Songoftheday 9/5/17 - My only addiction has to do with the female species I eat 'em raw like sushi...
from the album Mo' Ritmo (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10
Today's song of the day comes from rapper Gerardo (Mejia), who was born in the South American country of Ecuador but immigrated to the States as a child. After a couple of acting gigs in his 20s, he was signed to a record deal and released his debut album Mo' Ritmo in 1991. The first single from the record was a comical yet boastful play on his lady-loving skills, "Rico Suave". Written by Gerardo with St. Louis native Christian Warren, and produced by Michael Sembello, the track interpolated the vocals and percussion from "Chamo Candela" from the Venezuelan group Daquiri with the bass and rhythm guitar sample from James Brown's "Give It Up And Turn It Loose", the party track was sold just enough by Gerardo to get himself a spot on dance and pop radio, even with half Spanish lyrics and references like this blogpost's title...
"Rico Suave" became Gerardo's first and biggest hit single, reaching the American pop top ten in April of 1991. The record also climbed to #2 on Billboard's Rap Singles chart.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's Gerardo appearing live to track on TV to promote the single...
And yes, it's almost the same performance, but yes, Gerardo went on the freaking Oprah show, and it's so worth it to watch the audience and Winfrey...
Up tomorrow: A little bit of medieval BDSM hits the pop top five.
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