Karyn White was the quintessential it girl during the 80s and 90s and proved her hit-making abilities with the Top 10 song “Secret Rendezvous.” While “Superwoman” may be the beloved ballad, “Secret Rendezvous” is an excellent song perfect for every occasion. – Charles Waring 30: Karyn White – Secret Rendezvous The song’s gentle blend of angelic vocals and a romantic theme offered a fresh take on New Jack Swing, toning down the style’s masculine aggression. Sure! – Nite and Dayīorn Albert Brown III in Boston, Massachusetts, Al B Sure! sang background vocals for Heavy D & the Boyz before debuting with the single, “Nite and Day,” in 1988, which topped the US R&B charts for three weeks. – Charles WaringĬlick to load video 31: Al B. Stylistically, its harmonized vocal hook and chord changes drew inspiration from Teddy Riley’s work with Guy. Signed to Motown and pitched as a New Jack Swing version of the label’s iconic girl group, The Supremes, Los Angeles trio The Good Girls hit the ground running when their catchy debut single “Your Sweetness” stormed into the US R&B Top 10 in 1989. – Charles Waring 36: The Good Girls – Your Sweetness Quick to adapt, they served up their own take on the swingbeat sound with the contagious “Casanova,” which blended silky vocals with a tough beatbox groove, giving the group their second US R&B chart-topper. 1 hit to their name when the New Jack Swing phenomenon sent seismic shockwaves through the R&B world in the late 80s. Ohio vocal trio LeVert were already an established soul music act with a No. “I Wanna Sex You Up” topped the charts in the US, and then spread around the globe, spurring mutliple remixes and solidfying CMB’s place in 90s nostalgia annals.
The trend of perfectly curated Black movie soundtracks in the 90s started with New Jack City, written by Barry Michael Cooper, the Village Voice writer who coined “New Jack Swing.” One of the standout tracks alongside NJS mainstays like Johnny Gill and Christopher Williams was the playfully risque and immediately catchy debut from R&B group Color Me Badd. – Charles WaringĬlick to load video 38: Color Me Badd – I Wanna Sex You Up 50 in the US R&B charts and appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Juice in 1992. Weaponized synth hooks combined with hard-hitting drum machine beats were Teddy Riley’s hallmark and he didn’t disappoint with the super-funky “Is It Good To You,” the keyboardist/producer’s collaboration with sweet-voiced Tammy Lucas. – Naima Cochrane 40: Teddy Riley & Tammy Lucas – Is It Good to You Enjoy these jams that prompted us to dress in our finest, dance our hardest, and chill the coldest. It includes foundational tracks from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and LA and Babyface key Teddy Riley productions songs from essential New Jack-era movies and even one hit wonders that simply encapsulate everything that defines New Jack Swing. This list was chosen and ranked based not just on the overall quality of the song, but how impactful the track was to the genre and the culture. It also reshaped the music industry both by creating space for new, young executives with a fresh perspective and by making hip-hop more accessible to a wider audience, opening the door for rap’s increasing mainstream presence. New Jack Swing quickly expanded beyond music into television, film, and fashion. “For gangsters and their facsimiles,” Cooper wrote of Riley in 1987, “here’s the new jack talisman, warding off the evil of poverty, failure and longevity…This is about living now, money, and living large.”Įxplore the history of the New Jack Sound with the Wondery podcast, Jacked: Rise of the New Jack Sound. Sure and Heavy D., were all from uptown, and by extension the fashion and energy of from the streets was inseparable from the sound. The majority of the earliest artists, producers and figures who shaped New Jack Swing culture, including Riley, Harrell, Keith Sweat, Riley’s fellow Guy members Aaron and Damien Hall, Al B. It was aspirational the source from which Uptown Records founder Andre Harrell coined the term “ghetto fabulous,” and the inspiration for the label’s ethos. Uptown was a land of style, flash, shine…and parties. Teddy took the sound and added Harlem’s flavor to it: The energy of hustlers, gangsters, fly girls, and those hoping to either be – or be with – any of the above.