My Kinda Team

In Billy We Trust

The Billy Beane-era A’s are always the type of team that’s fun to root for. They almost always over-achieve, they cycle the big stars out so there’s always unproven but hugely talented kids. They put together teams of high-valued prospects (Carlos Gonzalez, Rich Harden, Bobby Crosby), passed over veterans (Jack Cust, Justin Duchscherer), and under-acknowledged, over-achieving glue guys (Mark Ellis, Emil Brown). We almost always have good chemistry, good pitching, solid-to-great defense, and enough offense for us to compete. But this year has been extremes.

This is the ultimate A’s team. The Dan Haren and Nick Swisher trades were made when it looked like our farm system was underachieving. Well I don’t know if its simply a case of the new guys’ arrival pushing the older guys harder, but the underachievers are now back on track and we have this shitload of top prospects up and down our system. To put in perspective the turnover the A’s have had in the past season-and-a-half, let’s point out that the A’s were in the ALCS just a year-and-a-half ago. Out of our regular starting 9 from that season, 3 players remain (Ellis, Croz, and Chavy). And Croz missed those playoffs (and most of the 2007 season) with injuries. It was getting to the point where we wondered if he’d ever play a full season, but so far so good this year. He’s been one of our most productive players. Chavy we just got back and into his normal swing, but Jack Hannahan is certainly pushing him for playing time. Ellis, as he has since he’s been here, has remained the team’s constant. It’s great to hear he’s working on a new contract. He is one of the best 2b’s in baseball.

But of the rest, Jason Kendall stopped hitting. We had Zook in AAA, so we traded Kendall for next-to-nothing. Swisher was my favorite player, but we traded him for some GREAT prospects including Ryan Sweeney, who has almost matched Swish’s production and essentially taken his spot in the lineup. Kotsay was a guy who wasn’t as productive as one would think but a great fielder. But we were running out of spots in the OF for him. So we traded him for a couple prospects. One, Joey Devine, is thought to be our closer of the future should we trade Huston Street. Jay Payton had a very good run with us. But we essentially let him go and replaced him with Emil Brown. Brown has actually been Payton with more RBIs. And Frank Thomas, off his monster MVP-worthy season, was let to sign in Toronto, and replaced with Mike Piazza last season. Of course that didn’t work out for either us or him, so now he’s back and on the DL. So we replaced Frank with Piazza, then let Piazza go and replaced him with Mike Sweeney. Then Sweeney wasn’t playing too well and got hurt. So we replaced him with Frank. So essentially, replaced Frank with Frank (and got a 5-time all-star to back him up for, basically, nothing).

Marcos Scutaro was replaced by Jack Hannahan. And as much as i hate to say it (all A’s fans should remember Marcos fondly), that’s an upgrade. Dan Johnson is replaced by, essentially, Sweeney. Johnson sucked. Sweeney’s not much better so far, but he’s an improvement. Bobby Kielty was a fun player to watch. But Carlos Gonzalez kills him on almost every level. CarGon might be the next A’s superstar/MVP-candidate. We’ll call Adam Melhuse and Rob Bowen a split since neither got/gets much playing time. But i will say this, Harden’s best starts have been with Bowen catching.

No one in the league has been better in 2008 than the Duke

As for the staff, it’s hard to say how tremendous our staff is this season. A lot of it is because we might have the two best pitchers in the AL this season. One of them (Harden) I refuse to go into detail about for fear of jinxing him as i did earlier this season. But he’s the typical “golden boy,” a guy that everyone knows is good. And when he’s on, he’s unhittable. Completely. But Duke, no one saw that coming. In 2006, we also had a monster staff. But that staff of Zito/Haren/Blanton/Loaiza/Saarloos (remember Harden kept getting hurt, and Duke was an all-star as a reliever). Our top two this year, are probably both all-stars. In fact, they should be all-stars. That’s if they stay healthy. Would you believe our top two starters have a completely ridiculous combined ERA of 2.06. That’s completely nuts! Duke’s already under 2.00, and the Golden Boy is at 2.15. I’m not going to go into their other dominating stats, but they’ve been pretty easily the best two pitchers in the AL. Greg Smith and Dana Eveland have pitched VERY well on their own.

As great as Haren is/was, what we got for him was even greater

Let’s go back to the 2006 staff though. Zito left and signed the biggest contract for a pitcher in history following his out-dueling Johan Santana in the playoffs. Let’s just say that didn’t work out too well for him or the Giants. Haren had an even better season last year, and ended up starting the All-Star game. He’s having another Cy Young-worthy season this year so far. But boy, we got a TON for him. Brett Anderson is currently our #2/3 prospect (behind Trevor Cahill, who is, essentially, our next Harden and CarGon, whose already in the pros). Dana Eveland and Greg Smith are already our 4th and 5th starters. Both should be in the running for rookie of the year. In fact they’ve been so good, that our #4 starter from last year (Chad Gaudin) has been pushed into the bullpen and our #5 from last year (Lenny DiNardo) has been sent back to AAA. Aaron Cunningham has been an average player in our system, and Chris Carter leads the A Class Pacific League in Home Runs. And of course, they gave us CarGon, who immediately envoked dreams of Griffey and Beltran.

