Annnd welcome to your favorite site and mine, DanjLovesThe90s- where we provide nothin’ but the absolute latest in ’90s shit.
Sometimes, the term “one hit wonder” is a lil’ polarizing. In some cases, it doesn’t necessarily mean the artist had nothing else to offer, it simply means the people didn’t accept it like they did that one in particular. Take for instance, some of today’s entries. Not to say any of their other stuff is as notable as their hit single was (although in one case, the artist’s other endeavors were WAY more notable than her music), but I’m just sayin’…
Digable Planets “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” (1993): Granted, Digable Planets had a nice following, two decent albums, and other singles that I actually like much more than this song… but “Cool Like Dat” was the one for them. In ’93, it was all over the place, being one of the few hip-hop videos to get regular play on MTV that year. They kinda became the poster children for the mainstream’s brief infatuation with jazz-influenced rap. That popularity led to them picking up a Grammy for this single in ’94, which then led to an acceptance speech bigging up the Nation of Islam during a time when Farrakhan was at his most controversial. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but DP suddenly became much less “cool”, and their second album was far less promoted or received- correlation perhaps? They broke up in ’95, and have since reunited to tour- with “Cool Like Dat” even being featured in a Tide commercial last year. Cool.
Groove Theory “Tell Me” (1995): Amel Larrieux and Bryce Wilson were two musicians who decided to link up on a whim and ended up dropping a top 5 hit in late-’95. “Tell Me” was one of the best singles of that year, and definitely one that I ran to death. Their self-titled album wasn’t half-bad either, but aside from a decent buzz off their follow-up single “Keep Tryin’”, the Groove Theory road basically ended by ’96. The GT name continued on for another five years, but Amel wasn’t a part of it, and nothing else actually got released. Today, neither member is doin’ too bad for themselves (Amel is an critically-acclaimed independent artist while Bryce is rollin’ with Jimmy Henchman and managing artists such as Game and Gucci Mane), and they’ve even announced plans to do a reunion album. Seems a lil’ long to be takin’ for a second album to drop, but more power to ‘em if it happens.
Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz “Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)” (1997): This was the definition of a surprise hit. In early-’97, some dude named Peter Gunz drops a single featuring Lord Tariq, member of the underground NY group Money Boss Players. These two weren’t officially a group, but they were both from the Bronx and rollin’ with Shaq around that time, so I guess they linked up that way. Anyway, this shit takes off during that fall- from the mixtapes to NY radio, and eventually all over. It was released on an independent label named Codeine Records, but off the strength of its popularity, Tariq & Gunz signed with Columbia Records near the end of the year. The unexpected popularity of this record also led to them getting hit up by Steely Dan for jackin’ their shit, but they had a certified hit which eventually went platinum and was up for a Grammy. Their Make It Reign album came out a few months later and did the complete opposite, and that was that. Short as their time in the spotlight was, they milked that shit for everything they could get. Which brings me to my next selection…
Tatyana Ali feat. Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz “Daydreamin’” (1998): So here lies the question: are they actually not one-hit wonders because they also participated in this shameless spin-off? Whichever way you answer that, yep, LT & PG were able to parlay their hit into a collab with the beautiful Ashley Banks Tatyana Ali the following summer. Using the same sample and featuring the Uptown duo on the track, T-Ali pulled off a top 10 US hit with “Daydreamin’” from her debut album, Kiss The Sky. Remember that episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, when Ashley made a hit called “Make Up Your Mind” and then fizzled out? Well, kinda the same thing here. Her other singles were hits in the UK, but hey… maybe my homiechick Adenike can tell you better than I can. Meanwhile, here in the States? No dice, Ash.
So there’s another buncha folks that make up roughly 16 combined notable minutes of ’90s music. The extent to how notable those minutes were depend on your own ears. ‘Til next week… remember that any artist with talent can makes lots of hits, but it takes a special talented artist to make one.
-D!
(IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: here’s Vol. 1)
I really dug Groove Theory’s first album, and Amel Larue is pretty dope. She was the vocalist on Sade’s band’s album, Sweetback. You should check it out if you haven’t. Thanks for the tunes, mane!
I remember that… I knew a girl who was lovin’ that album back then. I recall their video “You Will Rise” or somethin’ like that, never heard the album tho’.
-D!
Was this the best you could do on the 2nd time around? I know there are more 1 hit wonders you could’ve put up there. Just being Lazy Dev! lol
Nah, of course not, bruh. But you know… gotta space ‘em out for the various volumes. There’s plenty more where those came from. Shoutout to Splackavellie, lol
-D!
Tatyana Ali was big in the UK, for like two songs. She had that song ‘boy you knock me out’ with Will Smith. Simpler times back then… I just discovered your blog last week – been hooked ever since! keep up the good work maaan!
‘preciate it! Thanks for readin’, def. got more stuff on the way…
-D!
I think I was the only one who wasn’t feeling that Digable Planet’s track. Honestly, outside maybe 2 songs, I never really cared for their music. They came off as kinda corny imo. Plus when the Fugees came out, they put them to sleep.
I used to love that DP joint til they ran it into the ground. Both of the albums to me were cool- haven’t heard ‘em in years but I don’t recall bein’ mad at ‘em. I think the whole ‘insect’ shit was corny in hindsight, LOL.
Agreed on the Fugees… not the 1st album tho’. By that second album though, it was definitely ‘Digable who?’
-D!
[...] Danj talks about the one hit wonders ha!……Danj Loves the 90s [...]
I love Groove Theory and Amel still to this day. You gotta go to Bliss Live if you want to see Amel now and sometimes Bryce is there and joins hers on stage impromptu they are still 100.
I def. wasn’t mad at that album…
I also dug that Amel joint ‘Get Up’ and a couple other things I heard from her.
Where’s Bliss Live?
-D!
Well, I loved Daydreamin. The video was cute too. I still listen to Tell Me today. I’ve got it in my shuffle list on my mp3 player. Cool Like Dat is definitely a classic also.
That T-Ali song reminds me of when I used to tape videos off TV all day back in summer ’98… it’s wild fun and summery, lol.
‘Tell Me’… wow, I wasn’t ever ready to move on from that joint once it came out. I had the record, and I think I blended that acapella with every instrumental I had. Great song.
Every time I think of ‘Cool Like Dat’, I remember Martin on Def Comedy Jam- “yo, what the fukk is that record where they be like ‘I’m cool like dat, I shit like dat, I fukk like dat…’”
-D!
Yeah Tatyana’s first single Daydreamin’ was quite big over here in the UK. I think she even toured for a bit as the support of a big act, can’t remember who, and appeared on a few TV shows peddling her music. The second single Boy You Knock Me Out did well too, and although wasn’t as big in the clubs, did better in the charts, top three I believe. The fact that it featured Will Smith was a big draw! The UK had love for Tat, coz of the popularity of the Fresh Prince TV show. her album went gold here and if she stuck around a bit, she may have done really well. I liked Daydreamin’, got it on the iPod and ironically gave it a listen a coupla days ago! Heard she’s working on a new album, be interesting to see what she comes up with!
Boom! Adenike comes thru in the clutch… I remember the vid w/ Will Smith, but it was bigger there than it was here. Didn’t know she was givin’ it another go tho’… interesting…
-D!
Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz were the b-side kid n play.
Kid n Play probably woulda had a great buzz if they woulda just bought the shit from these kats! lol
I remember when Peter Gunz and Lord Tariq came to Toronto with Shaq for Caribana.
The parade is supposed to be all soca and a lil dancehall, and these fools came with their, “2:15,i was diggin her out… 3:15 i was diggin her out…4:15 i was diggin her out…” and they never came back again.
that’s the Jay-Z hook, why were they singin’ that? LOL, wow.
Yeah, that LT & PG… they squeezed the juice outta that joint tho’. Tour with Mariah, collab w/ Mariah, the T-Ali joint, Grammy nom… sheeeeit
-D!