If I had to choose a favorite year of hip-hop and R&B from the ’90s, I’d have to go with 1996. It’s a year that was stacked with more good music than I even had time to listen to, and definitely more than I could afford to buy. Regardless of whether it was in heavy radio rotation or only heard on the late-night mixshows, I was listenin’ and lovin’ it all. There was the Bad Boy sound, the early days of the Timbaland sound, the beginning of “Neo-Soul“, a “commercial vs. underground” divide in hip-hop in which good music was coming from both sides of the fence, and of course that “East vs. West” thing back when both were still at the top of the rap game. Sure, there was also stuff like Coolio, but not much I could do about that.Still, amongst all the hitmaking that went on, there were some who were bound to only pull it off once. For every R. Kelly or Fugees, there would have to be a Crucial Conflict or Tony Rich. In that respect, I bring you the fifth installment of “One Hitta Quittas“, with four from ’96 that made it happen… if only for a few months.
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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.
Chi-Ali: “The girls look soooo good, but their brains are not ready, I don’t knooow!” When I saw the video for his first single “Age Ain’t Nothin’ But A #”, I was feelin’ it so much, I bought the whole damn album the following weekend. Chi was a member of the Native Tongues (which consisted of A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and others), and also one of the first artists to be produced by The Beatnuts. Between ’92 and 2000, who knows what the hell happened, but the next time I saw him, it was on America’s Most Wanted. He was on the run and accused of murder. He eventually turned himself in and is still locked up today. 