Would i take our rotation over the 06 one? That’s a very close call. I still to this day think that if we’d had Harden in the playoffs, we had a very legit shot at going all the way. A final year of his prime Zito/Harden/Haren/Blanton/Loaiza top 5 is better than anyone had in the league. We would’ve then had Harden pitching against Verlander, and that would’ve made it Haren vs. Rogers and Blanton/Loaiza vs. Bonderman. I feel we can win those matchups. But today, the top 5 of Duke/Harden/Blanton/Smith/Eveland is very very good as well. Obviously Duke and Harden are pitching better than any of our pitchers in 06. Blanton, despite his horrible record, currently has a 4.58 ERA and a 1.4 WHIP. He was also the third gun of that 06 staff when he had a 4.82 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. But the team’s obviously not hitting as well, so we’ll call it a draw at the Blanton spot. Eveland and Smith both have ERAs under 4 and WHIP’s under 1.4. Loaiza and Saarloos were both in the high 4’s and both over 1.4.

In the bullpen, Street was better in 06. He has about the same WHIP but his ERA is almost a point higher this season. But he has more firepower in front of him. Our bullpen top 5 then was Kiki Calero/Gaudin/Duke/Brad Halsey/Joe Kennedy (RIP). This year’s top 5 behind Street are Casilla/Embree/Foulke/Brown/Ziegler with Devine waiting in the wings for Street’s job, should we trade Huston. One could very well make the argument that we have 4 or 5 closers on this team. In fact, we even have a sixth starter in Gaudin who we didn’t even mention. I personally think we have the best bullpen in the league. We probably have the best pitching staff in the league, top to bottom. Consider that we have two dominant starters, two rising stars (both with ERAs under 4), and a solid fifth guy (who was the THIRD guy on our ALCS year), two former closers, a well established closer, one of the top 3 or 4 setup guys in the league (Casilla), a future STAR closer (Devine), and two very intriguing prospects (Brown & Ziegler).

CarGon has A’s fans day dreaming of Griffey and Beltran

But it’s all gonna come down to hitting. And our offense has a ton of holes. When Frank can finally stay healthy, he’ll solve our biggest need (a righty slugger), but we also don’t have a true leadoff guy (i assume CarGon will end up there, though Ryan Sweeney has an outside chance), and we have 4 guys for 3 outfield positions. Basically, our day-to-day lineup goes Suzuki at C, Deric Barton at 1B, Ellis/Croz/Chavy on the left side of the infield, and CarGon/Sweeney/Brown in the OF. Cust then becomes the DH. But the problem is that Jack Hannahan is too good to sit for too long. And we’re getting Frank back at some point. This is where we have to make a choice:

A.) We say, screw it, we’re close enough to make run at it all this year! In this case we’d probably have to get all the vets in there. Frank moves to DH and pushes Cust to LF. CarGon/Sweeney rotate in Center and we keep Brown in Right. Hannahan probably replaces Barton at 1B, but Mike Sweeney gets minutes there too. Essentially it’s a 3-man plateau.

B.) We decide to trade/release Brown We could very well still compete with a Cust/Sweeney/CarGon outfield. Of course, we’d still have to figure out what to do with Hannahan. That leads us to….

C.) We send Barton back to AAA Sacto. We start Hannahan at first and let Mike Sweeney hit lefties. Problem Solved.

D.) We decide to play the kids. In this case we probably unload both Brown and Mike Sweeney. Probably get rid of Embree and/or Foulke as well. Blanton & Street too. Then we’re probably rushing Cahill and/or Anderson up by the end of the year so they get a good look in the pros. Actually, we might do that anyway.

Whatever we do, i have faith in Beane. And I’m sure it’ll be fun to follow.

Working Summer

Ok, so I’m not even gonna front. Carmelo Anthony is my favorite player in the NBA. Period. After Gary Payton (my favorite player ever) fell from being “The Glove” to being “The Mitten” when he left Milwaukee for LA in 2003, I’ve gone back and forth on my favorite players. It was really between T-Mac and AI, but when ‘Melo and Wade jumped into the league, they were the new winners.

