teamed up with younger siblings Ernie & Marvin Isley and brother-in-law Chris Jasper) resulted in some of the sweatiest and lushest Black sounds of the '70's. Perfecting this intimidating hybrid of funk, soul and rock hybrid, the group stretched the boundaries of what contemporary R&B stood for and unleashed numerous monolithic classics that would lay the groundwork for much of hip hop in the '90's.

1975's The Heat Is On stands as the peak performance of that particular lineup. Only consisting of six tracks (each song carried epic lengths), the album featured such favorites as the fiery-funked call-to-arms "Fight The Power" and the flowery love letter "For The Love of You". "Make Me Say It Again Girl" was the LP's last and longest feature. Nearly eight minutes long, the ballad served as a tender ode of appreciation to that special woman. It's fluid melodicism and spacey, synthesizer-enhanced textures provided this magical soul framework for Ronald's endless collection of caressing compliments. "I believe you are an angel/ All the Heaven I need to see/ You're the promise everlasting/ Where you are I hope to be," he sings with that signature delicate tenor of his. A sighing ballad that can only be defined with the words 'utterly beautiful', "Make Me Say It Again Girl" concluded The Heat Is On on a creamily wistful note.

Over twenty years later, a Cleveland rap ensemble known as Bone: Thugs N Harmony employed it's entrancing Quiet Storm rhythm as the ominous backdrop to their touching, 'this if for my dead homies' eulogy, "Tha Crossroads".

Bewitchingly blending the line between rapping and singing vocals, Bone: Thugs N Harmony's unique take on gangsta rap brought massive attention to the overlooked Mid West rap scene. Their intricately arranged harmonies and doomsday funk-hip hop blends had already established them as a surprising urban radio staple with beloved hits "Thuggish-Ruggish-Bone" and "1st of Da Month", but it was the universally relatable message of "Crossroads" that made them a crossover sensation.

Slightly re-worked when released as a single, "Tha Crossroads" captured the ear with it's sobering look at death's looming inevitability ("Tell me whatcha gonna do? (When there ain't nowhere to hide)/ When judgment comes for you (Cause it's gonna come for you)"). As shout-outs to deceased loved ones Eazy E, Wally and Uncle Charlie run rampant in a dizzying array of sped-up/ slowed-down flow patterns, the emcees mourn the violent Hell they're currently inhabiting ("Living in a hateful world") and curiously reflect on their own chances at making it past the Golden Gates ("I betcha my soul won't budge/ Grudge because there's no mercy for thugs") over a bleak soundtrack of G-funk whine and gloomy keyboard tinkles.

Gangsta rap rarely focused on the downside to the bullet-riddled mayhem it usually celebrated, and coupled with the group's soulful delirium performance, "Tha Crossroads" was a definite stand-out within the mid-90's hip hop scene. Rap fan or not, anyone who had lost someone could appreciate it's subject matter, so it wasn't that far-fetched when the song managed to reach the top of the pop charts and win the group a Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo or Group. Aware of their newly widespread audience, BTNH's successive projects saw more attempts of thought-provoking rap a la "Crossroads" alongside their standard weed anthems. Their relevance would unfortunately dwindle away (due to constant inter-band strife, frustrating label ordeals and underwhelming solo turns), but this multi-platinum single would remain as the group's career highlight and one of the best (and biggest) overall singles of the decade.

Best Moment: The pricey, special effects-laden music video, which saw some creepy, R. Kelly-like Death figure leading the souls of the deceased to their new homes.

Bone Thugs N Harmony - Tha Crossroads
Uploaded by freship

DL: "Tha Crossroads" (YFH)



DL: "Make Me Say It Again Girl" (YFH)

Mariah Carey "Always Be My Baby"

Album: Daydream (Columbia)
Songwriters: Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal
Hit #1: May 4th, 1996 (1 Week)

Following her Puffy-fied remix to "Fantasy", Mariah Carey turned to another hip CEO/ producer for her fifth R&B #1. "Always Be My Baby" was co-credited to the songwriting and production talents of ATL-born R&B/ hip hop hitmaker Jermaine Dupri; his previous catalogue of chart hits were more urban-oriented, but he showed a little pop versatility here, supporting Carey's appreciation for the saccharine with fluffy piano curlicues and uplifting harmonies.

