Songoftheday 2/15/23 -I know I got a lot of things I need to explain, but baby you know the name and love is about pain...
"Always On Time" - Ja Rule featuring Ashanti
from the album Pain Is Love (2001)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 24
Today's song comes from rapper Ja Rule, who scored his second top ten crossover pop hit as a lead artist with "Livin' It Up" in the end of 2001. The second single from his Pain Is Love album featured a singer new on the scene, Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas, who just uses her first name for recording. Ashanti, who grew up in Long Island, New York, did some acting as a child, but chose to pursue a music career. Eventually she was signed on to Irv "Gotti" Lorenzo and Ja Rule's Murder Inc. label, where she started out as a singer commissioned to do the musical "hooks" of tracks from rap artists on the label (to make them more "radio-friendly"). Her first big break came by appearing on Ja Rule's "Always On Time". Written by Ja Rule (credited to his real name Jeffrey Atkins), Marcus "7 Aurelius" Vest, and producer Irv Gotti, the song places the pair as a sparring couple that starts with the ominous toss-off line "stop the complaints and drop the order restraints" which sends up a red flag right there. The second has the rapper bringing up how she keyed and cut the leather in his car, but right after admits that he plays around with women knocking quite a few up in the process. The third has him trying to make a pact with her that she's his top lady, going into how she matches his sexual prowess. The original production is a nice break from the flood of sampling at the time, and the two have a nice chemistry between them. The music video has Ja Rule and Ashanti more like buddies, as the former juggles a bevy of women including making a tow truck call sensual for some reason. I find it hilarious that all during these shenanigans Ja Rule has this smirk on his face that's just like the one on David Schwimmer playing Ross on Friends...
"Always On Time" became Ja Rule's second #1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100, and first as a lead artist, in February of 2002, while topping their R&B Songs chart for eight weeks, his only time at the summit of that list, and peaked at #4 on the Rap Songs chart.. On the radio, the song rose to #5 on Billboard's Mainstream Top-40 airplay chart, spent nine weeks at #1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list, and topped the dance-oriented Rhythmic format for six weeks. Internationally, the single made the top ten in New Zealand (#2), Australia (#3), Switzerland (#4), and the United Kingdom (#6), and reached the top-40 in the Netherlands (#11), Canada (#16), Norway (#17), Germany (#22), Belgium (#22 Flanders/#26 Wallonia), Ireland (#22), and Italy (#29). At the Grammy Awards in 2003, "Always On Time" was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, which went to rapper Nelly and Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child for "Dilemma". Both Ja Rule (and this album) and Ashanti will be back to the series.
(6/10)
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and also at Live At The Apollo to an approving hometown audience...
And lastly, on Good Morning America, where she teases her own "Foolish" before bringing Ja on...
Up tomorrow: A pop giant comes out of his cocoon.
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