Songoftheday 7/22/19 - Strike the right chord and Ill rap, rap my skull-cap, electric until I blow my top off...
from the album Lucacentric (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #29 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 7
Today's song of the day comes from Danish-American rapper and songwriter Lucas (Secon), who was born in the capital of Copenhagen to a dad who was a pop songwriter for the likes of Nat King Cole and the Mills Brothers, and who also started up the Pottery Barn store chain with his brother. Moving back and forth from Europe to America, Lucas eventually signed a record deal with MCA and released his debut album To Rap My World Around You in 1990. After that record went nowhere, Lucas left America, and waited three long years before coming up with his sophomore effort Lucacentric which was released on Big Beat/Atlantic Records. The lead single from the project was "Lucas With The Lid Off", which mined the jazz-rap fusion vein that had given success to the likes of Digible Planets and Guru. Floating on a sample of swing great Benny Goodman's "When Buddha Smiles", the free-flow track continued the niche popularity of Jazz-rap for a few months more. Ragga artist Junior Dangerous helps with the background vocals. The music video was one of the first from clip great Michael Gondry, who won a Grammy for the iconic one-shot work...
"Lucas With The Lid Off" became his first and only chart hit, reaching the top-40 in November of 1994. While the hip-hop song missed the R&B chart in Billboard magazine, it managed to get enough airplay to reach their Alternative Rock radio chart, climbing to #22. Internationally, the single made the top 40 in #15 in Australia, #21 in Canada, #29 in New Zealand, and #37 in the UK.At the following Grammy Awards, the song won for best mighty fair) After the record, Lucas focused his career on songwriting, churning out hits for the likes of Kylie Minogue ("Get Out Of My Way") and the Pussycat Dolls ("I Hate this Part").
Up tomorrow: A nasty girl knows your cravings.
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