The night Andre Harrell died, I DM’d my editor at Billboard and told him that whatever they were going to do for Dre, I was raising my hand. I knew a slew of outlets’ headers would read “… who discovered Sean Combs,” and Dre’s impact was so much bigger than that; larger and farther reachingContinue reading “Ghetto Fabulous: Andre Harrell Created a Culture of Black Excellence”
Tag Archives: Uptown Records
CELEBRATING THE KING OF NEW JACK SWING
ON TEDDY RILEY’S BIRTHDAY, WE REFLECT ON SOME OF HIS ENDURING HITS. New Jack Swing technically turned 30 last year; that was the anniversary of the Village Voice article on then 20-year-old Teddy Riley in which Barry Michael Cooper (New Jack City, Above the Rim & Sugar Hill) coined the phrase (he told Riley, “You haveContinue reading “CELEBRATING THE KING OF NEW JACK SWING”
UPTOWN! UPTOWN!
We need to talk about Uptown Records, because the legacy is worthy, but doesn’t get nearly enough love. Uptown was founded in 1986 by Andre Harrell, formerly of the rap group Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and it took a couple of years to find its groove. The original label kicked off with female rap duoContinue reading “UPTOWN! UPTOWN!”
REMEMBERING HEAVY
Celebrating one of the most underrated artists in mainstream hip-hop In 2011 we lost an artist I consider criminally underrated and under-acknowledged in hip hop conversations. We’ve touched on him in previous #MusicSermons: looking at the book of Uptown and remembering how hard we danced in the 90s, but today we’re going to properly focusContinue reading “REMEMBERING HEAVY”
THE BATTLE OF UPTOWN: MARY J BLIGE vs JODECI
This was originally posted to #MusicSermon’s Patreon during the 90s R&B #MarchMadness, where the two acts that changed the face of R&B and ushered in the Hip Hop Soul music era faced each other for the championship (Spoiler alert: Mary won). Let’s take a look at two of Uptown’s finest pound for pound. THE WARM UP:Continue reading “THE BATTLE OF UPTOWN: MARY J BLIGE vs JODECI”