Unfortunately, DLT90s returns on a sad note. Yesterday, Mary Christine Brockert, better known as Teena Marie, passed on at the age of 54, after falling asleep on Christmas night and being found by her daughter Alia Rose the following morning.
R.I.P. Lady T
12/27/2010
6 Comments | 
DanjLovesThe80sToo, DanjLovesTheR&B, In Memory Of..., Nuff Respect Due | Tagged: R.I.P., TEENA MARIE | 
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Posted by Danj!
Livin’ The Life
11/29/2010
Wild but true: some of Mary J. Blige‘s longtime fans would rather see her sad. Not that they wish for her to go back to her life as a depressed star in an abusive relationship with drug and alcohol problems, but the music that came out of that era is among her most memorable. The happy, dancing MJB of recent years just doesn’t seem to strike that same chord that she did in more troubled times. Much like many artists make their best work when they’re new and hungry, some do their best when real life is kickin’ them in the ass. Such was the case with 1994′s My Life.
6 Comments | Classic Material, DanjLovesTheAlbums, DanjLovesTheR&B, Hip-Hop Soul, Nuff Respect Due | Tagged: 1994, MJB | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
DANJ! Presents: One Hitta Quittas, Vol. 4
11/18/2010
Ah yes… so as I prep for next week’s Strictly Hip-Hop Dirty 30, I been on R&B mode a lil’ bit as of late. In fact, the other day, I was asked if I was in love TWICE because I was rockin’ with some old smooth shit. I may have been kinda checkin’ for someone lately, and it is cuffin’ season, but it’s nothin’ to do with my mellow moods and whatnot… haha!
Anyway, in the process of playing my (MASSIVE) ’90s R&B playlist, I was prompted to drop the fourth installment of “One Hitta Quittas”. Three of these artists came out with a bang and dropped off the planet just as fast, while one took a minute to score a hit before returning to his hitless state. Whatever way it went down, these four tracks all made quite an impression back in the day, even as the artists themselves failed to.
16 Comments | Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda, DanjLovesTheR&B, One Hitta Quitta, Whatever Happened To...? | Tagged: 702, ADINA HOWARD, JESSE POWELL, SUBWAY, UNV | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
What The ’90s Won’t Do For Love
11/11/2010
There was a time… long, long ago… when the color lines were a lot more blurred on urban radio. Artists like Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, and others- without necessarily catering to the R&B audience- would still get certain records of theirs played on the primarily “Black” stations. It continued through the ’80s with artists like Madonna, Hall & Oates, George Michael and even ya man Rick Astley getting their music played, sometimes with people not even knowing they were White until seeing them. In the case of Bobby Caldwell‘s “What You Won’t Do For Love”, his label intentionally hid his image in a silhouette, and even the video was kind of a “revelation” of what he really looked like.
19 Comments | Classic Material, DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheR&B, The90sLovedThe80s | Tagged: AALIYAH, KOOL G RAP, LUNIZ, SAMPLING, TUPAC | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
…And You Know I Got Soul
10/30/2010
…and as I close out HipHopSoulWeek here on DLT90s, I had to finish off in the best way I know how. Bein’ a part of that whole era as a listener and a kid who was keepin’ an ear out for every little song by every artist on every label, I stayed up on all them tracks and remixes that made up the Hip-Hop Soul era. As a result, some 15 years later or so, I’m able to proudly bring y’all this shit right here…
Some of y’all remember “Jackin’ Off” from New Jack Week, right? Well, it’s about that time again. I didn’t even get to drop ALL the ones I wanted to on here, but I def. went in once again- even shouted some of y’all out on the (distorted) mic no less. So with no further to do (Carlito Brigante voice)… 49 joints, 80 minutes… here we GO:
6 Comments | Classic Material, DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheMixtapes, DanjLovesTheR&B, Hip-Hop Soul | Tagged: DANJLOVESTHE90S, Mixtapes | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
The Total Package
10/27/2010
…Annnd as HipHopSoulWeek continues on DanjLovesThe90s…
They always talk about those definitive R&B albums of the ’90s. You know-12 Play, 411, Motownphilly, Brown Sugar, My Life, CrazySexyCool, etc. And no doubt, they all did a lot to shape the sound as those years went on. But recently, when asked to name some of my favorite ’90s R&B albums, one of the first that popped in my head was one that rarely ever gets mentioned. It’s a personal classic of mine, and definitely one that represents the Hip-Hop Soul era to the fullest- the self-titled debut album by the “bad girls of Bad Boy“, Total.