Aimed at a former lover who wasn't mature enough to fully commit to her, Carey generously allows him his freedom ("Now you want to be free/ So I'm letting you fly"), but remains confident that he'll return. Is it because her cooch is that good? Probably, but Mariah is much too PG-rated to admit that, so she settles for the more PC reason that their souls were forever intertwined in their pre-breakup bliss. Refusing to shed a tear over her loss, Carey patiently awaits for him to realize how depressing life is without her ("I know that you'll be back boy/ When your days and your nights get a little bit colder/...Baby believe me it's only a matter of time").

The heightened assist of her trusty background choir (featuring the vocals of a pre-solo Kelly Price) helps affirm some belief in the undeniable magnetism of her vagina, but as time goes by without him darkening her doorstep, worry soon begins to creep in. Sky-scraping wails of "You and I will always be" expose a slight crack in her rose-shaded stance towards the fade-out with her hopeful defiance melting away into frantic desperation. "NO WAY YOU"RE EVER GONNA SHAKE ME," she pleas with growing uncertainty, as the realization hits that she might not get the fairy tale happy ending she was so sure of.

The street-wise remix extended the sadness that began to cloak over her demeanor in the original's final seconds. As the members of Xscape provide a somber guest contribution with inverted "do-do-do---oh"'s, and a skeletal drum loop (fittingly swiped from SOS Band's "Tell Me If You Still Care") conjures a sparser backdrop, Carey's positive outlook now feels engulfed by a heavy gloom. "Face reality," Da Brat raps with a butch bluntness. 'He ain't comin' back', the remix basically warns, poking huge holes in Mariah's girlish idealism.

Mariah Carey - Always Be My Baby
Uploaded by mario_cam

DL: "Always Be My Baby" (YFH)

Mariah Carey & Da Brat - Always be my baby (remix)
Uploaded by lachula

DL: "Always Be My Baby (Remix)" (YFH)

SWV "You're The One"

Album: New Beginning (RCA)
Songwriters: Cheryl Gmable, Allen Gordon Jr., Tamara Johnson, Andrea Martin and Ivan Matias
Hit #1: April 27th, 1996 (1 Week)

On their first Gold hit, "I'm So Into You", the ladies of SWV played it coy when it came to being involved with someone else's man. By the lead-off track for their second album, such restraint had quickly been thrown out of the window.

"What your girl don't know won't hurt her" was the trio's new mantra on "You're The One", an infectious slice of summertime R&B that introduced their sophomore effort, New Beginning. Coko has no problems with engaging in an "undercover romance" since she feels this already-taken beau is her fated partner, her wailing of the titular hook drenched in doe-eyed innocence that conveniently ignores the woman he really shares a life with. Taking things to an elevated level of obsession, she carelessly sells herself ("I'm willing to do anything to get in your pants"), promising to deny anything in case his girl starts to get suspicious.

The subject matter might have been devilish, but the backing track didn't bother with darker sonics. Riding a sunny, hip hop-soul bounce perfectly configured for heavy car stereo bounce, "You're The One" was a no-brainer urban favorite, even if it painted a frothy depiction of a scheming adulteress.

For the classic remix, the familiar post-disco strut of "Heartbeat" was given yet another welcome go-over with a slew of all-star male emcees offering their input on the down-low get-down. Lost Boyz' Mr. Cheeks and Busta Rhymes lay down firm verses of their own, but the revamp was probably most memorable for it's cameo from a heavily buzzed about, slick-talking newcomer by the name of Jay Z ("Though I like the way you sex somethin'/ Baby girl will wreck something/ If she knew you and I were in the Lex frontin'") who was on the verge of releasing his cherished debut, Reasonable Doubt.