He is definitely not without his share of drama.  From the MSG fight to this season’s DUI drama, ‘Melo has had problems surrounding him since he got to the L.  But his game…….the best first step in the league, too big and bulky to be stopped in the lane, and that ever-expanding sweet J.  The only person who can stop Carmelo Anthony, is…..Carmelo Anthony.  We just watched Paul Pierce dominate the NBA Finals, and ‘Melo is an even more skilled version of Pierce (no offense to Pierce, who is quite a great player in his own right).  I loved it when they teamed ‘Melo and AI, cuz that’s two of my favorite players in the league.  (I think right now it’d go: 1. Melo, 2. Wade, 3. T-Mac, 4. Iverson, 5. Kevin Martin/Baron Davis).  He’s been the best player on the National Team for the past two summers, a team with Wade, LeBron, Kobe, and Dwight Howard.  And he’s going to continue that when the US takes home the gold this summer in Beijing.  (I mean seriously, Dwayne Wade is the sixth man!!! A guy who turned into Michael Jordan two summers ago is the SIXTH man!)

That’s not to say there’s not holes in his game.  Defense, Rebounding, passing out of double teams, and keeping his head in the game are all problems.  Rebounding looks like it’s no longer an issue, as he was consistently putting up double figure rebounds towards the end of last season.  He finished the season averaging 7.4 rebounds, and if he starts off this season as hot on the boards, it might be time to move him to power forward.  He’s so bulky he can handle the bigger forwards, and drive right by them even easier on offense.  It might be time to move Kleiza into a starting role at small forward and move ‘Melo to the PF.  Of course the Nuggets have $26 million worth of Power Forwards already, so that might not happen.  Passing out of double teams has been one of his biggest problems.  It is something i notice every time i watch him play.  A lot of times he’ll get stuck and AI will have to race over to save him.  That’s fine when you have someone with as big of a basketball IQ and the pure speed of AI on your team, but he does have 10 other teammates.  And Iverson is a free agent after this upcoming season.  Part of this is George Karl’s fault.  He should try to keep a shooter behind Melo at all times (preferably Chucky Atkins, Kleiza, or JR Smith).  For one, it gives ‘Melo an easy outlet, and for two, it makes it so defenses can’t constantly double him for fear of the three-ball.  Keeping his head into the game is another problem, but probably the least of them.  He can get frustrated easily, but a lot of that is the double teams.  The Nuggets simply need more shooters on the floor.  Atkins is only an allright shooter, and both Kleiza and Smith are subs.  ‘Melo is actually the best shooter on the starting unit.  That’s not going to cut it.  Of course, his biggest problem is defense.

This is where Carmelo should search out Pierce for advice.  Because like Pierce, his team has the talent to compete.  They just need their franchise player to lead the team.  If Carmelo plays defense, the Nuggets play defense.  Plain and simple.  As it is right now, only Camby and Kenyon Martin (who only has one leg) give any real effort on the defensive end.  Starting PG Anthony Carter is a supposedly defensive-oriented pg, who doesn’t play any defense.  I love Iverson, but he hasn’t played any sort of one-on-one defense since is 2001 MVP year.  Camby was Defensive Player of the Year a season ago, and was actually even better last year, but he can’t make up for everyone on this team.

That’s where it’s up to ‘Melo.  He has to set the tone defensively for this team.  The only way this team is going to really compete is if they all give in and play defense.  And just as he is the reason they make the playoffs every year, Melo is also the reason they go out in the first round every year.

Soulja Boy

Soulja Boy responds to Ice T

You know what? I kinda respect what Soulja boy got to say.

He ain’t my cup of tea, but i ain’t a teenager no more. If he’s doin what he got to do, then God bless him cuz there’s a lot of worse shit he could be doin than making an annoyin ass song.

First of all, anyone who considers Soulja Boy hip hop is kidding themselves to start with.

Second of all, if you gonna call out Soulja Boy, shouldnt you call out Dem Franchize Boyz or D4L, who made snap shit big to start with? Or you just callin out Soulja Boy cuz he’s a big name.

But let’s throw Soulja Boy into the hip hop section for a minute.

So many of these older dudes is coming out and saying “so-and so is ruining hip hop.” Or like “this and this is ruining our legacy.” Look, if you don’t like it, don’t buy it. I don’t. But obviously there’s kids out there thats feelin it. And how are rappers gonna be the judgemental ones? 20 years ago it was the Ice Ts and Ice Cubes that was gettin shitted on by the Princes of the world cuz they were “ruining music,” now you gonna get older and turn around and diss the new styles? We was fighting for our music when we was young, isn’t it hypocritical to be shittin on these new cats for doin the same? Thats why i feel like so many of the rappers of our generation got rich and became snobs. A year ago it was everyone shittin on Mims. Mims would be easier to classify as a “rapper” than soulja boy, but the same argument is goes for him too.

Even if we don’t like it, we should accept the new forms of hip hop.

Ice T is a fucking legend. And he should be above this shit.

