Songoftheday 10/17/22 - Don't be trippin when you see us in the club, just show a little love represent your side like me...

 

 

"Where The Party At" - Jagged Edge featuring Nelly

from the album Jagged Little Thrill (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (five weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 25

 

Today's song comes from the R&B vocal group Jagged Edge, whose second album J.E. Heartbreak broke them big in the mainstream, scoring three top-20 pop hits with "He Can't Love U", "Let's Get Married", and the top ten single "Promise".  In 2001, brothers Brian and Brandon Casey, Richard Wingo, and Kylie Norman returned with their third effort, with a title that also is a riff off a classic album, this time Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill. The lead single from Jagged Little Thrill was the club jam "Where The Party At", featuring rapper Cornell "Nelly" Haynes, who was just coming off his second top ten pop hit from his debut album, "Ride Wit Me". Written by the Caseys and Nelly with Bryan Michael Cox and producer Jermaine Dupri, the song is a simple party track that announces their return and baller attributes. Nelly's turn is actually the highlight of the rather linear record, riding the flow like a pro and uplifting the guys instead of the other way around. In return, Jagged Edge found themselves with the biggest hit of their career...

"Where The Party At" hit the top three on the Billboard magazine Hot 100 in September of 2001. The song spent three weeks at #1 on their R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the track went to #10 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart, got to #2 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list, and made it to #3 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single reached the top-40 in Australia (#13), Canada (#17), the United Kingdom (#25), the Netherlands (#29), New Zealand (#33), and Germany (#37). The Jagged Little Thrill album, released in July of that year, peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and at #2 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums list, going on to sell over a million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2002, "Where The Party At" was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, losing to "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" by Eve and Gwen Stefani.

 

Despite the huge success of the song, Jagged Edge's follow-up single, the ballad "Goodbye",  failed to keep up the momentum, even though it was one of the many taking advantage of the "support the troops" trope post 9/11. It stalled at #58 on the Hot 100, though it did climb to #18 on the R&B Singles list, and #33 on the older-skewing Adult R&B format and #36 on the Rhythmic list. The third offering to radio, "I Got It 2", stopped at #34 on the R&B Singles chart, and only "bubbled under" the pop Hot 100 at #103. It was a redone version from the one on the album, substituting rapper Nas for Trina. But don't fret Jagged Edge will return to the series.

(5/10)

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Like many R&B singles at the turn of the millennium, "Where The Party At" was remixed for the single, swapping out Nelly for Dupri himself, and bringing on So So Def labelmates Da Brat, Lil Bow Wow, and Tigah. Of course a separate video was also filmed for the alternate version...

 

 Next up, Jagged Edge and Nelly live at an awards show in 2002...

And lastly, at the So So Def 20th Anniversary party in 2013...

Up tomorrow: British two-step king needs an update.