DL: "You're The One" (YFH)

R. Kelly featuring Ronald Isley and Ernie Isley "Down Low (Nobody Has To Know)"

Album: R. Kelly (Jive)
Songwriters: R. Kelly
Hit #1: March 9th, 1996 (7 Weeks)

After forty years in the game, the legendary Isley Brothers found a new generation of followers in the mid-90's thanks to younger acts incorporating their classic sound in contemporary hits. Following the success of Biggie's "Big Poppa", based off a chunky sample of the Isley's bedroom standard "Between The Sheets", R. Kelly reached out to members Ronald and Ernie for their aid in his wide-screen infidelity epic, "Down Low (Nobody Has To Know)".

With a simmering arrangement influenced by the satiny, guitar-laced grooves the Isley's embraced in the 1970's and '80's, "Down Low" scripts an engaging tale of secret lovers. Kelly plays the "other man", feeling uneasy by his disgraceful role in another man's worst nightmare. Focused solely on her needs, the adulteress gets off on having both a wealthy husband and sexy side fling. Most men would enjoy the ego boost of being the cause of her deceit ("She wants me/ But he needs you/...While making love to him/ You're silently calling on me"), but Kelly delves deeper into the emotional ramifications. He only goes along with her devious plan in private hopes that she will one day ditch the hubby and make their union legit. "Tell me, tell me," he pleads, "We'll always be together".

Ronnie is thrown in as representation of Kelly's guilty conscience, imagining what her husband would think if he ever found out; his fluttery tenor adds a haunting presence to the hook with heartbreaking moans of "How could you be so low?" underlying the scandalous request to "keep it on the down low".

The accompanying music video was equally impressive, planting the affair in a gangster setting and introducing Ronald's mafioso alter-ego "Mr. Biggs". The collaboration between the two male R&B icons was a winning match in chemistry and after proving to be so popular with audiences, the men would continue the storyline through several different projects over the years, keeping fans locked in with the on-going plot's every twist and turn.

Best Moment: The "Live To Regret It Remix" which further fleshes out the details of this "fucking threesome of affair".

R. Kelly feat. Ronald Isley - Down Low
Uploaded by juntao

DL: "Down Low" (YFH)

R.Kelly - Down low ( Remix)
Uploaded by welcomeback

DL: "Down Low (Remix)" (YFH)

Mary J Blige "Not Gon' Cry"

Album: "Waiting To Exhale"-Original Soundtrack Album (Laface)
Songwriters: Babyface
Hit #1: February 3rd, 1996 (5 Weeks)

In doling out material to fit the personae of every R&B female featured on the "Waiting To Exhale" Soundtrack, Babyface was masterfully on-point. Whitney's contributions were inspiring and gospel-inflected ("Exhale (Shoop Shoop)", the Ce Ce Winans duet "Count On Me"); Brandy was given something youthful and funky ("Sittin' Up In My Room"); breezy soul-pop suited Toni Braxton ("Let It Flow"); and TLC were at home being playfully raunchy ("This Is How It Works"). When it came to Mary J Blige, 'Face knew that her song needed to be meaty and honest; in a genius move, he created "Not Gon' Cry", a heart wrenching soul ballad built on the Angela Bassett character's film-stealing storyline.

The song came at a crucial point in Blige's career. Her status as the cream of the modern-day R&B crop had been elevated following the release of 1994's poignant My Life, and she had a built-in female audience desperately awaiting another emotion-soaked anthem that spotlighted their own personal realities. Needless to say, they weren't disappointed with the latest episodic drama of her oeuvre.

Blige captivates in her adoption of Bernadette Harris' manic mindstate when a divorce request arrives out of nowhere, sending her (on the surface) perfect life into a tailspin. For over a decade, she put her own ambitions on hold to play the ideal wife, supporting her husband at work (she was his secretary) and at home (where she raised his two kids). But while she stressed herself night and day to be the perfect partner ("I would stop breathing if he told me to"), he was taking her loyalty for granted, out there "busy lovin' someone else".

Who didn't feel for her when she came to the realization of all the time she had lost in vain? "Eleven years of sacrifice," she cries, "And you would leave me at the drop of a dime". And who wasn't moved to stand up and shout out a supportive "You go girl!" when she angrily snapped back in tardy retaliation: "I should have left your ass a thousand times"?

