Monday, June 28, 2010

Hi-Five- Unconditional Love

In the late 1980's and early 1990's, a new sound was emerging.
This new sound was a fusion of hip-hop, dance-pop, and R&B.
It was called "New Jack Swing".
The style combined elements of older styles and newer trends.
It used R&B style vocals sung over hip-hop or dance-pop instrumentation.
The man behind it all was Teddy Riley.
Riley led the band "Guy" in the 80's and the band "Blackstreet" in the 90's.
He produced several artists at the time such as Johnny Kemp ("Just got paid, it's Friday night), Bobby Brown, and Keith Sweat.
In 1994, when Michael Jackson recorded "Dangerous", he wanted to update his sound so he dumped Quincy Jones for Teddy Riley.
No matter what you think of this style of music, New Jack Swing changed the face of R&B music.
Today, there are more songs than not on the R&B and Hip-Hop charts that have a mixture of the two genres.
In 1993, the Hughes Brothers released their first film as directors, called "Menace II Society", a critically acclaimed movie that depicted a gritty portrayal of urban violence with powerful underlying messages.
(Side note: An article that I read stated that the "F-word" is used 300 times in the 97-minute film, giving it one of the highest "f___ per minute rate" at 3.07 times per minute.  I'm not going to comment.)
This New Jack song by Hi-Five was on the multi-platinum soundtrack.

No comments:

Post a Comment