Songoftheday 2/11/21 - Boy I know you want me I can see it in your eyes, but you keep on frontin' won't you say what's on your mind...
"No, No, No Part 2" - Destiny's Child
from the album Destiny's Child (1998)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 31
Today's song of the day comes from the group Destiny's Child, who came together as Girl's Tyme in Houston in the early 90s. Originally a larger group, who had competed on Star Search as children, lead singer Beyonce Knowles' dad Matthew, who had taken over management, trimmed the lineup to Beyonce, LaTavia Roberson, and Kelly Rowland, and recruiting LeToya Luckett. After a series of name changes and attempts to sign with a label, the quartet finally landed on Columbia Records in 1996, where they first contributed a song to the soundtrack to the Will Smith movie Men In Black, "Killing Time". That song would also appear on their debut album, Destiny's Child. The lead single from their record would be the "Part 2" version of the song "No, No, No". Oddly appearing first on the album, the track is an uptempo mix of the ballad which is "Part 1". Written by Mary Brown and Calvin Gaines along with "Part 1" producers Vincent Herbert and Rob Fusari, the second go at the song was produced by Wyclef Jean from the Fugees that contained a sample of the Love Unlimited Orchestra's "Strange Games and Things", which gave Barry White a writing credit. Wyclef also provides rapped verses on the track. It's your standard mid-90s soul track like Jade, SWV, Brownstone, and the like, with the chorus vacillations of the repetitions of "No" and "Yeah" forming the base of the track, but including part of the more melodic "Part 1" on the bridge...
"No No No Part 2" became Destiny's Child's first hit, reaching the top ten on the American pop chart in March of 1998. The song climbed all the way to #1 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart for a week. Internationally, the single made the top ten in the Netherlands (#2), Belgium (#4), the UK (#5), and Norway (#6). The Destiny's Child album, released in February of 1998, only reached #67 on the Billboard 200 sales chart, but went on to sell over a million copies.
Despite the success of "No No No", the group stumbled a little, with follow-up "With Me Part 1" (yes, another two-parter from the album) featuring producer/rapper Jermaine "JD" Dupri, only making it to #35 on Billboard's R&B Airplay chart, and not even a placing on the Hot 100 Pop Airplay list, since it wasn't released as a commercial single. In Britain, though, it did much better, peaking at #19 on the UK singles chart. But their fortunes would definitely change within a year with their next record.
(5/10)
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Here's the "Part 1" version of the song, which was arranged as a booty call record, and sported its own music video...
There was a video done for the group's appearance on the Disney Channel show Smart Guy....
Here's an early appearance on BET live...
Next up, Destiny's Child appearing much more polished on the Soul Train Lady Of Soul Awards in 1998...
Up tomorrow: The late hip-hop icon travels west.
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