Though the chorus aims to preserve pride ("I'm not gon' cry/ Cause you were never worth my tears"), the un-fairness of it all weighs too heavy for that sort of stance. Reflecting on the vows she thought they both held so dear, Blige breaks down in a fit of frustration and heartache ("Through sickness and health/ Til' death do us part/ Those were the words that we said from our heart/ So now when you say that you're leaving me/ I don't get that part..."), a bluesy backing arrangement only helping to push a stream of steady tears out of her eyes.

In only four years, Blige had sold millions of albums and collected a string of R&B smashes, but pop success was hit-or-miss. The high profile "Not Gon Cry" changed all that by becoming her biggest commercial hit to date, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and scoring her first solo Grammy nomination for a single.

MARY J BLIGE - Not gon cry
Uploaded by welcomeback

DL: "Not Gon' Cry" (YFH)

Monica "Before You Walk Out Of My Life"

Album: Miss Thang (Rowdy)
Songwriters: Andrea Martin, Carsten Schack and Kenneth Karlin
Hit #1: January 20th, 1996 (2 Weeks)

Monica had already established herself as an adult soul diva trapped in a 15-year-old's body, so when given mature material in which she takes the high road and apologizes for her part in a relationship's dissolution, she expectedly sings the lyrics with a strong understanding of it's perspective.

Released as her debut's second single, "Before You Walk Out of My Life" found Monica projecting a fitting tenderness in her delivery, with memories of a happier time and reflection of the person he helped her become dictating her attempt to set their union straight. "I never meant to cause you no pain/ I just wanna go back to being the same," she confesses, hoping that she hasn't completely driven him away with her antics.

Yet, even playing the vulnerable role, Monica can't completely subside her sassiness. She stretches notes in odd ways and hits wavy licks, adding soulful emotion to what's essentially a slick pop ballad. In most showy singers' hands, the song would be lost with all the needless histrionics, but Monica meticulously thinks out her every move, injecting the perfect amount of ad-lib accents. That final line, in which she bends the title in all kinds of different ways, demonstrates a great vocal acrobatic that edges but never ventures past overkill.

Best Moment: The subtle, hip hop drum beat giving the song a nice urban kick.

Monica - Before You Walk Out Of My Life
Uploaded by chirine

DL: "Before You Walk Out of My Life" (YFH)

Whitney Houston "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)"

Album: "Waiting To Exhale"-Original Soundtrack Album (Laface)
Songwriters: Babyface
Hit #1: November 25th, 1995 (6 Weeks)

After the neverending, super success of her last soundtrack work, you would think Whitney would want to shy away from more sappy adult R&B ballads attached to a film. Good thing she pushed the hip hop makeover off for a few more years, because it seemed the public still wanted more of this type of sound from the diva, extending her consecutive string of movie-backed hits with the "Waiting To Exhale" feature, "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)".

Houston may have have lost out on the key performance from the flick (that honor goes to Angela Bassett in the arresting performance of a done-wrong wife), but she was the star of the show for it's accompanying album, dominating an impressive lineup of female R&B talent (including Aretha, Chaka, Patti and Mary J Blige) with three tracks of her own.

The low-key "Exhale" was filled with bland self-strengthening dialogue about the importance of friendship and an understanding that happy periods can occur as much as the bad ones. In other words, Babyface was at a low-point as a songwriter; his penmanship was so lazy that he didn't even take the time to write a chorus, the senseless "shoop shoop shoop" hook sounding like a temporary placeholder that was never replaced. But Houston makes the most of what she's given, contributing a pure, inspired vocal that slightly lifts the song out of it's mundaneness. Sadly, we would have to suffer through yet another soundtrack album of corniness a year later (1996's The Preacher Wife) before Houston began to focus on crafting a studio album again. That album that came to be, 1998's refreshingly street-smart My Love Is Your Love, proved there was more to this woman than old spinster material.



DL: "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" (YFH)

R. Kelly "You Remind Me of Something"

Album: R. Kelly (Jive)
Songwriters: R. Kelly
Hit #1: November 18th, 1995 (1 Week)

Everyone likes to look at 12 Play as R. Kelly's masterpiece achievement; while it ranks as a solid R&B effort, the true best of Kells was yet to come as successive projects saw his art grow hornier, quirkier, richer and more dramatic than ever. Setting off his self-titled second solo effort, "You Remind Me of Something" introduced the man's unusual obsession with describing his women with the oddest metaphors.

