Songoftheday 10/19/22 - Workin' all day pull up and don't pay, girls in the club ice grillin' these thugs...

 

 

"Wait A Minute" - Ray J featuring Lil' Kim

from the album This Ain't A Game (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 5

 

Today's song comes from R&B singer Ray J (Norwood, as in singer Brandy's younger brother), who had landed a top-40 pop hit of his own in the spring of 1997 with "Let It Go" from the soundtrack to the movie Set It Off as well as his debut album Everything You Want. Dropped by his original label Elektra Records, Ray moved over to Atlantic. There he contributed a song to the soundtrack for Eddie Murphy's 1998 Dr. Doolittle film reboot, "That's Why I Lie", which became a top-40 hit in New Zealand at #22, but stiffed in the States. 

In 2001, Ray J and sister Brandy collaborated on a cover of Phil Collins' somber hit "Another Day In Paradise", for a tribute record to the drummer/pop-star, Urban Renewal. It wasn't released in the U.S., but overseas the single was a big success, peaking at #2 in Germany and #5 in the UK and top ten all across Europe. 

Ray J returned in the spring of 2001 with the lead single from his sophomore album This Ain't A Game, his first on Atlantic. "Wait A Minute" featured rapper Lil' Kim, who was just about to reach #1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 pop chart as part of the collective that remade "Lady Marmalade" for the Moulin Rouge movie. The song was written by Ray and Kim with the Neptunes production team of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. It's a pretty basic party track, albeit with some references to marijuana smoking ("Cali sticky green" and "got trees roll it up") along with an admittedly funny sideeye of "Hey wait a minute ain't that Brandy's brother?". Lil Kim's verse is just okay, and the Neptunes were just starting out, and this wasn't one of their memorable hooks, but it was capable enough to bring him back to radio, and with decent sales he landed his second crossover hit. Brandy herself even showed up for a cameo in the music video...

"Wait A Minute" became Ray J's second top-40 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 in June of 2001, while it rose to #8 on their R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the song hit #5 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and #17 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single was a minor hit in the United Kingdom (#54), Germany (#72), the Netherlands (#75), and Switzerland (#80). The This Ain't A Game album, released in June as "Wait A Minute" was cresting, placed at #21 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #9 on the R&B Albums list. 

The follow-up single, "Formal Invite", was also a Neptunes production, but stalled down at #54 on the R&B Singles chart. The third effort, "Keep Ya Head Up" (not to be confused with the 2Pac hit), was done up by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins (Destiny's Child's go-to), but that didn't even make the R&B list, "bubbling under" at #107. But Ray J and Lil' Kim will be back to the series.

(4/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's Ray J performing the song on a TV appearance on the BET channel...

Up tomorrow: Pop singer gives her approval.