A funny thing happened on the way to …
So on the way home from grabbing a late bite to eat, my buddy Jamaal an I get to racking our brains trying to identify a song I hear almost every night at work on the BJs music network (I dunno what u call the music service that they pump into these stores). It’s a hip hop track with female lead and featuring a rap track by Left Eye – which my buddy insists I need to stop repeating but that’s the only piece of info I know definitively. Turns out it’s a remix version of “808″ by Blaque … But I digress.
The true puzzle of the evening was trying to identify the Luther Vandross sample used in Janet Jackson’s 2001 hit “All For You”. It played during dinner at TGI FRIDAYS and we couldn’t believe that two R&B junkies like ourselves couldn’t remember it.
Being net junkies, Jamaal jumps on wikipedia (cause I know iTunes won’t tell me) and discovers the shocker of shockers.
(Janet Jackson fans better sit down for this.). I’m gonna quote it here before you scream blasphemy …
“All for You” is a song by American R&B-pop singer Janet Jackson from her seventh studio album, All for You (2001). Released as the album’s lead single in March 2001, the song went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks,[1] and also reached the top five and the top ten of the majority of the charts. “All for You” remains Jackson’s last Hot 100 number-one single so far.
Read that last line again please …
I’ll wait … …. …… …….
Ok enough already. Shocked??? We certainly were. Here it is again: “All for You” remains Jackson’s last Hot 100 number-one single so far. That was 2001 – eight years ago for the arithmetic-ly impaired. I don’t mean to dis on the girl but clearly poor Ms Damita Jo (after 20 Y.O. in the industry) has lost her Discipline. Coincidentally, “All For You” was the last Janet cd I actually paid for.
I’ve been long saying she’s off her game. She hit puberty on vinyl several years back and hasnt stopped playing with herself ever since. Clearly she didn’t listen to her friend on Velvet Rope … “Your coochie gon’ swell up and fall apart”. Clearly it hasn’t yet but her career is certainly questionable.
If I ever needed proof that she’s fading into irrelevance, this certainly does it. If this isn’t true then by all means please correct me AND wikipedia.
Incidentally, the answer to the question of the evening:
The song is based upon a sample from Change’s 1980 song “The Glow of Love”, which featured lead vocals by Luther Vandross.
You’re right, and when you’re right, you’re right. But reaching #1 on the Hot 100 is no easy feat. A lot of artists, both old and new have barely, if ever, been in that position. Not to defend her, because I do agree that her music has deteriorated consistently since Velvet Rope. And I definitely do agree that she needs to keep her vajayjay out of the recording studio and stop singing about moistness and blow jobs and cootersplosions. But yeah, reaching #1 is tough, and staying there is even tougher.
I’m sure we’re gonna be seeing a mad scramble to reach that position by Whitney, Mariah and Madonna, who all have new albums coming out in the next few months, and who are all pretty much veterans in the music industry, just like Janet.
I have the new Whitney … its short and its kinda sad because it has flourishes of the old Whitney but the pipes just aren’t where they used to be.
As always, THANK U for the luv … I can always depend on you to read my posts and share your comments.
Oh, and these are her stats since “All For You”:
# ‘All For You’ (2001) #1 Pop, #1 R&B
# ‘Someone To Call My Lover’ (2001) #3 Pop, #11 R&B
# ‘Son of a Gun’ (2001) #28 Pop, #26 R&B
# ‘Feel It Boy’ (w/Beenie Man) (2002) #28 Pop, #14 Rap
# ‘Just a Little While’ (2004) #45 Pop
# ‘I Want You’ (2004) #57 Pop, #18 R&B
# ‘All Nite (Don’t Stop)’ (2004) #90 R&B
So she has broken into the top 100 since then, just not #1. Nothing from “Discipline” on the list, though.
Ok, so this is from wikipedia:
Four singles were released from the album; the first, “Feedback”, was released as a digital download in December 2007. The song reached number nineteen on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Jackson’s best-charting single since 2001’s “Someone to Call My Lover”. [Discipline] debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, becoming her sixth to top the chart.
I stand corrected. I miss Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam, though.
I agree with pricolation. It is SO hard to get to Number 1, and usually the songs that do have no substance anyway. The song has to be in CONTINUOUS rotation on the airwaves and SO many people have to like it for it to even get close to #1. I can’t say that Janet’s music has been TERRIBLE, but it’s kinda dated sometimes…and then people look at the fact that this old-assed lady is still singing about her cooch? Wow…
LOL.
You had me LAUGHING at that 808 reference. LOL. I did say exactly that…stop repeating it. LOL. But, for the record, it’s not Left Eye that does the rap…it’s group member Natina that does it.