Songoftheday 6/13/22 - Now when I first met her all I thought was thong thong-thong, like lose the lame we can get our freakin' on...
"Between Me And You" - Ja Rule featuring Christina Milian
from the album Rule 3:36 (2000)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #11 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15
Today's song comes from rapper Jeffrey Atkins, aka Ja Rule, who had scored his first top-40 pop crossover hit in the summer of 1999 with the hard-edged drone of "Holla Holla". Later that year, he contributed a song to the film Light It Up which was produced by Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds and wife Tracy, and starred Usher and Rosario Dawson. Although the movie bombed, the soundtrack did quite well, hitting #19 on the Billboard 200 sales tally mostly due to Rule's "How Many Wanna", which opened the set and rose to #72 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart.
In 2000, Ja Rule returned with his sophomore effort Rule 3:36, which veered more to a radio-friendly sound on some of the tracks. The first single from the set, "Between Me And You", was a example of this change. Written by Atkins with Robert "Lil' Rob" Mays and produced by Mays with Murder Inc. Records head Irv Gotti, the track featured newcomer Christina Milian from New Jersey in her first big recording. Rule is trying to pick up this woman, saying he wants to be with her and not broadcast it to the world. However by the end, he's explaining how both of them are in relationships with other people, and the "freaky things they do" are just cheating on their respective others. Songs from Sisqo and Jay-Z are mentioned, and he is more afraid of "ruining their getaway in Cancun" then hurting anybody. Classy. The faux Chinese harp coupled with the sing-song melody is just so damn annoying, but that's what sold records in the god-awful early 2000s. The music video is just a stripper exposition, and I'd hate to see the cleanup bill on that house rental...
"Put It On Me" missed reaching the pop top ten by a notch in November of 2000. The song was his first top ten R&B hit at #5, while getting to #11 on Billboard's Rap Songs list, and #3 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic radio format chart. Internationally, the single was his first hit in the UK, reaching #26 on the British top-40. The Rule 3:36 album, released in October of that year, spent a week at #1 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and three weeks on top of the R&B Albums list, spending over a year on each and going on to sell over three million copies. Both Ja Rule and Christina Milian will be back to the series.
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Here's Ja Rule and Christian Milian performing the single on Top of the Pops in the UK...
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