Atop one of those flawless slow jam grooves that could flow on endlessly without any complaint, Robert makes a song in which he compares some beauty to his jeep ("I wanna ride it"), his ride's sound ("I wanna pump it"), his car again ("I wanna wax it") and ...his bank account (??) ("I wanna spend it"?) sound oh-so romantic with little trace of the humor these lyrics would possess if read on paper. That is what's probably the most intriguing part of his extremely absurd, loverman shtick: how serious he seems to be in the role. Only he could make such a flimsy premise not only transcend it's own idiocy, but end up as one of the slickest sex jams of it's time.

Best Moment: "I wanna roll it, roll it, roll it, roll it..." or the "freak with a basketball" choreography found in the video (2:48)

R.Kelly - You Remind Me Of Something
Uploaded by nico2oo6

DL: "You Remind Me of Something" (YFH)

Xscape "Who Can I Run To?"

Album: Off The Hook (So So Def)
Songwriters: Frank Alstin, Richard Roebuck and Charles Simmons
Hit #1: November 11th, 1995 (1 Week)

Despite a handful of hits to their credit, when it comes to 90's R&B girl groups, Xscape are usually mentioned somewhere after En Vogue, TLC, SWV and Destiny's Child, but before 702, Brownstone and Jade (if at all). So it was quite fitting that they would cover a song by another overlooked female vocal group: sibling trio The Jones Girls, who would never quite gain as much prominence as The Pointer Sisters and Sister Sledge during their late '70's/ early '80's heyday.

Remaining fairly faithful to the original, Xscape unearthed a soul classic when they garnered a Gold hit with the amazing ballad, "Who Can I Run To?". The live instrumental build-up of the intro is a highlight in itself: the lonesome piano melody; those brief guitar tickles; that tip-toeing bassline; those sighing harmonies. It's like it's preparing you for the magic that's set to follow.

The lyrics realistically depict a woman's inner conversation during a crossroads in life. Looking for guidance of a Higher Power to steer her to that so far elusive soulmate, the words weep with insecurity ("Everyday I'm trying to find you/ All along, I've got to know/ Is there a place for me?"), disillusionment ("All it takes is time and patience/ To bring you near/ But look at me") and the crushing realization that just being a good woman might not be enough. The relationship between performer and production is also an outstanding exercise in a sadly forgotten soul art. The vocals and arrangement both soar with a simultaneous grasp of strength and woe, a heartbreaking chirp of "Who can?...Who can I run to?" breaking through the languid calm of a simmering groove.

A worthy soul soliloquy in both forms, the song found Xscape and The Jones Girls in peak form.

Who Can I Run To
Uploaded by ice1906

DL: Xscape's "Who Can I Run To" (YFH)



DL: The Jones Girls' "Who Can I Run To" (YFH)

Mariah Carey "Fantasy"

Album: Daydream (Columbia)
Songwriters: Mariah Carey, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, Dave Hall, Adrian Belew and Steven Stanley
Hit #1: September 30th, 1995 (6 Weeks)

"Genius of Love" is one of those songs that just instantly puts you in a happy place as soon as it hits the speaker. The second those playful introductory squiggles hit your eardrum, a blanket of sunniness invades your being and it's immediately understood that for the next five minutes any sort of negativity will be temporarily shelved.

The song was first heard in the summer of 1981 on the eponymous debut of a side project Talking Heads members (and married couple) Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth had formed while the main band was in hiatus. Originally released in the UK, the album was an import favorite for months with Stateside listeners mainly due to the irresistible frothiness of tunes like "Genius of Love".

A drugged out amalgamation of good times, the song channels puppy love ecstacy and post-slammer celebration ("'What you gonna do when you get out of jail?'/ I'm gonna have some fun") with random shoutouts to the band's musical idols ("No one can sing/ Quite like Smokey/ Smokey Robinson/ Wailin' and shakin' to Bob Marley/ Reggae's expanding with Sly & Robbie") and favorite party activities ("We went insane when we took cocaine").

