Songoftheday 11/30/19 - At times I window watch out the Mariott, zoning on owning co-ops foreign drop top coupes and yachts...
from the album Doe Or Die (1995)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #25 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13
Today's song of the day comes from New York native Anthony Cruz, who records under the moniker AZ. He got noticed when he guested on Queens rapper Nas' album Illmatic, and landed a record deal with EMI that resulted in his debut album Doe or Die in 1995. The first single from the record, "Sugar Hill", was a picture of a illegal trader, with the luxury highs and the perilous lows which he brags that he avoids. Radio personality Miss (Tarsha) Jones sings the chorus which interpolates the melody of Mtume's "Juicy Fruit"...
"Sugar Hill" became AZ's first and biggest success, becoming his only single to make Billboard's Hot 100 chart in September of 1995. The song climbed to #12 on their R&B chart, and got to #3 on the Rap Singles list. Internationally the single popped on to the British charts for a week at #67.
AZ's follow-up single, "Gimme Yours", climbed to the halfway point on Billboard's R&B chart at #51, but only managed to "bubble under" the pop Hot 100 at #121 even with a cameo from Nas. His third offering, title track "Do Or Die", stalled down at #69 on the R&B list. The Doe Or Die album went to #15 (his highest rank) and topped the R&B albums list.
Unfortunately, even with his initial success, AZ was never able to recapture mainstream radio's attention. Even though his next three albums reached the top ten on the R&B albums chart and top-40 on the main Top 200 Albums in Billboard, he never reached the Hot 100 again. A one-off single with then-hot R&B group SWV, "Hey AZ", only "bubbled under" the chart again at #117 while stopping at #50 on R&B. His most recent chart appearance came in 2002, when his single "I'm Back" from his fourth album Aziatic got to #63 on the R&B tally. But fourth top-40 albums from a guy with one hit is pretty impressive, especially since this was the time when actual sales were tallied up. His most recent album, Legendary, was released in 2009, while he put out a mixtape called Legacy earlier this year.
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Here's AZ and missjones appearing on Soul Train...
And lastly, live in concert (his part starts at the 1:30 mark)...
Up tomorrow: Pop songstress heads to bed.
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