Robbed hit of the week 11/14/22 - Tyrese's "I Like Them Girls"...

 

 

"I Like Them Girls" - Tyrese

from the album 2000 Watts (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #48

 

This weeks "robbed hit" comes from singer and model Tyrese (Gibson), whose self-titled debut album in 1998 had scored a pair of crossover pop hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart with "Nobody Else" and "Sweet Lady".  The following year, he joined fellow R&B singer heartthrobs Ginuwine, Case, and R.L. (the latter from the group Next) for the song "The Best Man I Can Be" from the movie The Best Man, which hit #20 on Billboard's R&B chart and #77 on the pop Hot 100. 

 

Tyrese returned in 2001 with his sophomore effort 2000 Watts, his second on RCA Records. Written by producers Harvey Mason Jr. and Damon Thomas (aka "The Underdogs") along with J. Valentine and Philip White, the song is a basic party track, with Gibson going to a party to find someone to bang, and macking on the women he fancies there. At least Tyrese can sell this with what he has to offer, which is in full display in the music display, where he's shirtless most of the time as he goes around his hometown of the Watts section of Los Angeles. The production is tight and has a nice groove, it's a shame it's not around some meatier material...

While "I Like Them Girls" climbed to #15 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, the song stopped a couple notches above the halfway mark on the pop Hot 100 in June of 2001. On the radio, the track did the best at the dance-oriented Rhythmic format, peaking at #7, while getting to #15 on the R&B Airplay list. Internationally, the single was Tyrese's sole success Down Under, hitting #50 in Australia. The 2000 Watts album, released in May of that year, claimed his first top ten placing on the Billboard 200 sales tally at #10, and #4 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a half million copies (which was half of what his debut did).

The second single from the 2000 Watts album, "What Am I Gonna Do", rose to #24 on the R&B Singles chart, and #71 on the pop Hot 100. 

In June of 2000, Tyrese starred in the movie Baby Boy with rapper Snoop Dogg and Taraji P. Henson. The film was a critical success as well as a commercial one, making its budget and more back. A song from the soundtrack, "Just A Baby Boy" with Snoop and rapper Mr. Tan, also appeared on 2000 Watts. It climbed to #40 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart and #90 on the pop Hot 100.

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Here's Tyrese performing "I Like Them Girls" live on The Tonight Show...