Album: Ain't A Damn Thing Changed (RAL/ Columbia; 1991)
Songwriters: Tracy Chapman
R&B Peak Position: #17
"Sometimes I rhyme slow, sometimes I rhyme quick/ I was on 1-2-5 and Saint Nick..."
As hip hop continued to lose it's sense of humor towards the late '80's, fans looking for feel-good rhymes about getting girls, rocking the mics right and hitting up parties were left with fewer options that weren't overtly corny. Salvation could be found in Greg Nice and Smooth Bee (bka Nice & Smooth), a sample-obsessive Brooklyn rap duo whose filler-less 1989 eponymous debut brought the genre back to it's playful core.
Switching over to a major label for their second album, 1991's Ain't A Damn Thing Changed, N&S mostly kept their lighthearted flavor intact, but for the striking single release "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow", the group managed to sneak in subject matter of a more serious tone.
Driven by a melancholy guitar loop swiped from Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car", "Sometimes..." opened with the always hyped Nice dishing out random lines concerning a blissful existence ("I feel good per say good state of mind/ Drive a red Sterling and the seats recline/ I love it when a lady treats me kind/ Go to Tavern on the Green have a glass of wine"). It's when Smooth Bee's verse arrives, though, that the song's mood suddenly shifts.
What's got "three cloud of pain" underneath Bee's heart? Turns out to be concern over his girl. As always the case, their relationship started off happily ("We were inseparable/ No one could sever"), but while he was on tour, she took a liking to the nose candy, and soon their union was spiraling down a sour path. Taking note of her drastic weight loss, he confronts her and comes face to face with the ugly truth ("She said, 'Yo Smooth I'm sorry/ But I keep having visions of snow"). He offers help by sending her to rehab and not telling her parents, but a year and a half later, soon realizes his good-deed efforts were for naught ("She came back home and I let her back in/...And now she's sniffin' again").
Charting as the biggest hit of their career, "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow"'s somber groove and surprisingly deep second verse made this a haunting number hip hop followers would never forget.
Best Moment: When Smooth Bee slickly refuses to aid in his lover's bad habits ("Whoa little hottie/ I'm not DeLorean, Gambino or Gotti...") (1:48)
DL: "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow" (YFH)
***BONUS***
DL: "Funky For You" (YFH)
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