New Jack Swing

[efunk_adelic]

A new dance term came about during the late 80's and carried over to the early 90's. What were your favorites during this time....


Guy - Groove Me
Johnny Gill - Rub You The Right Way

are a couple of my favorites...

[K-Bee]

great topic! :D

I've got loads of favorites. I reckon about 15-20% of my collection consist og New Jack Swing jams!
Sticking to the '87-'90, here are some of them.

Guy - Her
Kieth Sweat - I Want Her
Johnny Kemp - Just Got Paid
Redhead Kingpin & The FBI - Do The Right Thing
Wreckss N Effect - Juicy
Today - Why U Gettin' Funky On Me
Heavy D & The Boyz - We Got Our Own Thang
Al B. Sure! - Off On Your Own Girl

More will follow....

[paul]

Hey efunk.
Interesting topic.
I'm familiar with this category but it seems short lived and I'm even less sure about it's definition than disco.
Anyway, I'll echo your appreciation for "Rub You The Right Way" and K-Bee's "Off On Your Own Girl." My addition if it falls in the category is Guy's "You Can Call Me Crazy."

[efunk_adelic]

Hey efunk.
Interesting topic.
I'm familiar with this category but it seems short lived and I'm even less sure about it's definition than disco.
Anyway, I'll echo your appreciation for "Rub You The Right Way" and K-Bee's "Off On Your Own Girl." My addition if it falls in the category is Guy's "You Can Call Me Crazy."

I wouldn't even call it disco to begin with... it was more of the R&B vein if you ask me. I was thinking more or less in a dj's perspective when mixing the records together. Now K-Bee could list a whole bunch of stuff that would be "mixable"

I believe the group "Guy" Groove Me , Keith Sweat's "I Want Her" really got things going with this new type of music. This was part of the last days for me in the clubs before I called it quits for good, and became a mobile jock.

We rarely talk about mid 80's music.... somebody start a thread on the house music on 116-126 BPM's.

[K-Bee]

I guess most of the credit for creating the New Jack Swing must go to Teddy Riley.
He started mixing up r&b harmonies and sparse hip-hop beats around 1986-87. A very early example af what was to become New jack Swing can be found on Kool Mo Dee's "How ya like Me Now" album.
Efunk: you're right. Both "I Want Her" and "groove me" are genre defining moments. Funnily enough, but cuts were produced by Teddy Riley.

A slightly more commercial (and early on) way more succesfull take on the style were the early productions by LA & Babyface for artists like Bobby Brown, Cherrelle, Pebbles and Shalamar (their 1987 "Circumstancial Evidence" album).

Around 1991 the new jack swing were firmly established on the r&b music scene and just about everybody adapted the sound....even old groups like The Temptations and The O'jays.
I'd say the New jack Swing sound kinda disappeared around 1994 und quickly turned into the laid back and formularized "bedroom music" we know today (think: K-Ci & Jojo, Public Announcement, Liberty X, Joe, 702 and a whole lot of others).

[discodoc]

Unfortunately, African Americans quit making dance music (by and large) with the influx of Gangsta Rap, right around '94. Think about the time when MC Hammer tried to "go gangsta." Anyway, I did like this kind of music. Johnny Kemp & Gill were both very good. I really liked a song by Ralph Tresvant called "Money Cant Buy Me Love." Many many others, but to be honest, it is hard to be definitive about what would qualify as "new jack swing" because it seemed to me that it was just synonymous w/ R&B of the day. Back when African Americans still did dance music (**sigh**)