10 Beats That Made Polow

Hate to keep name droppin this guy, but in honor of his being the star of this summer so far, he’s the first in a series of “10 Beats That Made (Producer).” This is for his 10 most important beats. Not his best, not his biggest hits. But the 10 beats most important to his career, and a bunch of them are currently out:

10. Rich Boy feat. Keri Hilson & Polow Da Don-”Good Things” (2007)

This brought Polow, his songwriting partner, and his protege rapper, altogether for a very radio-friendly ditty about what men and women want in their partners. Though not heavily promoted, the song still took off on a handful of radio stations as Rich Boy’s third single. The song itself had quite the summertime feel with its laidback assortment of drums, claps, and keys. While Keri’s and (maybe) Polow’s back-and-forth chorus is noteworthy, it’s actually the opening bars of Polow’s rap that steals the show: “She wanna know what’s the reason I’m sayin she could be my friend/but baby I’m a player, ain’t no reason to pretend.”

9. Nas feat. Keri Hilson-”Hero” (2008)

This song hasn’t even been officially released yet, but it’s magnitude has the possibility of being huge. If he can bring Nas back to the masses, it might go down as Polow’s greatest accomplishment. The triumphant chimes, synthesizer, and thumping high bass make the song feel like a dramatic re-emergence. It provides perfect background for Nas’ third verse ripping the censorship of his album title, and makes us believe it when he declares “no matter what the CD called/I’m unbeatable yall!” And Nas hopes that’s exactly what it becomes.

8. Chris Brown-”Forever” (2008)

Currently climbing the charts is the lead single from Chris Brown’s re-release. This one is notable because it’s the best execution of the current trend of speeding up the bpm and sythesizer while adding special effects to make songs feel more “techno-ish.” A trend that was really kicked off by Polow in the first place. There are plenty of old ravers who can appreciate the song as well as teenagers who would probably jock anything CB drops at this point. While it’s a complete change of pace from his last hit, “With You,” it works well in establishing CB as an artist – not just a passing fad. Even if he did use that damn Doublemint Commercial in the hook.

7. Fergie feat. Ludacris-”Glamorous” (2007)

This was Polow’s second number one pop single. It was also the biggest hit on Fergie’s smash solo project (Polow also produced the set’s first single, “London Bridge,” which was his first #1 pop single) that has sold over six million copies worldwide thus far. It was the second of three #1’s on the project, and also sold the most iTunes copies of her singles. I didn’t want to throw in both Fergie songs, since they sort of did the same thing for him. The take on Sheila E’s staple “The Glamorous Life,” had perfect timing in an age of MTV/VH1 celeb-reality show craze. Even if i still can’t stand Fergie.

6. Pussycat Dolls feat. Snoop Dogg-”Buttons” (2006)

This song established PSD as a pop force, as opposed to a one-hit (“Dontcha”) wonder. It was a radio monster and top 3 pop single. Polow also tried to save Nicole’s solo project a couple times, producing the first single “Whatever U Like” and remixing the second “Baby Luv,” but it was to no avail. Despite not hitting #1 in the U.S., it did top pop charts in 5 different countries. And of course, the track is based on more synthesizer action, Polow’s trademark.

5. “Runaway Love”-Ludacris feat. Mary J. Blige(2006)

This was a runaway hit pop single (peaking at #2), that continued success for both Luda and Polow. but it’s important to both’s career as it was the first real serious track either did. Critically acclaimed, Luda won a Grammy on the back of this song. Luda tells tales of 3 runaway teenage girls stuck in bad situations. Previous to this song, Luda had always been more of a boastful, comical MC and wasn’t always taken particularly serious. This is the one song where the synthesizer isn’t a major player. The light keys and strings combined with the minimal bass to provide an atmosphere of hopelessness, and Mary J. Blige’s chorus makes the song sound painful without being cheesy. It became the most celebrated song of Luda’s career thus far, and began to un-earth a deeper side of Polow as well. As we would find out later when he put out his first artist on his Zone 4 imprint (Rich Boy).

4. “Love In This Club”-Usher feat. Young Jeezy (2008)

In 2004, Usher dropped the biggest album of his career. Confessions has sold almost 20 million copies worldwide and featured four straight #1 pop songs. But four years later, his follow-up was getting pushed back and the newly-married Usher seemed to have seen his star greatly dimmed. Polow leaked his attempt at a first single, “Love In The Club,” and the project took off. The synthesizer is, again, in full effect. And in a lot of ways, the beat sounds like a slowed down version of Chris Brown’s “Forever” (see above). Elements of Lil Jon’s production on “Lovers & Friends” come and go with the song as well. But Jeezy’s verse really makes the shit sound official: “you ever make love to a thug in the club with his ice on/87 jeans and a fresh pair of nikes on?” The song was so big, the album’s second single was actually “Love In This Club Part 2.”

