Songoftheday 7/17/23 - Ain't you dudes heard "Grimey " man we stold your watch, it goes Indian style knees bent in dashiki...

 

 

"Nothin'" - N.O.R.E. (aka Noreaga)

from the album God's Favorite (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (four weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 17

Welcome back, folks, I'm back from vacation, and I appreciate those who are checking back in.

Today's song comes from rapper Victor Santiago, Jr., aka Noreaga from the duo Capone N Noreaga, who after the incarceration of Capone on parole violation charges released a solo album named for his second moniker, N.O.R.E. in 1998 on the indie Violator/Penalty, distributed by Tommy Boy Records. The second single from the record, "Superthug (What What)", topped Billboard magazine's Rap Singles chart, and crossed over to the all-genre Hot 100 top-40 in the autumn of 1998. A second album, Melvin Flynt - Da Hustler, was released a year later, and while the record also made the Billboard 200 top ten at #9 and sold gold (over a half million), its impact was muted, with the featured single "Oh No", produced by the Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo), stalled at #49 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart. 

In 2000, Noreaga reunited with Capone for The Reunion album, which was the duo's second top-40 ranking on the Billboard 200 at #31, but then again, the big single from the record, "Y'all Don't Wanna", only made it to #71 on the R&B singles chart. Of course, Capone's going back to prison didn't help things. After this set, Santiago left Tommy Boy, but since they held rights for the name, he was forced to go by N.O.R.E. for his new label Def Jam. He released his first set for the imprint, God's Favorite, in 2002. The first single from the set, "Grimey", was another Neptunes production, but again stopped at #62 at R&B (though spending 20 weeks on the list). That was followed by "Live My Life", which tried to capitalize on the momentum of its featured cameo rapper, Ja Rule, but it only spent a week on the R&B chart at #95. 

For the third and final single from God's Favorite N.O.R.E. went back to the Neptunes for "Nothin'", written by the duo with the rapper. Over their production, N.O.R.E. flexes his wealth as well as his down to earthness (preferring beer over Hennessy), while bragging about how he's a "real" criminal (he has done jail time) and will shoot at a moment's notice. But it's the Middle Eastern-inspired groove from the Neptunes that got this noticed, as well as the rapper's ability to glide over it, even with such inane boasts like "I sell more records than Creed". Nevertheless, "Nothin'" became N.O.R.E.'s biggest success...

"Nothin'" spent a month in the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in August of 2002, while spending a week at #2 on their R&B Singles chart and #3 on the Rap Singles list. On the radio, the single climbed to #6 on the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single peaked at #11 in the United Kingdom. The God's Favorite album, released in June of that year, spent a week at #3 on the Billboard 200 sales tally as well as on the R&B Albums list. 

N.O.R.E. will return to the series.

(4/10)

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Here's N.O.R.E. performing the song live on MTV in 2002...

Up tomorrow: R&B singer is overjoyed.