Songoftheday 10/8/21 - See he's my property and any girl that touch, I might just call your bluff 'cause I don't give a...

 

 

"Where My Girls At?" - 702

from the album 702 (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 38

 

Today's song comes from the female R&B trio 702, whose 1996 debut album No Doubt had spun off three top-40 pop hits with "Steelo", "All I Want", and the top ten success "Get It Together".  Two years later, the group appeared on Missy Elliott's single "Beep Me 911", which made the top-20 in the UK. In 1999, Kameelah Williams and sisters Irish and LeMisha Grinstead returned with their self-titled sophomore effort. The lead single from the project, "Where My Girls At?". Elliott repaid the favor by co-writing and producing the track with Eric Seats and Rapture Stewart. On the track, they see someone trying to steal their man, and quickly tells them to step off. I'm not sure, but I always took the title as gathering her backup as she gets ready to whoop some ass if things get dicey. It's simple, and has that classic Elliott groove, and became their biggest hit...

"Where My Girls At?" became 702's second (and so far last) top ten pop hit in June of 1999. The song spent four weeks at #3 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, while topping their Rhythmic radio chart for five weeks. Internationally, the single reached the top-40 in the Netherlands (#17), Germany (#21), the UK (#22), New Zealand (#22), and Switzerland (#25). The 702 album, released as the single was peaking in June, went to #34 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #7 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart, going on to sell over a million copies. 

Despite the big success of that song, the trio's follow-up, "You Don't Know", produced and written by the team of Soulshock and Karlin, stalled down at #50 on the R&B chart, not even coming close to the pop Hot 100. The same happened for the third release, "Gotta Leave", which stopped at #58 on the R&B list, even though it was from the same team that brought "Where My Girls At?". 

702 came back in 2003 with their third, and so far most recent album on Motown, Star. The lead single, "Star" which featured rapper Clipse (who had scored two top-40 pop hits the year before) and produced by Pharrell Williams' Neptunes team, stiffed down at #98 on the R&B chart, followed by "I Still Love You", which actually featured Pharrell on backup, which did a little better at #49 on the R&B list. The Star album rose to #45 on the Billboard 200, and #22 on the R&B Albums list.

Since then, the group has reunited for shows every once in a while, while Williams, who had a child with neo-soul singer Musiq Soulchild, had appeared on the reality show R&B Divas: Atlanta. 

(7/10)

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Here's 702 performing "Where My Girls At?" at Live At The Apollo in 1999...

Next up, live at the Essence Festival in 2018...

and lastly, on TVOne's Unsung with a band...

Up tomorrow: Former housemartin takes you to church.