3. “Throw Some D’s”-Rich Boy feat. Polow Da Don (2006) &
2. “Let’s Get This Paper”-Rich Boy feat. Polow Da Don (2007)

“Good Things” notwithstanding, these are the two most memorable tracks from Rich Boy’s self-titled, debut set. The latter was the classic first single, known as much for another show-stealing Polow verse, as it’s chopped up take on Switchs’ “I Call Your Name.” It signaled an era of a new MC who was here to make noise, and that Rich Boy did. And while the entire album was very triumphant, “Let’s Get This Paper” was the instant stand-out. As the listener got further into the album, the subject manner got more serious. This was brought to a fruition as a pissed off Rich Boy raps about the system and its’ faults. “LGTP” is the epic record that took Rich Boy’s album from a run-of-the-mill trap album with really dope production, to a near-classic. It was such a monster that when Interscope pulled the plug on its’ video, Rich Boy funded it out of his own pocket. The video adds to the moment, shot in black and white with a feeling of desperation. If “Runaway Love” was Polow’s first dabbling into more conscious, momentous music, “Let’s Get This Paper” was the quantum leap he took into the genre.

1. “Promise”-Ciara (2006)

This was the beat that made Polow a star. Although the sample had been used before (including the remix to LL Cool J’s classic “Doin It”), it wasn’t quite used as efficiently as Polow used it. He threw in a slowed down synthesizer and some sound effects to give Ciara’s signature mating call some life. And as much as it did for Polow, it brough Ciara to the next level of stardom. This was the song that began the Beyonce comparisons, and put her on the A-List of R&B chicks.

“The Game Needs Him, plus the people need someone to believe in….”

Ok so it’s not much of a secret to anyone who knows me that Nas is my favorite rapper. That said, i wasn’t particularly heavily anticipating his new album. Sure, I was gonna pick it up on the first day it dropped just like all his albums. But while i liked “Be A Nigger Too,” it wasn’t particularly peaking my interest. And nothing else I’d heard from the album was really noteworthy.

But that changed on Friday. In the morning, “Black President,” a Green Lantern joint from both his album and the Mixtape he worked on with GL leaked. Using a funky Tupac vocal sample, he endorses Obama, questions him, and tries to envision an election day for him. But in the early afternoon, the Polow-produced, Keri Hilson-featured official first single leaked, “Hero.” While we’re getting used to the mellow, jazzy, breakbeat sample-heavy Nas, this was a return to an older form. This is an epic-sounding beat complete with fine-ass Keri singing background and Polow’s signature high bass and chimes.

(Polow, by the way, has been even more on fire since I last wrote about him, knocking Usher back to the top, giving Chris Brown a hit single that’s making ever former raver on earth reminisce, making Nelly relevant again, and now the Nas joint. He really is the star of the summer thus far.)

But back to Nas, he has a very unique chance here to bring light to the game. “Black President” works as the heavily thought-provoking ol’ skool b-side type of track, and “Hero” works as the A-side single-material joint that gives him the best chance to blow up again.

I was gonna write a career retrospective for Nas, but I’ll do that later. The big question: is this Polow joint gonna re-establish Nas as one of the biggest forces in hip hop? Is the other reported “big” song (DJ Khaled-produced) going to pop up soon? Is this the same song as the rumored “My Legacy” joint Polow was raving about? We’ll see…

“Me And You…yo mama and your cousin too…”

(c)

(By the way, no one’s ever gonna convince me that Aquemini was better than Stankonia. To me its: Stankonia, ATLiens, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, Love Below/Speakerboxxx, Aquemini, Idlewood.)

The Most Successful Collaborations Ever

What is a successful collaboration, you ask? It’s different from a “surprising” or “disappointing” collaboration, because those two would be based on quality. Successful is based on the records’ chart/performance success. Most successful collaborations raise the popularity of both artists. And the very most successful collaborations become the biggest hits of each artists’ careers. For example, “Black Republicans” was, in quality, everything i expected (realistically) from a Jay-Z/Nas song. But it wasn’t a single, so it’s not quite fair how to judge how successful it was. On the other hand, “Dilemna” by Nelly/Kelly Rowland, was quite annoying, but did raise the popularity of both artists. Then you have something like “Scream” by Mike/Janet that underperformed by both artists’ standards at the time. No matter how you look at it, that was very unsuccessful. Or it could be that a song helped an artist cross-over into another market. For example, “My Love” with T.I. helped make it ok for the urban audience to like Justin Timberlake.

