Today's song comes from singer/rapper Cynthia Loving, who performs under the moniker Lil' Mo. Loving, who grew up in a military family throughout the country, eventually settled in New York City to start a music career. Starting out behind the scenes as a songwriter and backup singer, she came under the wing of Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, and was signed to Elektra Records. Her first single, "5 Minutes", was a contribution to the Frankie Lymon biopic Why Do Fools Fall In Love. The song stiffed in America, but was a minor hit in the UK, reaching #72 on the British Singles Chart in 1998.
While her debut album was being retooled, Lil' Mo appeared on a couple of high profile singles. Missy used her for "Hot Boyz", which ended up being the first top ten hit for either of them at the start of 2000. That summer Lil' Mo guested on R&B group Ideal's song "Whatever", which just missed the R&B top ten (#11) and pop top-40 (#47). The following spring, Loving appeared on rapper Ja Rule's top ten hit "Put It On Me", which ended up being nominated for a Grammy for best Group Rap Performance (which Outkast won for "Ms Jackson").
By this time Lil' Mo and Elektra was ready to release her debut album Based On A True Story. It included another one-off single she released in the summer of 2000, "Ta Da", which made it to #21 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart and #95 on the pop Hot 100. The second single from the set was "Superwoman". The song, written by Loving with producers Ernesto "DJ Clue" Shaw and Ken "Duro: Ifill, featured rap newcomer John Jackson, aka Fabolous, who DJ Clue included on many of his mixtapes. The original version released was built on a sample of the Beanie Sigel single "Stop, Chill", and sounded kind of like a Pink record...
The single, hoisted by this, rose up to #34 on Billboard magazine's "pop" Hot 100 and #9 on the R&B Singles chart, though airplay wasn't really materializing. So Lil' Mo convinced DJ Clue to remix the track with one of his own saved beats. The result, which transformed the track into an electro-hip-hop record, caused people and radio to notice. Lil' Mo's singing vocals shine on this take, as she boasts about her strength as a female lover, while Fabolous comes to corroborate the claim. Dubbed as "Pt. II" on the single, "Superwoman" shot up the chart faster than a speeding bullet...
"Superwoman Pt. II" missed the top ten on Billboard's Hot 100 by one notch in July of 2001. The single made it to #4 on the R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the track made it to #36 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart, as well as #8 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single spent a week at #80 on the British singles chart. The Based On A True Story album, released in June of that year, peaked at #14 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #6 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a half million copies.
A third single from the record, "Gangsta (Love 4 The Streets)", was a minor R&B hit at #57. Both Lil' Mo and Fabolous will return to the series.
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Here's Lil' Mo and Fabolous performing "Superwoman Pt. II" for a TV appearance...
Up tomorrow: This comely soul singer thinks he's worthy, perhaps.
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