Twostepcublog

    " Game Over (Flip) " - Lil' Flip from the album U Gotta Feel Me (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #15 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 11   Today's song comes from Wesley Weston Jr. who performs under the nickname Lil' Flip .  Flip grew up in Houston, Texas, and while still in his late teens he was already making the rounds on the local rap circuit, and was signed to the indie label Sucka Free there. In 2000 he released his debut album The Leprechaun , which popped on to the national R&B Albums chart in Billboard magazine at #67. On that momentum Columbia Records partnered up with the small label to put out his next record Undaground Legend in 2002, which did much better, reaching #4 on the R&B Albums chart and #12 on the all-genre Billboard 200 , going on to sell over a million copies. A single from the record, " The Way We Ball ", became his first appearance on Billboard 's R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart at #69.  A year later, Flip was a

  Saturday's here, and it's time to run down my top hits from the previous week. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars take over at #1, while Charli XCX (pictured above) leaps into the top ten. Former big hits from Daughtry, twenty-one pilots, and Ray LaMontagne drop off my chart, while songs from Tyrese, Leon Bridges, and Sabrina Carpenter make some of the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ highlighted in red ). And under the list, everything is Spotify playlisted for 5 1/2 hours of the biggest in pop, rock, R&B, country, and dance music. Fingers crossed!   This Week                  Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Die With A Smile - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars (2) 2. Good Luck, Babe! - Chappell Roan (1) 3. Birds Of A Feather - Billie Eilish (3) 4. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart - Taylor Swift (4) 5. The Door - Teddy Swims (6) 6. Please Please Please -

      " Naughty Girl " - Beyonce from the album Dangerously In Love (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 18   Today's song is from Beyonce , whose debut solo album Dangerously In Love had already spun off a pair of #1 hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " Crazy In Love " and " Baby Boy ", as well as a top-ten follow-up with " Me, Myself, & I ".  The fourth single from the record was the slinky and seductive "Naughty Girl". Written by the singer with cousin Angela Beyince and co-producer Scott Storch, Beyonce also interpolates a little of Donna Summer's disco class "Love To Love You Baby" in her  intro and bridge sections, giving Summer and co-writers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte credit as well. The lyrics are quite simple, she's offering to be the "bad girl" and bring her female friends to the "party". How deep that would in entail (in one to

    " All Falls Down " - Kanye West featuring Syleena Johnson from the album College Dropout (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 14   Today's song comes from rapper/singer/producer/songwriter/future fascist Kanye West, who had landed his first hit as a lead artist in the beginning of 2004 with " Through The Wire ".  He also featured on rapper Twista's #1 hit " Slow Jamz ", also appeared on Kanye's debut album College Dropout . West's second proper single from the set was "All Falls Down". A throwback sounding track written by West, it uses an interpolation of Lauryn Hill's " Mystery of Iniquity " (giving her a co-writing credit), which in this case is sung by Syleena Johnson , who like Kanye also grew up in Chicago. Johnson, though, originally came under the wing of R. Kelly, signing to Jive Records and releasing her debut album Chapter 1: Love, Pain, & Happiness in 2001. Her firs

    " Solitaire "/" The Way " - Clay Aiken from the album Measure Of A Man (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 2   Today's song comes from Clay Aiken , who came in second in the second season of American Idol , but won the battle of the charts with winner Ruben Studdard, beating him out for #1 with his single " This Is The Night ". Clay's follow-up " Invisible " was a modest radio hit as well, reaching the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the beginning of 2004. Clay also contributed to the Christmas release American Idol: The Great Holiday Classics , which went to #28 on the Billboard 200 sales tally and sold over a half million copies. Both his songs on there made the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart, with his take on " The First Noel " peaking at #9 at the close of 2003.   For the third offering from his debut album Measure Of A Man , Aiken released &

    " I Can't Wait " - Sleepy Brown featuring Outkast from the albums Barbershop 2: Back In Business (Original Soundtrack) (2004) and Mr. Brown (2006) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #40 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 1   Today's song comes from R&B producer/singer/songwriter Patrick "Sleepy" Brown, whose father Jimmy Brown was the lead singer of the funk band Brick, which topped the R&B Singles chart for a month and reached #3 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " Dazz " in 1977. Sleepy grew up in Atlanta, and became ensconced in the music scene there as well, becoming part of the seminal 90s R&B production/songwriting team Organized Noize. With them Brown wrote "Waterfalls" for TLC which hit #1 in 1995. Also, they started aligning with local rappers who would go big in Ludacris and Outkast . It was with the latter that Brown was featured on another #1 he would co-write, " The Way You Move " from Outkast's Gra