Now what counts as a “collaboration” to me? To me, the two artists have to be established separate entities. I don’t count “Dilemma,” because no one cared about Kelly when she was in D-Child. It also has to involve two artists that the song helped equally. For example, Kanye West/Lupe Fiasco’s “Touch The Sky” put Lupe on the map, but it hardly did much for Kanye’s sake. Also, Dru Hill/Redman’s “How Deep is Your Love” was Dru’s biggest hit, and technically Redman’s too. But many people actually preferred the version without Redman, so it didn’t do a whole lot for his stock.

Each of these 10 collaborations (actually there’s 12, but you’ll see what I mean) represents a certain type of successful collaborations:

10. The “Underground Legends combine to make each group’s First real Crossover Single” Collaboration

Three Six Mafia, Eightball & MJG, & Young Buck-”Stay Fly” (from Three Six Mafia’s 2005 The Most Known Unknown)

In Memphis for years, hip hop was much more of an underground scene. There weren’t any breakout artists, although there were plenty of names. Most hip hop heads knew of Eightball & MJG from their gold 1995 release On Top Of The World. While they’d had plenty of regional hits, they’d never quite had a crossover radio single. The closest they’d come was their appearance on Tela’s 1997 stripper’s anthem “Sho Nuff.” They were one of the classic independant, word-of-mouth artists in the mid-to-late-90’s, who consistently sold records without hit singles. Three Six was sort of the opposite. They’d been around just as long, but were more of singles artists. They were known for having catchy singles like “Tear Da Club Up” and “Sippin On Some Syrup,” whose topics were too hardcore for major audiences. They were two of hip-hop’s best kept secrets for years and, despite being from the same hometown, didn’t collaborate until 2004. Then they apparently got along so well, they recorded the lead single from Three Six’s next release, and grabbed fellow Memphis-local and G Unit Soldier, Young Buck to record a weed anthem. Thus “Stay Fly” was born. A song so undeniably hot, even the purists who’d hated on Three Six for a decade, couldn’t deny its’ firepower. The chorus is quite simple, but effectively catchy. Three Six delivers the light-hearted catchy lyrics, with DJ Paul spittin the memorable “It’s Purple-purp-purple-purp-purple, and swallow it down with the yurple-yip-yurple-yip-yurple” and Crunchy Black’s loveletter to Mary Jane: What’s up Mary! How you doing?
“Mary Jane stanky nigga/Since I have met you girl you ruined my brain (ruined my brain)/You stole my heart (You stole my heart)/Right from the start (Right from the start)/So I broke you down lil mama….” But it’s MJG who comes in at the end to steal the show: “MJ gonna sprinkle in some of that/super incredible, have a nigga runnin back…”

9. The “Upstart R&B singer hits it big with some help from a huge buzz rapper also lookin to crossover”

Lloyd & Lil Wayne-”You” (from Lloyd’s 2007 Street Love)
On the surface, it may seem like Wayne didn’t need Lloyd. And that may be true. But Wayne needed this song as much as Lloyd did. Sure he’s gone on to have an even bigger hit with “Lollipop,” but this was his real breakthrough at radio. And as much as Lloyd and Wayne needed the single as individual artists, Lloyd’s label Murder Inc, needed this song the most. The Inc was losing a one-sided war to G Unit. They hadn’t had a real smash since 50 had taken over urban music in 2003. Ja was down, Ashanti was doing her own thing, and Irv was searching for answers. Lloyd had tasted a little success previously with his duet with Ashanti, “Southside,” but still this single seemed to come out of nowhere. In fact it began its’ stay in late summer of 2006 as a mixtape song. Slowly, it just kept getting bigger and bigger until it became the second most played song on urban radio in 2007. Weezy needed to crossover though. He was riding a buzz that had few peers in hip hop history. Starting with “Go DJ” through The Carter 2 and up into “Stuntin With My Daddy” and the Like Father Like Son album. But those two singles were all the radio had ever given him love for. “You” really took his buzz to the next level. Lloyd followed it up with another song that was almost as big in “Get It Shawty.” And the two have since collaborated again on the lead single to Lloyd’s third album, “Girls All Around The World.”

8. The “Two R&B B-List R&B Stars Make A Timeless Classic”

Eric Benet & Tamia-”Spend My Life With You” (from Eric Benet’s 1999 A Day In The Life)

How appropriate is it that two R&B singers known better for who they’re married to (or in Benet’s case, were married to) than their own profession, come together for a wedding song that turns into each’s biggest hit? Benet had a previous album that went un-noticed by the general public. In 1999, he returned with a duet with Faith Evans, “Georgie Porgy,” which was a top 15 R&B hit. Tamia had a pair of Top 40 singles the year before (including “So Into You,” which was a top 10 R&B hit). But for each of them, “Spend My Life” was their only #1 R&B song. Tamia, for a little bit, got out of her husband (Grant Hill)’s shadow. The song helped Eric hook up with Halle Berry, whose shadow he would never escape, even after their divorce in 2004. Neither have done much since, with Tamia releasing a couple more heavily-slept-on albums and Benet finally releasing a third after his divorce with Berry.

