Songoftheday 3/20/21 - Since the first time I saw ya I knew I was attracted, reacted to the fact on how ya make me act...

 

 

"Romeo and Juliet" - Sylk-E. Fyne featuring Chill

from the album Raw Sylk (1998)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's song of the day comes from La'Mar Johnson, who recorded under the alias Sylk-E. Fyne. A rapper from Los Angeles, Sylk-E originally was a part of a group under former N.W.A. Eazy-E's label Ruthless Records before striking out on her own. Her debut single, "Romeo And Juliet", was released at the beginning of 1998. With verses written by Johnson with William "Chill" Warner, who gets a feature credit here, the song samples Rene & Angela's classic #2 R&B slow jam "You Don't Have To Cry". With production by Gerald Baillergeau and Victor Merritt, the record has the pair recreating the Shakespearean plot in the gangsta era, with Chill serving the title-checking chorus, while Sylk-E lazily goes through ways her man should treat her, all over a groove mostly found in old Tupac records...

 "Romeo and Juliet" became a surprise hit, reaching the pop top ten in America in April of 1998. The song also rose to #5 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, while topping their Rap Singles list for an entire month (four weeks). Internationally, the single made the top-40 in New Zealand at #27. Her debut album, Raw Sylk, was released that March, and climbed to #121 on the Billboard 200 sales chart, and #47 on the R&B specific list. 

Despite the success of the single, the muted reception of the album killed any momentum Sylk-E had, and she disappeared from the music scene after an ignored independent second album Tha Cum Up in 2000. 

(3/10)

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There was a second video filmed for the song, which goes full pimp and loses the Shakespeare...

Up tomorrow: Rap duo adores adoration.