14 Comments | Classic Material, DanjLovesTheAlbums, DanjLovesTheR&B, Hip-Hop Soul | Tagged: 1996, BAD BOY, TOTAL | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
AllTime8: This Is The (Slept-On) Remix
10/25/2010
Welllll… it’s Hip-Hop Soul Week on DLT90s, as promised at the top of the month. I’ll be showin’ love to a classic hip-hop soul album from ’96, and makin’ the week complete with the DLT90s HipHopSoulMix, but first things first…
While New Jack Swing was on the way out, it gradually transformed into a new subgenre that relied heavily on remixes. Whereas the New Jack sound fused hip-hop and R&B during the late-’80s, the Hip-Hop Soul sound represented a more aggressive, breakbeat-driven style for the ’90s. Mary J. Blige and Puffy popularized it with What’s The 411? in ’92, which later carried over to become a big part of The Bad Boy Sound. By ’95, it was almost uncommon for there to be a single that didn’t either feature a rapper or have a remix featuring one. Most times, these remixes were also built on samples of past rap hits, which further made them palatable to the hip-hop audience. While some of them blew up and took on lives of their own, there were others that only got minor play or none at all. Either way, even though this trend eventually went on overload and played itself out by the end of the decade, it definitely spawned some memorable tracks. Annnd so, in jumping off Hip-Hop Soul Week, here are eight remixes that didn’t really make it over the hump, but to me were still hittin’:
14 Comments | AllTime8, DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheR&B, Hip-Hop Soul | Tagged: 112, AARON HALL, ALEXANDER O'NEAL, BLACK ROB, CHUBB ROCK, CL SMOOTH, D'ANGELO, FOXY BROWN, HORACE BROWN, KEITH MURRAY, KOOL G RAP, LOX, MONA LISA, PETE ROCK, REDMAN, TOTAL | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
The ’90s Loved The ’80s: #FAIL
10/07/2010
I gotta say… sampling got a lil’ out of control in the late-’90s. Not that sampling is a bad thing, but many artists/producers thought they could get away with damn near anything if it was a hit the first time around. Previous hits being recycled to make new ones became a huge trend, but it wasn’t for everybody. In a few cases, them shits shoulda never even been cleared. Take for instance, these five situations here. I don’t know about y’all, but in my humble opinion, any one of these would make a great case for why strict sampling laws should be enforced. Wow.
24 Comments | Classic Material, DanjGotPop, DanjHatesThe90s, DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheR&B, Original Flavor, The90sLovedThe80s, Wiggedy-Wack | Tagged: CAMEO, CHARLI BALTIMORE, DMX, FOXY BROWN, MIC GERONIMO, MICHAEL JACKSON, PHIL COLLINS, TINA TURNER, WARREN G | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
’90s Girls: Sistas With Voices
10/04/2010
Annnnd now, DLT90s comes to yet another in the ’90s Girls series. First time out, I covered some of the girl groups that had their share of hits. Second time, some of the teen acts that popped off. Third time was for the ones who never actually got that big single, but pumped out a decent single or two. This time around, this entry goes out to five more women of R&B who debuted and shined during the early-’90s- their biggest selling point being their singing ability. I know that’s a rare thing now, where most of the most popular R&B chicks are poppin’ because they can do a lil’ bit of everything just well enough to score a hit. But believe it or not, there was a time when a female singer could prosper with the right songs and vocal talents alone. Here’s five:
17 Comments | 90s Girls, DanjLovesTheR&B | Tagged: CECE PENISTON, CHANTE MOORE, LISA STANSFIELD, MICHEL'LE, TONI BRAXTON | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
AllTime8: Shoulda Been A Single
09/25/2010
You ever heard a song on an artist’s album, and wanted it to be the next video, or the song they played on the radio? Well, around the mid-’90s after I got my turntables and went record-coppin’ crazy, I did the same. I always kept up on what all the new singles were, but as I stayed up on those, very rarely was I buying full-length albums. When I did get the albums, being the music nerd I was, I’d try to predict what the forthcoming singles were gonna be. Sometimes, I was correct (D’Angelo‘s “Lady” and DMX‘s “Ruff Ryders Anthem” being two correct guesses I made)… other times, not so. In this installment of the AllTime8, I drop eight instances in which I was wrong, but perhaps should’ve been right. You be the judge…
11 Comments | AllTime8, Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda, DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheR&B | Tagged: CHRISTION, DIGABLE PLANETS, DJ QUIK, DOGG POUND, FAITH, JAY-Z, LL COOL J, SWV | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