7. The “Neo Soul Goddess Grabs her Latest Rapper-Boyfriend For a Big Comeback Song”

Erykah Badu & Common-”Love Of My Life” (from the 2002 Brown Sugar Soundtrack)

This was not Erykah’s biggest single. In fact, if not for the strange 90’s trend of not releasing actual singles for big songs, it probably would have been her fifth R&B #1 (as it was it was her third). But it carried a movie (that was essentially a re-hash of Love & Basketball, just about hip hop instead of basketball). It was Common’s biggest hit single, but not his most memorable. That would be “I Used To Love her” which triggered a set of tribute-to-hip hop singles, to which this was the third and final installment. It established a couple of things we already suspected: 1.) Erykah was a bonafide superstar at that point, and 2.) Common had a large impact on the current crop of purist-rappers. A couple of years later, Common got down with Kanye West and started selling more records than ever before (though he never had another real hit single) and Erykah dropped a new album (to follow this single) before completely disappearing until earlier this year. Erykah was the black sheep of the Erykah/Lauryn/Alicia soul diva triangle. She tasted success, but not on the level of her the other two. She was the most “artsy” of the trio. But she may have had the most impact. And this song was the first acknowledgement, from the R&B scene, of the impact of 90’s hip hop which has since become a sort of cult phenomenon. Tons of people loved this song because it stated what many felt, but no one had said: Who doesn’t love 90’s hip hop?

6. The “Anti-crossover rapper and the anti-crossover singer combine to Crossover”

Young Jeezy & Akon-”Soul Survivor” (from Jeezy’s 2005 Thug Motivation 101: Let’s Get It)
Sometimes crossing over is inevitable. Ever since EPMD & Public Enemy, rappers have been making songs about not crossing over……that still managed to crossover. Young Jeezy and Akon are not alone in this battle. But they had probably the most successful crossover. Jeezy was already becoming a street-mixtape staple. Everything he lacked (from a purist’s sense) in lyrics, he provided in swagger and a catchy delivery. His thing was, the streets will keep him alive until the mainstream has to come to him. He was the new DMX, a rapper whose street following seemed so large, MTV had to notice. Akon was the new street-friendly singer. He’d done guest spots for the grimiest rappers like Styles P and the Beatnuts. He had quite possibly the most street-friendly hit single of all-time (2004’s “Locked Up”) and sold 2 million records off of his debut. But after this single, they both became superstars. Perhaps the most street-credible record to ever top the R&B charts, the tune also found itself in the Billboard Hot 100 top 5. It was the second single to Jeezy’s double platinum debut, the jump off that led to Akon’s four million selling sophmore album, and spent four weeks atop the R&B charts.

5. The Rappa Ternt Sanga Helps The Street Rapper Into An All-Time Great

Nas & Lauryn Hill-”If I Ruled The World”(From Nas’ 1996 It Was Written.)

In 1994, Nas dropped Illmatic, arguably the best hip hop album ever released, and consequently helped out the Fugees by bringing them on tour to open up for him. A year later, Biggie had blown up and people were wondering how Nas would respond, given their comparisons in various media. Another year later, the Fugees are the biggest artists on the planet, and Lauryn is the biggest star. Nas hooks up with the Puffy-esque Trackmasterz, gets old pal Lauryn on the hook, and makes history. Due to the earlier-mentioned annoying habit of 90’s labels not releasing big songs as actual singles, it’s difficult to gauge this song by looking at the charts. It did chart as an airplay-only and, later, maxi single. But it wasn’t even the highest charting song on the album. But it was definitely the most memorable. It was the song that really introduced the world to Nas Escobar, and made him a superstar. The lead single off of his double platinum sophmore album also helped Lauryn establish herself away from the Fugees, which at the time didn’t seem like a big deal. She was, after all, the star of the Fugees. But as the group began to fall apart, Wyclef hit a double platinum solo album the following year, and people started to wonder if Lauryn had really been the star of the group. Those questions were famously answered another year later with Lauryn’s diamond-plus worldwide debut solo album. Of course, she then went crazy, disappeared, and popped back up with a strange look and ever stranger quotes. Nas famously continued to be popular. He released another multi-platinum album, followed by a platinum album both in 1999. He’s had countless hit singles since but “If I Ruled The World” remained his signature song until 2002’s “One Mic.” He is currently gearing up for his ninth, currently untitled, studio album. All of the previous eight have gone at least platinum.

