Kaboom!!! Guess Who Stepped In The Room...

Anything (Old School Mix) - SWV feat Wu-Tang Clan
I Love You - Mary J. Blige feat Smif N' Wesson
Rub You The Right Way - Johnny Gill feat CL Smooth

More mid 90's R&B jammies but this time featuring some guest cameos from the era's lyrical heavyweights. These were those type of tracks that would ge some spin during Albie D's set on PGC back in the day, cause normally at night, he'd play a rack of R&B stuff but hardly any hip hop. Of course that would change after Self Destruction came out. Every night he'd end his show with that joint. It was classic. But that is another story. Anyhow, the R&B with some rappin' added for "street cred" purposes was really in it's mainstream infancy before these tracks made their debuts. Back then it wasn't really a marketing ploy (like today) per se, but more of good music by some of the days best artists. So let's get to the tracks, cause I'm late for a date, seen!

SWV was one of those groups that as soon as you heard them sing, you knew who it was. Can I just call them the official girl group of the New Jack Swing Era? I know Total and some other groups came out shortly after they did but Teddy Riley had his hand in their careers right? So by default they can claim the title as far as Brother B is concerned. This track, the OG version, was off of that b-movie classic, "Above The Rim". But the remix, was a classic. The line up of Old Dirt Dog (RIP), Method Man, & Golden Arms brought some extra funky flavor for your Craig Mackin' ears. Check the technique:

[Ol Dirty Bastard]
Dirty Bas, style cuts like glass
Gotta gotta keep it high power to the mass
Yo Gods, another like platinum hit
Party people all around be sayin that's the shit!

[Method Man]
Kaboom! Guess who stepped in the room Tical, hailing from the Shaolin Isle
It be me the killer bee, on the M-I-C With the S-S-double-double-U (W) to the V-V
Me me goin downtown, let me see If we all and together now,
make it mo' better now Listen, I ain't sweatin no competition
Flow, goin mad low like I'm dissin

[U-God]
Another chapter from the Wu-Tang group
Take a look or a peak, killer bees never sleep
Nonstop, put you on the choppin block
Unorthodox, attitude to melting pot

[Method Man]
I'll do anything, I'm so into you Right here,
I win, downtown with the Wu
Kaboom!
Guess who stepped in the room The S S Double Double U V V to the boom

Mary J. Blige has been in the proverbial "game" for a long time. From "What's the 411?" with The Grand Puba to some crackhouse shit with JaFool, she has amassed a very impressive resume of hits and collabs. Her most famous of course was the remake of Marvin Gaye's "All I Need" with Method Man (aka The Track That Made Meth A Sex Symbol To The Ladies). But if I had to choose her best collabo (if not best song) it would be the track we have here for you today. "I Can Love You" takes that really mellowed out funk piece from DJ Hollywood, "Hollywood's World" and flips it a bit to create a track that really yearns to be played when it's raining/foggy SF style when you and your significant other need to reconcile the day of arguments over the color of the table cloth. It works, believe me.

Finally, DC gets some love up in here. Johnny Gill, who to this day has been responsible for more newborn babies besides Teddy P and the Rev. Al Green, once did a live version of "My My My" that if I ever find it will be the completion of my final "Music To Make Babies To" mix series. I might just have to find a bride after that cause it's pretty much the pinnacle. But this track, upbeat and even a dance floor massive type hit, does it's best to separate from the New Edition style JG was used to by enlisting the Caramel Lover, CL Smooth to kick some Honey-Licious words on Johnny's behalf. I will forever wonder if this song would have been a classic for reals if Pete Rock would have done the production instead of the Teddy Riley clone. We may never know. But I like it anyhow. How can you not like Johnny Gill?

Alrighty peoples, hope that all is well and that you are spreading the Wisdom of The Funk to all corners of the globe...cause I'm out of frequent flyer miles and pockets are mos def on E!

THOUGHT PROVOKING QUESTION ALERT!

What if any, is the relevance of EPMD's "Crossover" in today's hip hop scene?

Catch yawl on the flip side.

Funky since 1978,
Brother B.