Songoftheday 8/18/18 - Like a clock ticking on the wall seven days a week, so weak I need yuh body next to mine...
from the album Hard To Wet, Easy To Dry (1992)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #13 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10
Today's song of the day comes from reggae/dancehall artist Ewart Brown, who recorded under the moniker of Mad Cobra. Born and raised in Jamaica's capital of Kingston, Cobra released a few albums independently that did well in his homeland before getting signed to Columbia Records for his debut album Hard To Wet, Easy To Dry in 1992. The lead single from the set, "Flex", was a laid-back swaying number that had him toasting over a dreamy beat with women cooing in the background. Written by Brown with Clifton Dillon and Brian Thompson, it would be his career's crowning moment...
"Flex" became Mad Cobra's first and only single to hit Billboard's Hot 100 in America, reaching the top 20 in Janurary of 1993. The song also made it to #7 on their R&B chart as well. His follow-up single, "Legacy", missed the chart in America, but popped on to the singles chart in the UK at #64.
Dropped by Columbia, Cobra went back to his successful local career. In 1996, he returned on EMI with the single "Big Long John", which made it to #79 on the R&B chart and "bubbled under" the pop Hot 100 at #117. More recently, he also "bubbled under" as a featured artist on "Cobrastyle" from the Swedish alternative rock band Teddybears (US #110) in 2006. He was shot in a traffic altercation in 2010, but has recovered; but his most recent album was Helta Skelta in 2009.
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Here's Mad Cobra making an appearance on Soul Train...
and on a comedy variety show promoting the song...
Up tomorrow: Alternative hippes are dating a perfect girl?
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