4. The “Two R&B/Pop Divas Channel Mutual Dislike into Smash Single”

Brandy & Monica-”The Boy Is Mine” (From Brandy’s 1998 Never Say Never and Monica’s 1998 The Boy Is Mine

In the mid-90’s there was a trio of teenage R&B starletts that dominated R&B radio: Aaliyah, Brandy, & Monica. Each had countless number one songs, but it was when the latter two decided to collaborate that history was really made. The Rodney Jerkins-produced “The Boy Is Mine,” was the lead single to both of their second albums. It spent 7 weeks at number one on the R&B charts, and led to each album going multi platinum. What made the song even more memorable was the theory that the two girls couldn’t stand each other. There were rumors spreading like wildfire that when the two performed the song at that year’s MTV Music Video Awards, they had gotten into catfights at every interval. Nevertheless the song was incredibly successful. It reached number one in at least 5 countries, went gold in 7 countries, platinum in 3, and sold two million copies in the U.S. alone. Brandy had 4 more singles off of her album (including another #1 pop hit in “Have You Ever”), before eventually seeing her star fade into obscurity into the next decade. For Monica it was the first of three straight pop #1s (“The First Night” and “Angel Of Mine” followed) before also fading into obscurity. Aaliyah, the rival who did not appear on the song, actually had the most success afterwards before tragically dying while still at her peak in 2002.

4. The “Pop Star Needs An Urban Market”

Justin Timberlake & T.I.-”My Love” (from JT’s 2006 FutureSex & LoveSounds) &
Mariah Carey & Ol’ Dirty Bastard-”Fantasy Remix (From MC’s 1995 Daydream)

I grouped these two together as they accomplished essentially the same thing. Both JT and MC were white popstars attempting to make black music. They both took a rap/pop producer and threw a street credible rapper, in attempts to crossover into the urban audience. In Mariah’s case she had Puff remix her newest single, and threw ODB on the remix. In JT’s case, Timbaland had produced the majority of the album, and urban radio was in love with T.I. So throwing him on the track made sense as it also gave T.I. his first real pop audience recognition. While both singles were huge in both markets, Mariah’s really lifted her into a black-pop radio mainstay, while JT is still on the outside looking in. On the other hand, T.I. became a much more accepted rapper in the mainstream media, whereas “Fantasy” didn’t quite have much of a significance on ODB’s career.

2. The “Hottest R&B Singer of the Moment + Hottest Rapper of the Moment + Hottest Producer Of The Moment= Club/Radio Staple”

R. Kelly & Jay-Z-”Fiesta (Remix)” (from R. Kelly’s 2001 TP-2.com)
Usher, Ludacris, & Lil Jon-”Yeah” (from Usher’s 2004 Confessions)

These two songs really started the formula that is all over today’s radio. It is important to acknowledge both records because the Kellz & Hov record was really the first, and the Ursh & Luda joint was probably the most successful. Kellz and Ursh are the most important R&B dudes of the past decade. They, in fact, collaborated together on last year’s dud “Same Girl.” In 2001, Hov was hyping up what would be the best album of his career. He was also in the middle of a subliminal battle that would eventually become the biggest battle in Hip Hop History with fellow New Yorker Nas. It helped that his verse on “Fiesta” stayed in radio rotation all summer. In 2004, Luda was in the middle of a battle for supremacy in his hometown of Atlanta. He was the reigning champion, but upstart rival T.I. was giving him a serious run for his money, and would eventually take him over. But “Yeah” showed everyone that, at that time, he was much bigger than T.I.’s constant bickering and the subliminal shots they were taking at each other. For Trackmasterz, “Fiesta” was their last big hit. And thus far, “Yeah” was Lil Jon’s last big hit to date.

1. The “Biggest R&B Group In History + Biggest R&B Producer in History = The Biggest Single In History”

Boyz II Men (Produced and Co-Written by Babyface)-”End Of The Road” (From The 1992 Boomerang Soundtrack)

In 1991, Boyz II Men reigned supreme. Their debut album Cooleyhighharmony was a smash hit that eventually would sell 9 million copies in the U.S. alone. Babyface was a monster as an artist, but even moreso as a producer. He dominated R&B like no one in history. He had just released the first album from TLC on his new label, and he was asked to be in charge of the soundtrack for Eddie Murphy’s 1992 flick Boomerang. He introduced the world to Toni Braxton, and teamed up with P.M. Dawn for a top 3 smash, but it was the lead single with Boyz II Men that made history. The song spent 13 weeks as the #1 song in the country, which, at the time, was a record. Whitney Houston broke their record later in the year, before Boyz tied it (with another Babyface-produced tune: “I’ll Make Love To You”), and with the help of Mariah Carey, eventually broke it (“One Sweet Day”) .

“One Sweet Day,” incidentally was a bigger single for both Boyz and MC than the ones I listed. It could have easily topped this list and still is, arguably, the most successful single of all-time. I did not include it because

“One Sweet Day” is one of the corniest songs I’ve ever heard. Period.