Matter of fact, the whole thing sounds like all participants were high when recording it: Tina and her sister Laura sing with a droll flatness as they search for their missing lover; the cartoonish dance-funk-reggae beat suddenly veers in a hip hop direction (remember, rap was still considered an underground fad at the time); and some Muppet pops out of nowhere with senselessly kooky chants of "James Brown". All of these strange elements formed an eclectic enough umbrella that it brought all shades of life together to revel in it's dreamy greatness. One of those in participance of the musical festivities was a young Mariah Carey, and when it came time to start work on her urban-leaning fifth LP, Daydream, she used "Genius of Love" as the base for it's lead single.

No stranger to fizzy love songs that sounded like they were penned by a twelve-year-old ("Someday", "Emotions", "Dreamlover"), Mariah took that youthful songwriting style, seasoned it with her love for '80's dance and hip hop and created one of the most definitive cuts of her career in "Fantasy". Though she tries her best to inject some higher-level of English knowledge in her script ("Images of rapture/ Creep into me slowly"), the song captures the power-belting diva at her most brainless, extending "Genius of Love"'s narrative by living out some fairy tale romance playing in her head ("Baby, I'm so into you/ Darling if you only knew/ All the things that flow through my mind").

Taking on more control in her output, Carey further earned cross-genre appeal on the classic remix, which opened a floodgate of a rap influence Carey would stand by for the rest of her career. Who'd of ever thunk that of all the rappers, she would pick the zany Wu Tang Clansmen Ol' Dirty Bastard as her duet choice? Her handlers probably thought she had gone insane, but when that revamp dropped and ODB drunkenly groaned "baby baby come on" and memorably stated that "me and Mariaaaah go back like babies and pacifiyyaaahs" while she prettily sang to the high heavens, it was all over.

Best Moment: Carey and ODB's intertwined vocal duel (the best odd couple pairing ever!!) in the final seconds (4:12)

Mariah Carey Ft.ODB - Fantasy
Uploaded by lilmarcus

DL: "Fantasy (Remix)" (YFH)



DL: "Genius of Love" (YFH)

Michael Jackson "You Are Not Alone"

Album: HIStory - Past, Present and Future, Book 1 (Epic)
Songwriters: R. Kelly
Hit #1: September 2nd, 1995 (4 Weeks)

In between a long-awaited duet with his famous sis, covers of The Beatles and Charlie Chaplin oldies', rap collabs with Shaquille O' Neal (!?!) and Biggie Smalls (!!!???!!!), self-pitying ballads ("Childhood", "Stranger In Moscow"), and the usual angry-at-society laments ("They Don't Care About Us", "Money", "Tabloid Junkie"), Jackson's costly, semi-greatest hits/ double album HIStory ironically pulled it's biggest hit with the least overblown track: a tender R. Kelly-penned love song entitled "You Are Not Alone".

Apparently, Jackson was a fan at Robert's (can you hear Mike singing along to "Bump N' Grind" in the shower? Yeah, me neither.), and when it came time to record HIStory, he requested material from the Chicago singer/ songwriter producer. The results would become Jackson's last #1 R&B hit to date.

A maudlin creation in line with epic ballads like "I Believe I Can Fly", "You Are Not Alone"'s simple melody and quaint keyboard production pushed focus on Jackson's trembly vocal stamp as he depressingly sung of life since becoming single again ("Another day has gone/ I'm still all alone/...Did you have to go/ And leave my world so cold?"). Yeah, the songwriting is a bit on the generic side ("Though we're far apart/ You're always in my heart"? Songwriting Rhyming 101!), but the King of Pop knows his way around such a vulnerable lyric, acing the record's sad perspective and wide-eyed glimmer of hope found in the perfect nugget of a chorus ("You are not alone/ I am here with you...").

