Songoftheday 2/4/22 - If you get horny when you out no need for eyein' them hos, why eat a burger when you got steak and potatoes at home?
"4,5,6" - Solé featuring JT Money and Kandi
from the album Skin Deep (1999)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #21 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 5
Today's song comes from female rapper Solé, who was born Tonya Johnston in Kansas City, Missouri. Her first success of her music career came in the spring of 1999 when she guested on rapper JT Money's top-5 pop hit "Who Dat". Later that year, after Solé released her debut album Skin Deep, JT Money returned the favor by being a featured artist on her debut single "4,5,6". The song was written by the pair along with producer Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Kandi Burriss, who sings on the chorus. Kandi, who had been a member of the R&B vocal group Xscape in the 1990's, had been a successful songwriter after they broke up, writing #1 hits for TLC ("No Scrubs") and Destiny's Child ("Bills, Bills, Bills"). The title refers to the hours in the morning that Solé doesn't mind if you give her a booty call, and she both brags about her sexual prowess as well as warn her man not to go astray. JT Money's verse is even more crass, talking about laying pipe and how she better be ready for him. Kandi's vocals actually elevate the groove of the record beyond the lewdness by a tiny bit, and is the best part of the record...
"4,5,6" became the second top-40 pop hit for both Solé and JT Money, and the first solo billing for Kandi, in December of 1999. The song climbed to #9 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart, while topping their Rap Singles list for a week. Internationally, the single was a minor hit in France at #97. The Skin Deep album, released in September of that year, made it to #127 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #27 on the R&B Albums list.
The second single from Skin Deep was "It Wasn't Me", which featured the man that would eventually marry her later that year, singer Ginuwine. The song, which I preferred to "4,5,6", had the couple play-fighting over fidelity, and peaked at #44 on Billboard's R&B chart, while "bubbling under" the pop Hot 100 at #103.
Sole left the business after an aborted attempt at a follow-up album, and in 2015, her marriage to Ginuwine ended as well. The rapper emerged in 2019 with an independent release, Encoded. While this is the final appearance for both Solé and JT Money, Kandi will be back to the series.
(3/10)
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Here's Sole and Kandi (without JT) performing "4,5,6" on television promoting the album...
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