Fast forward a bit. In 1987, I heard a song that I believe was the first official NJS record (although I found out in recent years a very young Teddy worked on Doug E. Fresh’s “The Show!!”) I heard Johnny Kemp’s “Just Got Paid.” (Editor’s note: Although the actual release date of Keith Sweat’s “I Want Her” in 1987 predates Johnny Kemp’s “Just Got Paid” in 1988, all those I talk to agree: we heard “Just Got Paid” on the radio first…what an anomaly!) At any rate, I recall “Just Got Paid.” Something about that record was different…just different. The constant bass drum and 808 bass combo, the counter-snares, the orchestra hits, the tempo was much brisker, Johnny Kemp’s infectious vocals (reminds you of Steve Arrington a bit….eh?) Although it had a pop appeal, something about it had a definitive urban feel. It felt like a new wave of R&B had come.

Before I could really digest what was happening, Keith Sweat’s “I Want Her” dropped. The rest, as they say, is history. I can’t tell you how long “I Want Her” stayed on the charts, but I can tell you that song was everywhere…I mean everywhere! In the clubs, on people’s radios, in people’s cars, walkmans, etc. It was monstrous. “I Want Her” is classic swing: A definite melody, but with killer drum beats. Check out the liner notes on the Make It Last Forever LP, Keith himself even jokes: “The bass and snare loud enough?” He was referring to Marlon “Marley Marl” Williams, the supa-produca from Queens, NY who also had a major hand in changing the sonic landscape of how hip-hop was produced and how it sounded. I strongly direct the reader to check out: here.

Imagine: the writing, performing and production of an R&B pioneer (Teddy & Aaron), the old school drawl and swagger of the lead vocalist (Keith Sweat) and the mixing and post-production of a hip-hop icon! Can you see the “best of all worlds” coming together?

After that, I recall Al B. Sure! and his In Effect Mode, Bobby Brown’s Don’t Be Cruel and Guy’s self titled LP debuts. The whole sonic landscape of R&B had changed, and we all could feel it. (Note: I recall hearing “Groove Me” by Guy for the first time…thinking it was the Gap Band!) New Jack Swing had done what no other music had: it took the industrial strength of the hip-hop beats and blended them with the soul and passion of adult contemporary R&B.

For example: you could take Al B. Sure’s “Off On Your Own Girl” and drop all musical instrumentation except the drum track, and find it very easy to rap to. In fact, most New Jack Swing records had a rap somewhere in the section of the song, whether at the beginning or middle. “Off On Your Own Girl” is a perfect example. While Al B. Sure was no “MC,” the style of music and production just begged for hip-hop skillz. Listen to his “rap” in the middle of the song. Conversely, if you dropped the drum track on “Off On Your Own Girl,” you have a “standard” R&B song and melody structure.

Again, I recall New Jack Swing as bringing the best of both worlds together. R&B singers were on hip-hop records (i.e. Heavy D’s “Somebody For Me”) and rappers were on R&B records (how ‘bout that remix of Al B. Sure’s “If I’m Not Your Lover” with Slick Rick?) Hundreds of more examples could be cited, but point taken.

Another reason I believe New Jack Swing could and should be classified as its own era is because you had a lot of non-NJS artists doing NJS sounding or NJS produced records. For instance, James Ingram “It’s Real,” Stevie Wonder…the Jungle Fever soundtrack is very NJS inspired, so was Quincy Jones’ Back On The Block, Boy George’s “Don’t Take My Mind On A Trip,” Prince’s Diamonds & Pearls, Stephanie Mills, The Gap Band’s Round Trip, (you gotta get Charlie Wilson’s first solo cd called You Turn My Life Around…awesome!), and Michael Jackson’s outstanding LP, Dangerous. Pause there. Dangerous did not sell as well as “Bad,” its predecessor, but man, is there a comparison between “Dirty Diana” & “Remember The Time?” These were and are dominant artists in their own right, yet (almost like disco did in the 70’s) if you didn’t have the sound that was NJS flavored or produced, you may not have had a hit! Honorable mention to gospel artists Hezekiah Walker and The Winans, who had NJS flavored/produced cd’s as well…whoops! I forgot to mention “CD’s!” Since old school hip hop relied mostly on vinyl, the production and sound values maintained that “street” sound, i.e., static in the records, etc. NJS changed that a bit. NJS tended to have a cleaner, fresher production sound, of course with the hip-hop elements, but with a “brighter” production value: Guy’s “Groove Me” is a textbook example of that. The “street” elements are there, but with the “production values” of a Michael Jackson lp…clean, and very dynamic sounding. Thus, I saw the rise of CD purchases vs. vinyl. As a DJ at the time, it was heartbreaking to see vinyl waning.

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