When he reaches for the emotional apex in the award-baiting finale it's one of the most show-stopping vocals of his adult catalogue, the tinge of heartache quickly erased from his tone and replaced with an assured sturdiness that guides him out of his cold, dark state. The accompanying music video was also memorable. Featuring Michael and then-wife Lisa Marie Presley pretending to have romantic interest eachother in a nearly nude state (read: eww!), the clip became notorious for his increasingly alien-like physicality and the couples' transfixing, very-orchestrated stab at chemistry.

As the years wore on, Jackson's stature as an influential pop figure remained intact, but his newer musical output (whenever he got around to releasing any) continued to garner a diminished response. Successive releases felt a couple years' outdated when the public finally got a chance to hear them, and more and more like lazy retreads of his previous work; meanwhile, a series of younger singer/ dancers heavily in debt to his style began trumping him with hipper revamps of what he had done in the past. To make matters worse, his public persona was further tattered by a never-ending display of eccentric behavior and a more-damaging-than-helpful 2003 documentary that led to another round of child molestation charges.

Best Moment: A Mariah-esque twelve-second long note that surprised even the most casual fan.

Michael Jackson - You Are Not Alone
Uploaded by Pauleta_60

DL: "You Are Not Alone" (YFH)

Notorious BIG "One More Chance/ Stay With Me"

Album: Ready To Die (Bad Boy/ Arista)
Hit #1: June 24th, 1995 (9 Weeks)

Motown's 1980's shot at a family act to hopefully replicate the crazy success they had with The Jackson 5 a decade prior, the Michigan-born DeBarge clan were making major waves (at least in the R&B world) by the release of their fourth album, '94's In A Special Way. Sharing album space with hit singles "Time Will Reveal" and "Love Me In A Special Way" was "Stay With Me", a smooth midtempo driven by El DeBarge's shimmery tenor and a classy, champagne-sippers' groove.

Begging for his lady not to leave his side (perhaps she knew of the man he would become), El baby-croon's his way through romantic declarations like "Everything you'll need you'll find right here". The tender ballad was the epitome of sophisticated soul, with background harmonies and El's lead vocal lightly stroking the track's dreamy piano soundbed. Of course, the best part was the way the the song ended, with El's sincere pleas of "Don't go...don't go/ I love you so" riding atop this sleek, stop-start groove. Needing a buttery-smoove R&B loop in line with "Big Poppa"'s Isley Brothers'-referencing sample, Diddy found Notorious BIG's next great throwback beat with that noteworthy "Stay With Me" outro.

The original "One More Chance" was a highlight in itself, with a boastful Biggie Smalls ("Recognize the dick size in these Karl Kani jeans/ I'm in thirteens/ Know what I mean?") evading old booty calls right and left while looking for a new bladder to shatter. But after exploding onto radio with the ear-pleasing mack opus "Big Poppa", something similarly accessible was needed for the follow-up to keep his commercial momentum strong.

Swiping the "Stay With Me" break and employing the dual loveliness of Faith Evans and Mary J Blige to play up his bedroom mythology, the soothing-on-the-outside/ raunchy-on-the-inside "One More Chance (Remix)" quickly warped your brain into believing that this self-admitted "black and ugly as ever" emcee was really getting a plethora of punanny offers. Unattractive physical features were instantly dismissed once a woman's ears were rewarded with his lavish lifestyle promises ("First I talk about how I dresses this/ In diamond necklaces/ Stretch Lexuses...") and va-jay-jay pleasuring offers. The man's charming use of nasty banter combined with a materialistic knowledge most rappers shied away from schooled cats on the right way to pimp. Study him and any man would have a multitude of women kicking off their drenched panties instantly.

You can't help but smile as BIG relishes in his mesmerizing hold over the opposite sex and his ability to wreck a home with such ease. He's obviously enjoying the last laugh, wrecking vengeance on the women who overlooked him in high school with his love 'em, bling 'em and leave 'em escapades; meanwhile, the hip hop world swarmed on this elevated level of hood fabulousness. After this classic dropped, it suddenly seemed like every other rapper were upgrading their lexicon with high-style brand name drops.

Best Moment: The video, which rounded up the hottest women of R&B to sing the hook.

DL: "Stay With Me" (YFH)



DL: "One More Chance (Remix)" (YFH)