new jack swing

Album of the Week: Keith Sweat’s s/t (1996)

September 23, 2024 — Leave a comment

I worked on the album on and off for more than a year. I heard each of the songs probably a hundred times before I was completely happy with them.

Did you know Keith Sweat’s real name is Keith Sweat?

Nine years and three albums after his debut Make It Last Forever, a landmark release in new jack swing, Mr. Sweat dropped a bomb with “Twisted”. Enlisting the help of his group Kut Klose, the hopping single reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it leads off the fantastic Keith Sweat album. Keith is absolutely in his bag here, delivering a succinct and supreme collection of 90s R&B.

Sweat is the king of “begging”, a style of adlib runs that he pioneered on his debut. “Yumi” is already a silky smooth groove, but the vocals added in-between lines are masterful touches. Sweat does his begging like a great jazz artist solos, switching between lower and higher registers, moaning, ooh-ing, absolutely catching a vibe. “Freak With Me” has some extremely 90s rap verses while interpolating “(Not Just) Knee Deep”. The legendary Ronald Isley provides the assist on “Come With Me” – did you think it could get any more sensual? Just listen to this. Absolute liquid sex.

The last three songs here are a veritable triple threat. “Show Me the Way”, the lone track here produced by Sweat, is a simple and effective track that also acts as a prelude for “Nobody”, the album’s climax. “Twisted” is great, but “Nobody” is a masterpiece. Sweat and Athena from Kut Klose duet over a deep slow jam with a knockout refrain. The verses show some restraint, but the begging intensifies gradually as both artists build to a vocal showcase in the final minute. “Chocolate Girl”, then, acts as a sort of comedown to close things out. The pace is slow as molasses (chocolate syrup?), but it could be a minute or two longer and I wouldn’t mind. I adore this album.

Listen to Keith Sweat here.

Album of the Week: Mint Condition’s From the Mint Factory (1993)

January 22, 2024 — Leave a comment

I listened to this album many years ago, initially wrote it off as average, and forgot about it for a while. But as the years went by and I got more into Babyface and groups like After 7 and Silk, I kept seeing this one pop up. Upon re-evaluation, this is an outstanding and somewhat back-heavy release.

Mint Condition hail from Minneapolis, where they were discovered by Jam & Lewis. I wouldn’t necessarily lump their sound in with Janet Jackson or Prince, and frontman Stokley sounds more like Raphael Saadiq than any Minnesotan, but they do lean on live instruments. While the Purple One was recording with The New Power Generation – a large and rotating band of at least eight members – in the early 90s, Mint Condition were releasing their first two albums, Meant to Be Mint (1991) and From the Mint Factory.

The production on this record is super slick, and I think it will be make-or-break for anyone revisiting it today. The drum programming dips into a New Jack Swing sound, which by the time of this album had been around for several years. Guy, Keith Sweat and Bobby Brown all dropped genre-defining albums in ’87-88, and even “Do the Bartman” was released in 1990. By 1993, New Jack Swing was past its critical and commercial peak. But Mint Condition sort of split the difference between New Jack pop and midwestern soul.

When it leans into live drums is often where the album finds its greatest success. “Someone to Love” is a tender ballad with drumkit and saxophone that wouldn’t be out of place in a Prince playlist. “10 Million Strong” has a cool live-sounding hiss in the background in addition to its drums. “U Send Me Swingin'” is a plain revelation. I was listening to this song a lot in 2021 and after I got my Covid shot I was up at 3am in a dazed delirium, drinking grapefruit Polar, watching Cluny Brown and singing “U send me sWANNGgANNN!” These are memories you just don’t forget.

“So Fine” is an electric guitar-heavy ballad, and “Back to Your Lovin'” is a slow-jam oozing with sweetness. I can’t get enough of this one. Also, the last two tracks here are really interesting because they both employ electric guitar in ways you wouldn’t normally expect for a 90s R&B album. “My High” is like a vignette and “Fidelity” has an almost heavy metal guitar and goes all-out rock to become an album closer sort of like Goodie Mob’s “Just About Over”, their rock song which is the penultimate track on Still Standing (1998). These songs are both hate-it-til-you-love-it things for me. My guy Jellybean Johnson who did the solo on Alexander O’Neal’s “Criticize” (one of the best songs ever) plays electric guitar here and really hammers it home.

“Harmony” is a little corny with its steel drums and as I mentioned earlier, some of the tracks in the first half of this album are underwhelming. Despite that, From the Mint Factory is an excellent disc. I also recommend seeking out the Ummah (production from Q-Tip and J Dilla) Mix of “Let Me Be the One” from Mint Condition’s The Collection (1991-1998) featuring a great verse from Phife – who says “Meet me at the T-Wolves game tonight!”

Listen to From the Mint Factory here.

Album of the Week: Boyz II Men’s Cooleyhighharmony (1991)

November 13, 2023 — Leave a comment

Boyz II Men, ABC, BBD – the East Coast fam

So I knew the “BBD” was for Bell Biv Devoe (“Poison”), but I learned today that “ABC” stands for Another Bad Creation, a kid R&B group which I think I came across while practically studying Immature. I got this CD at some point in high school and it lived in the Honda Pilot. I also made “screwed” versions of “Please Don’t Go” and “Your Love”, both of which I jammed a lot.

Though not as consistent as its forebear Heart Break by New Edition (featuring “Boys to Men”, the song B2M named themselves after) or TLC’s CrazySexyCool (a spiritual successor by way of title if nothing else), there are some classic tracks here. They would go on to work with my R&B MVP Babyface later, but the Boyz peaked here on their debut with producer Dallas Austin at the helm. In 2016, Austin would tell Waxpoetics, “I went to Philadelphia with them to record “Motownphilly” and “Sympin’,” and they were the only two tracks I was going to produce for their album. When I got there, I clicked with the guys, they asked, ‘Why can’t you do our whole album?’ Then, they asked me, ‘Can you do ballads?’ So I went and bought some Babyface records to listen to them, and I figured out how to do ballads. I ended up doing their whole album.” So even though Babyface didn’t work on the album, his influence looms!

Working with Dallas Austin was a good idea! Opener “Please Don’t Go”, while never a big hit, is one of those songs I never tire of. Awash in 90s synth and robo-harpsichord, it’s sleeker than New Edition and a far cry from the textbook New Jack Swing of “Poison”. Saccharine, sure, but to me it’s perfect: the voiceover intro, the orchestra hits, and the harmonies that they’d come to be known for are all amazing. Then you have another sad song in “Lonely Heart” and two sexx jams in “This Is My Heart” and “Uhh Ahh” – which went number one! A pretty minimal, weird track to go number one, the production of which sounds really dated now (that makes it even cooler!).

This is the canonical version of “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday”, which is either wistful or devastating depending on the context you use it in. Another strange hit! Almost acapella, and it went to number two on the charts. What can be said about “Motownphilly”: it’s a Motown classic, a Philly classic, a grocery store classic… just a banger.

There are some B-side gems in “Little Things”, where the production reminds me of the James Ferraro I was listening to in the early 2010s, and the fantastic, cloying closer “Your Love”. As opposed to Austin and the rest of the band, these were both written by Troy Taylor (who would later work with Trey Songz) and made by his production duo The Characters. But they fit right in. Also, “UR LOVE IS 2 HYPE” would be a good tattoo or bumper sticker I think.

Listen to Cooleyhighharmony here.