Songoftheday 11/19/20 - I got chicks in my livin' room shakin' they asses, flip mode get ya high smokin' weed and hash...

 

 

"Take It To The Streets" - Rampage featuring Billy Lawrence

from the album Scout's Honor...By Way of Blood (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #34 (three weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 5

 

Today's song of the day comes from rapper Rampage. Brooklyn native Roger McNair adopted the nickname when he started his music career, originally on Arista Records, releasing a single that stiffed before moving to Elektra to join his cousin Busta Rhymes' Flipmode Squad crew. Rampage released his debut album Scout's Honor...By Way Of Blood in the summer of 1997, with the lead single "Take It To The Streets". The track, which samples R&B band Unlimited Touch's top-40 R&B hit "I Hear Music In The Streets", features singer Billy Lawrence, who had nearly made the top-40 before with her single "Come On" (#44). Most of it is luxury porn without the branding, with a fleeting reference to street violence, but with the happy groove from the sample and Lawrence's belting, mainstream audiences responded favorably and Rampage and Billy landed their biggest pop hit...

"Take It To The Streets" became the first and only top 40 pop hit for both Rampage and Lawrence in August of 1997. The single also climbed to #11 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, while peaking at #5 on their Rap Singles list. Internationally, the single reached the top-40 in New Zealand at #20, and was a minor hit in the UK at #58. The Scout's Honor album spent a month on the Billboard 200 sales chart, topping out at #65. 

A second single from the record, "Wegetzdown". was produced by Teddy Riley and sampled Sister Sledge's disco classic "He's The Greatest Dancer" (sung by R&B trio 702). It went to #67 on the American R&B chart, "bubbled under" the pop Hot 100 at #106. and landed a second top-40 hit in New Zealand at #34. Those two would be Rampage's sole charting lead artist hits. In 1999, with the rest of the Flipmode Squad including Busta he charted with the song "Cha Cha Cha" at #61, with their Imperial Album peaking at #15. He also was featured on a pair of minor R&B hits including "Tonight I'm Gonna Let Go" from Syleena Johnson (#53 R&B) in 2002. Leaving Elektra, Rampage has put out two more indie albums under his own name, most recently Red October, originally recorded in 1994 and released in 2014. 

Up tomorrow: German Eurodance act addresses Joe Biden, perhaps.