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Songoftheday 3/28/24 - What's wrong with the world, Mama? People livin' like they ain't got no mamas'...

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    " Where Is The Love? " - Black Eyed Peas with Justin Timberlake from the album Elephunk (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (three weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 22   Today's song comes from the Black Eyed Peas , who started out in the late 1980s as a dance/music group with friends Will "will.i.am" Adams and Allen "apl.de.ap" Pineda Lindo and a couple others originally under a couple different monikers. The act was originally signed by gangsta rapper Eazy-E formerly of N.W.A. to his Ruthless label, but after a debut album got put aside and Eazy died from AIDS in 1995, Adams and Pineda Lindo reinvented themselves as the Black Eyed Peas, adding a third rapper Jaime "Taboo" Gomez and singer Kim Hill. They gathered a local following with their west coast jazzy hip-hop style like the counterpart to the Roots, and were signed by Interscope Records, where they released their debut album Behind The Front in 1998. The record went to #129 on the Bill

Songoftheday 3/27/24 - Got on my ride seen you from afar, and I couldn't stop myself from looking hard...

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    " In Those Jeans " - Ginuwine from the album The Senior (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 14   Today's song comes from R&B singer Ginuwine , whose fourth studio album The Senior had already spun off two hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " Stingy " and " Hell Yeah ". The third single from the project was "In Those Jeans". The song was written by the singer (under his given name Elgin Lumpkin) and Harvey Hester, with the pair co-producing the track with Jerry Vines. The lyrics have Ginuwine coming on to a woman, leading off about her choice of apparel, and course going on how he wants to get "in them". The production is light and sparse, empathizing the weird cadence of the melody taken straight out of the R. Kelly playbook. Ginuwine's voices are adequate if not matching the power of some of his earlier work. Nevertheless, the booty-call track proved to be the biggest success

Songoftheday 3/26/24 - Now shorty she in the club she dancin' for dollars, she got a thing for that Gucci that Fendi that Prada...

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    " P.I.M.P. " - 50 Cent from the album Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 21   Today's song comes from rapper 50 Cent , whose debut album Get Rich Or Die Tryin' had already spun off a pair of huge #1 pop crossover hits with " In Da Club " and " 21 Questions " (a third preceding single, " Wanksta ", was also included as a bonus track). His next single promoted to radio was a revamp of the album cut "P.I.M.P.". Written by 50 Cent (under his given name Curtis Jackson) with producer Denaun Porter, the lyrics have him painting himself in the titular vocation, even though he doesn't "look" like it. It throws out lines like " I ain't that nigga tryna holla 'cause I want some head , I'm that nigga tryna holla 'cause I want some bread" but then follows it up with " hit that track, catch a date, and come and pay the kid!". Cla

Robbed hit of the week 3/25/24 - Montgomery Gentry's "Speed"...

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    " Speed " - Montgomery Gentry from the album My Town (2002) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #47 (three weeks)   This week's "robbed hit" comes from the country-rock duo Montgomery Gentry , who nicked the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 for a second time in the late autumn of 2002 with " My Town ", the lead single and title track from their third album. Their second release from the record was the ballad "Speed". Written by Jeffrey Steele and Chris Wallin, the song has the guys conversing with a used-car dealer for a mode of transport that would get then "over" their heartbreak. Eddie Montgomery's deep baritone parlays the weary resignation in the verses, and hits the gas on the chorus where Troy Gentry joins in. There's the cringe line about how the truck he's trading in is where they made love, but it's passable. The production from Blake Chancey brings the sonic force, and that minor-key sad song is their

Songoftheday 3/25/24 -Everybody's looking for that something, one thing that makes it all complete...

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    " Flying Without Wings "/" Superstar " - Ruben Studdard from the album Soulful (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 5   Today's song comes from the man who beat Friday's SOTD artist, Clay Aiken, in the second season of television singing contest American Idol . Ruben Studdard , born an "army brat" in Germany, grew up singing in church in Alabama. Like Clay, Ruben appeared on the American Idol : The All American Love Songs album, which spun off the top ten charity single cover of Lee Greenwood's " God Bless The U.S.A .". It would be a tight race for the pair, but while Studdard grabbed the trophy, it was Clay whose fanbase gobbled up the single just a little more. For Ruben, his "winner's single" wasn't an original, but rather a remake of a #1 hit in the United Kingdom for Irish boy-band Westlife in 1999. "Flying Without Wings", written by Steve Mac (who coincidentally p

Twostepcub's music chart for March 23, 2024...

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    Saturday's here, and it's time to run down my top "hit" tunes from the previous week. Noah Kahan holds tight at #1 for a third week, while Cage The Elephant (pictured above) leap into the top ten. Songs from Scotty McCreery, Green Day, and Billy Joel make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while former big hits from Sia, Miley Cyrus, Jelly Roll, and casso/RAYE drop off my chart. 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. Well, that question is answered...   This Week                  Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Stick Season - Noah Kahan (1) 2. Texas Hold 'Em - Beyonce (6) 3. Lose Control - Teddy Swims (2) 4. Is It Over Now? - Taylor Swift (4) 5. Houdini - Dua Lipa (5) 6. Neon Pill - Cage The Elephant

Songoftheday 3/22/24 - When the world was in upside down, I could take all the time I had...

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    " This Is The Night "/" Bridge Over Troubled Water " - Clay Aiken from the album Measure Of A Man (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 7 Today's song comes from Clay Aiken , who in the spring of 2003 participated in the second season of the television  singing competition American Idol. Growing up a "church choir kid" in North Carolina, Clay was following the path of becoming a special education teacher when he auditioned for the show as a homely geek with a promising voice. He originally didn't make it past the cattle-call stage in Hollywood, but was voted in by the public as the "wild card" contestant. By the end of the contest, Aiken had come in second to Ruben Studdard. However his fanbase was huge , loving the ugly duckling transformation he went through during the series. During the show, Aiken joined his fellow finalists in releasing the American Idol Season 2: All-American Love Songs , which in