New jack your body

Just because Black History Month is over, it doesn't mean we can't get down to some new jack swing.

Or even new jack seesaw. Right?

Whatever. Here's a mix:

Jack 'n Jill

1. The Boys - Dial My Heart (12" Heart Version)
2. New Edition - If It Isn't Love
3. Bobby Brown - Every Little Step (Dance...Ya Know It! Remix)
4. SWV - I'm So Into You (Extended Version)
5. BLACKstreet - Booti Call
6. Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up
7. T.C.F. featuring Asia Fernandez - If You Wanna Sex Me Up (Regular Mix)
8. Jade - Don't Walk Away
9. Zhané - Hey Mr. DJ
10. Jeff Redd - You Called & Told Me (Radio Version)
11. En Vogue - Lies (Avant Garde Extended Version)
12. Michel'le - No More Lies (Extended Dance Mix)
13. Bell Biv Devoe - Poison (Club MTV Party to Go Mix)
14. Johnny Gill - Rub You the Right Way
15. Janet Jackson - Alright (12" R&B Mix featuring Heavy D)
16. Guy - D-O-G Me Out (Mike Nice Mix)
17. Bobby Brown - Get Away (Shock G's Get Away)
18. TLC - Hat 2 da Back (Extended Remix)
19. Tené Williams - Give Him a Love He Can Feel (12" Extended Love Mix)

Some notes on the mix and the genre follow.

• I limited myself only to vinyl in my collection for this mix (which I made by hand, as usual). This means that it's a weird mishmash of decided new jack (and jill -- cannot forget jill) classics and obscurities (Tené Williams never got her due, I tell ya). It also means that Johnny Kemp's "Just Got Paid" had no chance of making the cut, since I don't own it. Bill says that not including "Just Got Paid" on a new jack swing mix is sacrilege. I tend to agree, but what can you do? No money in my pocket.
• This is the first mix I've made of stuff that isn't pure dance music (i.e. it isn't house, disco or freestyle, which really make up the bulk of my vinyl collection). That said, part of what I love about new jack swing and what I miss about late '80s/early '90s R&B and hip-hop in general is that dancey was the de facto law. I miss that. I hate that the last dancey R&B hit was Destiny's Child's "Lose My Breath." I hate that we live in the shadow of "Lean Back." It's OK to dance guys: it's supposed to indicate how well you fuck. Why are you afraid of showing that?
• Mixing this stuff from vinyl like I do (which is to say by beatmatching and keeping quick cuts to a minimum, because I'm dumb and stubborn like that) without doubles of records to help stretch things out is a bitch -- a few times, there were only about 8 bars of music before the vocal started, which meant I had to drop a lot of these songs in as soon as they started. Which means that the mix sometimes sounds like shit. I always like to say that this imperfection adds personality to a mix, but it might be wishful thinking -- the bumps might be more warts than moles.
• Even if it isn't dance music-dance music, I find that this mix is fine to work out to, if you're aerobically inclined. The BPM steadily increases, which helps keep you going. And since no music is going to match your strides on the treadmill beat-for-beat, anyway (unless you're into gabber), bouncey, vocal stuff of even a brisk speed is as good as stuff that's just really moderately faster (like house and disco). Let this help you get in shape for spring so that Gumby 'do you know you wanna rock this summer won't look like it's sitting on top of a mound of clay.
• Bobby Brown is the only performer to have two songs on this mix. This is because he's the king of R&Beeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
• They are so fine, so fine, so fine, blow my mind . . .
• How far civilization has come can be measured via the guest rap (by one Latesha) on En Vogue's "Lies": "We lie about our hair and we know we got a weave." Who lies about that anymore? Shit, last I checked people weren't even embarrassed to be sporting wigs. Bravo, society!
• I know people think of Color Me Badd's "I Wanna Sex You Up" as the height of wackness, but before the video revealed how lame they were (two George Michaels, one Terrence Trent D'arby-Milli Vanilli hybrid and a Kenny G do not make a convincing "urban" quartet) they were just a bunch of faceless, smooth crooners on the New Jack City soundtrack. Plus, I really couldn't resist including this one, if only because it meant that I could immediately follow it with T.C.F.'s ridiculous answer record. (I should also apologize here for the two skips in "I Wanna Sex You Up." They hurt, I know.)
• And finally, a trilogy of observations about Johnny Gill:

1. "Magic hands"?!?!
2. He had (has?) gay eyes:
3. You can see here that the vinyl that I found used last year is signed:

Virgil?

I seriously doubt that the signature is legit, but wouldn't it be awesome if it were? It would totally clear up the mystery of his sexuality (it's so ambiguous! I mean, really, is he or isn't he?). But even if it isn't, I love the fact that someone made this joke. It makes me feel less alone.

Comments

[Randi]

I think I'm in love. You are the only other white person under 30 who gets it. Wait. I'm making a lot of assumptions here.
Where's Brownstone? Does that count? Also, I go 18 dummy for Jah-Nay's "Groove Thang." OOohhh, Va-J-J.

Hey, and does BLACKstreet "Booti Call" use the same sample as Tribe's "Hot Sex"?

