Songoftheday 2/3/19 - I slam the door when I come into the bedroom, 'cause I'm the king of the castle...
from the album Swing Batta Swing (1993)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #18 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14
Today's song of the day comes from freestyle dance music artist Louis Sharpe, or K7, who originally got his big break as a member of one of the biggest acts of the genre, TKA (his nickname "Kayel" was the K in TKA). The trio had been a major part of the scene in the New York City tri-state area in the 1980s, and although their biggest pop hit, "Maria", came right when they were breaking up and only climbed to #50 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the summer of 1992, that number belies how massive the song was in our area. The next year, Kayel, rebranding himself as K7, released his first solo album Swing Batta Swing on Tommy Boy Records (the home of TKA). The first single, "Come Baby Come", was a more aggressive and assured come-on to his woman, as opposed to the romantic croonings of his old band. Written by K7 with producer Joey Gardner, not only did the track gain traction nationwide, but also became an international hit as well..
"Come Baby Come" became K7's first and only top-40 pop hit in December of 1993. The song also climbed to #42 on Billboard's R&B chart. Internationally, the single did even better, peaking all the way at #3 on both the British and Irish singles charts, and reaching the top-40 in the Netherlands (#14), New Zealand (#14), Austria (#22), Germany (#24), Sweden (#27), Switzerland (#28), and Belgium (#39). The second release from Swing Batta Swing, the double-sided hit "Zunga Zeng" and "Body Rock", hit #61 on both the pop and R&B chart in America, while the former song climbed to #63 in the UK and #47 in New Zealand. Then "Hi De Ho", borrowing from the Cab Calloway swing classic from way back in the day, "bubbled under" the American pop chart at #123, but went to a respectable #17 in the UK and Ireland, up to #5 in New Zealand, and #46 in the Netherlands. Finally, the single "Move It Like This", which sounded more than the others like a TKA track, managed to get to #54 on the American pop chart, slipped on to the R&B list at #95, and was K7's sole Dance Club Play hit at #37. However, with all that success, it would be his last single with Tommy Boy, not releasing any music until 2002's Love, Sex, Money, which stiffed. His most recent record, The King's Agenda, was put out independently in 2009. His profile has been more on the radio side, being a DJ in New York.
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Here's K7 and his woofilicious crew performing live on Arsenio Hall to promote the album...
He made the rounds at Live at the Apollo as well...
And lastly, a reunited TKA with the song in 2015 at Radio City Music Hall...
Up tomorrow: She has a #1 hit from her movie with 2Pac.
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