Songoftheday 7/28/21 - Sittin' here thinkin 'bout our yesterday, about what we did and how we used to play...
"Take Me There" - Blackstreet & Mya featuring Mase & Blinky Blink
from the albums The Rugrats Movie (Original Soundtrack) (1998) and Finally (1999)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #14 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11
Today's song brings together three of the biggest R&B acts of the late 1990's along with a newcomer. Blackstreet, the group founded by new jack swing pioneer Teddy Riley, had their biggest success with their sophomore album Another Level, scoring a massive #1 hit with "No Diggity" in 1996, a decent radio hit follow-up in "Don't Leave Me", and ending up selling over four million copies. They also appeared on singles from Janet Jackson and Jay-Z. Meanwhile, singer Mya (Harrison) saw her debut album land a top ten pop hit with "It's All About Me" as well as a top-40 follow-up in "Movin' On", along with her featured role on the Grammy-nominated song from the Bulworth movie, "Ghetto Supastar" was Pras and Ol' Dirty Bastard. Adding on super-hot rapper and Puff Daddy protege Mase, who had scored a trio of top ten pop hits from his debut, including "Lookin' At Me" in the fall of 1998, and Mase's labelmate Blinky Blink aka Michael Foster, who was a part of the rap collective Harlem World, they all recorded a song together for The Rugrats Movie, based on the wildly successful animated show on the Nickelodeon children's programming network. The original version of "Take Me There", written by Riley, Mase, and Blinky Blink along with songwriter Tamara Savage and Blackstreet's manager Madeline Nelson, takes the instrumental theme song from the show, written and performed by Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, and has each act riffing over it, with Mase and Blinky Blink giving verses about the characters. It's definitely made for kids, since the melody is damn near convulsion-inducing, with the too-cute backdrop a stark contrast to them trying to "jam" over it. Nevertheless, it was successful in selling to its market, and with a revamp that substituted the instrumental for the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back", radio eventually got on board. But initially, we got this...
"Take Me There" returned Blackstreet for the fifth and what would be the last time on the American pop chart in January of 1999. The song climbed to #10 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart. Internationally, the single was an even bigger hit, topping the chart in New Zealand for three weeks, and reaching the top ten in Belgium (#5F), the UK (#7), and Ireland (#9), while making it into the top-40 in Canada (#21), the Netherlands (#22), and Iceland (#29). The Rugrats Movie soundtrack, released in November of 1998, was quite successful, peaking at #19 on the Billboard 200 sales chart, going on to sell over a million copies. The combination of the kids market as well as some pretty hip artists on the record like No Doubt with Elvis Costello, Busta Rhymes, Rakim, and an all-star track with members of the B-52s, the Wallflowers, Beck, Patti Smith, Lenny Kravitz, and Iggy Pop. The "Want You Back" remix of the track was included on Blackstreet's next album Finally later in 1999, but as I will feature in a future "robbed hit", that would turn out to be a disaster. The record executive dream collaboration with Blackstreet and Janet Jackson with then-ultra-hot rappers Ja Rule and Eve were on "Girlfriend/Boyfriend", but the song stalled under the pop top-40 at #47, It would be the last of Blackstreet on the pop chart, as Riley dissolved the group to reunite with his former trio Guy. As for the others, Mya and Mase will be back to the series. Blinky Blink's Harlem World group released their self-titled debut (and only) album later in 1999, but while the set went to #11 on the Billboard 200 sales tally and #5 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a half million copies, radio didn't take, with lead single "I Really Like It", featuring hitmakers Mase and Kelly Price, stalling down at #61 on the R&B chart. Another member of the group, rapper Loon, will eventually be on this series.
(3/10)
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For the "Want U Back" remix, Mase and Blinky Blink's movie-related verses were scrapped. The result was marginally better if only for the removal of the annoying cartoon theme, but the sample has been done before better...
Up tomorrow: Country singer ignites some reminiscing.
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