[tia]

bill is wrong - any new jack swing mix without al b. sure! is sacrilege. but thank you thank you for this mix! somewhere at home we have a tene williams cassingle. wasn't she howard hewitt's goddaughter or something like that? and my mom LOVES "you called and told me". we got her the cassingle one christmas and she played it back to back during car trips.

[Neha]

This mix is so exciting, you have a wicked collection! I miss the lack of dancey nowadays too. Also, that's a really apt description of Color Me Badd...*throws bra*

[B]

Where's the INOJ?

[brandy]

I just watched a british series called the History of Soul(or something like that) and when they had a program about New Jack Swing...I didnt even know thats what it was called...I was in grade 5-6 when it was big.

[Kia]

Did I really see THE BOYS on this mix? Holy hell... I haven't heard them since 1987.

[Phil]

Today your name is not Rich..it's Raekwon!! You have taken me way back!! These young kids nowadays wouldn't even appreciate this.

And can I just say....JEFF REDD!! I STILL BUMP THAT SONG TODAY!!

All I keep hearing in my head now is "Rump Shaker" by Wrecks-n-Effect (quiet as kept, a good friend of mine, who is a comedienne is in that video shakin it up in the water).

On a side note, you have the skill to find the most miscellaneous things, can you uncover a copy of the video "Gangsta B*tch" by Apache? Long story..will explain if you find it.

Thanks and much love for this post!!

[erica]

two George Michaels, one Terrence Trent D'arby-Milli Vanilli hybrid and a Kenny G ....I'm still laughing my ass off of that.
Rich thanks for the mix. Gottdamn, this takes me back to like junior high! The Boys! My mother totally had that on cassette and she used to bump in the car radio on the way back from church. No complaints: even without Al B. Sure, Troop, or Hi-5.
Love love. Much love.

[DexstarG]

YO, Rich -- my favorite Jam from Back then would be "Teddy's Jam" pt2 by GUY.. 1 & 3 were cool, but pt2 is the shyt.

I still know every Drum beat and sample and soundbite in that mix (yup yup)--

Oh! that and "Groove Me" --

[JH]

I used to love new jack! I shoplifted that Boys cassingle from Fishers Big Wheel back in the day! (I was fifteen, too - old enough to know better.) Gangsta rap kinda changed the whole r&b scene, took away the joy and replaced it with something else. Hardness? (Not the good kind.) I miss the dancey-ness, too. Anyway, you have dialed my heart with this mix.

[Eric]

This is the mix I always knew was in the coming.

For whatever reason, I've come to the conclusion over the last few months that "Every Little Step" was every bit as great as Eddie Winslow claimed.

[smitty]

i second the need of "groove thang"!

It's a groooove thang, it's got a funky swaang

[nOva]

Kudos on the second bulletpoint.

Rich, this mix is another reason why I am madly in love with you. Let's kill each other's bfs and flee to Amsterdam, 'k?

[nOva]

Additionally, I've been wanting to hear these SWV and TLC remixes for f-ing YEARS!!!!!

You really dug in the crates this time, holmes.

[Scott]

Dude, you are hilarious! Even though I don't know these songs, you still seem to make me laugh.

Do you think you can do a commentary on the Disney movie "High School Musical?"

[Jefferson]

If there were a Part 2, may I suggest
LaDae's "Party Tonight"
Christopher Williams' "Every Little Thing U Do"
Shanice's "It's for You"
and Kym Syms' "Too Blind to See It" (Silk Hurley Mix)--but we're veering off the NJS path)

Being 28 now and having grown up in farmland PA, I listened to SWV incessantly in junior high (onward) -- thank you for the recent SWV mentions. Nice to see them still appreciated.

"Sing it to 'em CoCo"

[Quel]

Dial My Heart!!!! I forgot all about The Boys!

Tight mix.

[marlo_girl]

lol at whoever said your name is raekwon. and i love your mixes. i put one on my ipod (your 90s mix that had all the house on it) and i was pod sharing with a friend of mine... she almost peed herself with glee singing along with kym simms. all hail rich! can i hire you to DJ my birthday party? pretty please?

[honey]

What about Jeff Redd's "I found loving"
Keith Sweat-I want Her
Guy-Groove Me (in fact everything from that first Guy cd could be included)
BBD-Poison
Heavy D& the Boyz-Someone to Love Me for Me
Father MC-Treat Em Like U Wanna Be Treated

Man I could go on and on....one time for the New Jack Swing...

[Sha]

How can i get this mix for my ipod..pleaseeeeeeeeeeee
email it or usent it to me

[red]

thank you thank you THANK YOU for posting this!! Brilliance.

[nate]

This mix is awesome and has me digging through all my old tapes and 12"s. I've been listening my "Lies" cassingle over and over. Your mixes are great and your 90's house mix was almost identical to a playlist I had made awhile back. I have to check you out whenever you spin again.

[eliot]

Help me:

"At night, I think of you / I want / To be your lady / Baby" is Inoj, yes? Because the only version I could find anywhere was by a rap group called The Diplomats, and they mention Ruben Studdard which proves that, obviously, they're simply sampling the original hook.

HELP ME! I NEED THAT SONG!

[Neha]

Eliot - That's Ghost Town DJs: My Boo, which you can find on Rich's sexcellent freestyle mix.

I swear I'm not getting paid to write this! I'm just mad for this man's mixes.