Robbed hit (?) of the week 10/4/21 - Blackstreet & Janet Jackson's "Girlfriend/Boyfriend"...
"Girlfriend/Boyfriend" - Blackstreet with Janet Jackson
from the album Finally (1999)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #47 (two weeks)
This week's "robbed hit" comes from a pairing of two of the biggest R&B acts in the late 1990's. Blackstreet, led by new jack swing producer Teddy Riley, were coming off a massive #1 pop and R&B hit with "No Diggity" in the fall of 1996. Three years later, they re-emerged with a track from the soundtrack to the animated Rugrats Movie, "Take Me There", which reached the top-40 and would eventually appear (in remix form) on the group's third album Finally. In that time, original member Mark Middleton left the group, to be replaced by Terrell Phillips. To usher in the new record, the group recorded a song with Janet Jackson, who herself had success with her Velvet Rope album in 1997, as well as a top ten pop/R&B hit with rapper Busta Rhymes, "What's It Gonna Be", which hit #3 on the Hot 100 in the spring of 1999. Featuring up and coming rappers Ja Rule and Eve in uncredited verses (even though they get a big chunk of the song), the track, written by Teddy Riley, Jimmy Cozier, and Lil' Mo along with the two rappers, seemed like a boardroom sketch of a hit, with their momentum as well as Riley's writing/production creds and the new rappers bringing a new generation it. But in return, it's a giant mess, almost like a cook with great ingredients producing something inedible. Between the child sing-song what seems to be a chorus to the unintelligible lyrics, there is absolutely nothing redeeming about this. I guess they felt their names would guarantee its success...
(1/10)
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