Songoftheday 2/28/22 - Now do I have to grab the back of your neck to make you listen to me, do you have to see me flashing the dough or waving my Rollie...

 

 

"Got To Get It" - Sisqo featuring Make It Hot

from the album Unleash The Dragon (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #40 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 1 

Today's song comes from R&B singer Mark "Sisqó" Andrews, who became famous as part of the vocal group Dru Hill in the 1990s. Dru Hill's second album, Enter The Dru, landed a top ten pop hit with "How Deep Is Your Love" and a top-40 follow-up with "These Are The Times". They also guested on Will Smith's #1 pop hit "Wild Wild West" in the summer of 1999, while Sisqo was featured on Mya's top ten pop hit "It's All About Me" a year earlier. Instead of capitalizing on that success, the foursome took a break, with the intention of each releasing solo material. Member Tamir "Nokio" Ruffin was featured on rapper Eve's top-40 pop/top-10 R&B hit "What Ya Want". Sisqó released his debut solo album Unleash The Dragon in the fall of 1999. The lead single was "Got To Get It", featuring the rap duo Make It Hot. Written by Sisqó with producer Al West, Marquis Collins, and James Travis, the minor-key funk was tightly produced, and was more mood than substance, with the usual come-ons about how good his sexual prowess is, but damn can Sisqo ride the groove quite nicely. The repeated chorus line, "I'll kiss the lips under your navel, I'll bet he won't go where I go", is pretty damn bold, if you ask me. The music video, directed by Hype Williams, continues the Dru Hill Chinese appropriation thematic, with him singing and Make It Hot rapping over a Chinese New Year parade...

 

"Got To Get It" became Sisqo's second top-40 solo pop hit in January of 2000. The song climbed to #12 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart, while getting to #14 on the Rhythmic radio format list. Internationally, the single was a top-40 hit in the UK (#14) and Australia (#28 as a two-fer with "Incomplete"). The Unlease The Dragon album, released in November of 1999, went on to climb to #2 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #2 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over five million copies, mostly due to the singles released after this one. At the 2001 Grammy Awards, Sisqo was nominated for Best New Artist (weird, since he was famous in Dru Hill), losing out to Shelby Lynne (who won with her sixth album, so there). The Unleash The Dragon album was also up for Best R&B Album, which went to neo-soul guru D'Angelo for his Voodoo set. Both Sisqo and this album will be back very shortly. As for Make It Hot, they were never heard from as an act again.

(6/10)

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Here's Sisqo performing "Got To Get It" on Showtime At The Apollo...

Up tomorrow: Bay area rockers are pretty tenacious.