Welcome to November on DanjLovesThe90s, where you’ll be able to check out Wu-Week, find out why the Isley Brothers’ “Between The Sheets” has done so much for so many, and get to celebrate the big 3-0 with the fukkin’ man himself. But first things first, I wanna talk about this great woman right here. You can call her Penny, you can call her Damita Jo, you can call her Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty… but her first name ain’t “Baby”… it’s Janet.
I was about six years old when I really caught wind of who Janet Jackson was. Prior to that, I hadn’t ever watched Fame, and her years on Good Times and Diff’rent Strokes were a lil’ before my time. Naturally, my first introduction to her came when I started watching and taping videos. During ’86 and ’87, Janet’s six videos from her Control album (especially “Pleasure Principle”) got a lot of burn in the VCR at my house, just as the album got a lot of play on the stereo.
With the help of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (who I spoke of last month), Control was the album that saved her singing career, which at that point was on its last leg. Of course, they continued making hits together for all the albums that followed. It was hard to be a music fan in the ’80s and ’90s without hearing Janet. Even though I wasn’t necessarily buying her albums, I always knew when there was a new one out or when she had a new video, because she was all over the TV and radio. From stepping like the S1W’s on that Rhythm Nation shit to the sexual content on her later albums, Janet stayed on my radar for the most part through the ’90s.
To this day, Janet remains the only Jackson that did her thing without always being in the shadow of Michael, which speaks for itself. Of course she was Michael’s sister, but after a certain point, she wasn’t “Michael’s sister” more so than she was Janet Jackson. Even when Mike was killin’ it with Thriller, it wasn’t doing much to boost Janet’s career by association. She could’ve easily been in the same boat as Rebbie or Latoya, but she eventually got over on her own talent and music. On top of that, she was also Mike’s #1 supporter when he went thru all the crazy shit. She was right there with him in the “Scream” video, smashing TV’s and flippin’ the bird as MJ shocked the world with “stop FUCKIN’ with me!”
But I’d be remiss to just talk about the music without also mentioning how much of a BANGER Janet was. From the time I was six, staying up late to catch Friday Night Videos to the time I was 24 watching her titty pop out at the Super Bowl, there wasn’t much bad that I could say about her. I don’t know where to start with how big a deal she was. Do I talk about that smile? That body? The moves she did on stage when she got all freaked out? And then there’s some of those things she says on the songs… good got-damn. I may never wanna see her try to be a girl from the hood again, and I wasn’t crazy about that time she had those braids lookin’ like branches, but I could stand to watch Janet do almost whatever she wants.
Later this month, Janet’s about to drop a “Number Ones” album, consisting of songs that went to #1 whether in the U.S. or overseas. There are 33 songs on this album, just as a reminder to anyone who might not notice or acknowledge how major of a run she’s had. She’s also gotten back up with Jam & Lewis and is working on her 11th album, set to come out next year. It’s been a minute since Janet’s dropped a great record (especially with that lil’ cockroach Jermaine Dupri trying to turn her into some kinda hip-hop MILF a couple years back), but I wouldn’t count out the chances of a comeback just yet. It wouldn’t be the first time she’s defied odds.
“Alright (Remix feat. Heavy D)” (1990)
“That’s The Way Love Goes” (1993)
“Any Time, Any Place (R. Kelly Remix)” (1994)
“Got ‘Til It’s Gone (feat. Q-Tip & Joni Mitchell)” (1997)
-D!
Posted by Danj! 
Zhane had a nice lil’ run around ’93-’94. Their unique look and upbeat style gave them a presence at a time when a lotta new girl groups were out there looking mad similar. I also rocked with their midtempo-bouncy sound, mostly produced by Naughty By Nature‘s KayGee. Their big screwup came when they dropped their follow-up in ’97 with a single that was waaay too close to “Hey Mr. DJ” for comfort. It was called “Request Line”, and everything from the subject to the beat sounded awfully familiar to their first hit. Bad move there, but that’s the music industry for ya. They split up the following year, and that’s pretty much it.
Brownstone sounded like they were gonna be one of the groups who could go the distance. They came out the box with what (to me) is still one of the strongest R&B songs of the decade, “If You Love Me”. They had the vocals and the songs to go with them… they just couldn’t stay together. One member left before the first album’s run was even over, and then the Version 2 edition split up almost right after the second one came out.
A lot of these girl groups couldn’t make it past that second album, no matter how big that first one was. It happened to Zhane, it happened to Brownstone, and it happened to Jade. They were off to a solid start with a platinum album and single, but they were one of those groups who didn’t have that extra-standout shit to move past the rest of the crowd. And then of course, once the second album started floppin’ like a dying fish, they called it a wrap.
Alas! XScape managed to make it to the third album. Actually, they managed to endure a lot: pregnancies, changing musical tastes, and being forever branded 
When it comes to one-hitta-quittas of the girl groups, I don’t think it gets any better than MoKenStef. The chorus of “He’s Mine” has gone from being a staple of arguments between dumb wives and mistresses in ’95, to being the status of a million MySpace chicks to this day. I’ve always said that there’s not a chance in hell that a male artist EVER drops a song like this, because that’s just not the way we do business. Naive as it is, it’s a classic song that’s seen a shelf life way longer than the group itself, who only dropped one more single afterward and disappeared.
