Robbed hit of the week 3/27/23 - Angie Stone's "Brotha"...

 

 

"Brotha" - Angie Stone

from the album Mahogany Soul (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #52 (three weeks)

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from R&B singer Angie Stone, who grew up in the capital of South Carolina, Columbia, where she sang gospel before joining the female rap group the Sequence, which released three albums and scored three top-40 R&B hits in Billboard magazine, including "Funk You Up" which peaked at #15 there in 1980. In the early 90's Stone became the singer for the R&B band Vertical Hold, which had a top-40 R&B hit in 1993 "Seems You're Much Too Busy" (R&B #17) which also hit Billboard's Hot 100 at #73. 

After going through most of the 1990s doing studio work for Lenny Kravitz and D'Angelo, Stone was signed by Arista Records, where she released her debut solo album Black Diamond in 1999. The lead single from the record, the Gladys Knight-sampling "No More Rain (In This Cloud)", which became her first top ten hit on Billboard's R&B chart (and so far her only one) at #9, while scaling to #56 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album went to #46 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #9 on the R&B albums list, going on to sell over a half million copies. 

When Arista label head Clive Davis started his own imprint J Records, Stone moved over with him, and released her sophomore effort Mahogany Soul in the fall of 2001. The lead single from the record, "Brotha", was written by Angie with Howard Lilly and producers Raphael Saadiq, Robert Ozuna, and Glenn Standridge (the latter two as "Jake and the Phatman"). The lyrics elevate the virtues of black men, while the production was the jazzy neo-soul that D'Angelo made bank on. The music video featured filmed scenes of various men in positions of strength (including future Six Feet Under actor Matthew St. Patrick as a teacher", some cameos from celebrities like Will Smith and Luther Vandross, along with random shots of others as well as historic figures that seems like cut out of magazines. Of course the inclusion of R. Kelly and Bill Cosby has not aged well...

While "Brotha" became Angie's biggest hit on Billboard's Hot 100, it stalled just under the halfway mark in January of 2002, while climbing to #13 on the R&B Singles list. On the radio, the song hit #12 on the R&B Airplay chart and #3 on the older-skewing Adult R&B format. Internationally, the single made the top-40 on the Official British Singles chart at #37. The Mahogany Soul album, released in October of 2001, crested at #22 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #4 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a half-million copies.

The second single from the album was "Wish I Didn't Miss You", which sampled the O'Jay's classic "Back Stabbers" in its original form. The song hit #31 on the R&B chart, and #79 on the Hot 100, but its biggest success came in the dance remixes of the song by DJs Hex Hector and Mac Quayle made it a international success, going to #7 in Australia, while reaching the top-40 in Romania (#16), Belgium (#19 Flanders). and the UK (#30). It also spent a week at #1 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart in America. That song has become her most-revered track, and definitely her most streamed.

That was followed by "More Than A Woman" with singer Joe (Thomas), which went to #63 on the R&B Singles chart, and #4 on the Adult R&B radio list. The song brought Angie her first Grammy nomination for Best R&B Duo/Group Vocal Performance, which went home with Stevie Wonder and Take 6 for their live rendition of Wonder's "Love's In Need Of Love Today" (cough cough ringer cough cough). Another track from the set, "Bottles And Cans", was remixed for another Dance Club Play chart success at #18.

Angie returned in 2004 with her third disc Stone Love. The lead single, "I Wanna Thank Ya", an attempt to cater to the younger mainstream R&B market by including rapper Snoop Dogg, stalled down at #61 on the R&B Singles chart, and missed the pop Hot 100 altogether. However, again there was dance remixes done for the song, which got a second #1 club hit. The follow-up, "U-Haul", went to #68 on the R&B chart, but was nominated for the Best R&B Vocal Performance, losing to Alicia Keys for "If I Ain't Got You". While the album peaked at #14 on the Billboard 200, it sold less than her previous two sets, and after a greatest hits set Stone was let go from J Records.

Stone was subsequently signed to the legendary Stax Records, and released The Art Of Love & War, which topped Billboard's R&B Albums chart (her sole record to do so) and became her highest ranking on the Billboard 200 at #11. The first single from the record, "Baby", was a collaboration with veteran soul/pop singer Betty Wright. It rose to #22 on the R&B Singles chart, topped the Adult R&B airplay list for a week, and "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #103. It was her most recent club hit at #3, while landing Stone and Wright the Best Duo/Group R&B Vocal Grammy nomination, which went to Chaka Khan and Mary J. Blige for "Disrespectful". The second single from the set, "Sometimes", climbed to #26 on the R&B Singles chart, and #7 on the Adult R&B list, her most recent top-40/top-10 hit on each. A second album of Stax, Unexpected, only got to #133 on the Billboard 200, with the biggest single from the record, "I Ain't Hearin' U", stalling under the R&B top-40 at #42 in 2010. 

The singer moved on to the indie Saguaro Road Records releasing one album, 2012's Rich Girl, which went to #109 on the Billboard 200. It spun off two minor R&B hits with "Backup Plan" so far her most recent at #69. Angie then released a single album with Shanachie Records, Dream, which went to #3 on the R&B Albums chart and #59 on the Billboard 200. 

Since then Stone has put out two more albums independently, most recently Full Circle in 2019. Last month, she released a new single, "Kiss You".

(6/10)

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There was a rework of the single, dubbed "Brotha, Pt. II", which featured singer Alicia Keys and rapper Eve...

Next up is Angie performing at Live At The Apollo...

and lastly, live in concert...