Songoftheday 8/16/23 -If I can chose a place to go it gotta be far away, from here we could crossover like Hardaway...

 

 

"If I Could Go!" - Angie Martinez featuring Lil' Mo and Sacario

from the album Animal House (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #15 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 15

 

Today's song comes from Angie Martinez, who was first known as a radio personality at the influential station Hot-97 in her hometown of New York City, where she started from the bottom before climbing the ranks to become one of the biggest DJ's on the channel. With that exposure, Angie was able to dabble in music herself, and in the summer of 1997 was featured on Lil' Kim's top ten crossover hit "Not Tonight".  She continued to pop up on other artist's records as record labels were vying for her built-in airwaves fanbase before signing to Elektra Records (at first thru East/West) at the turn of the century. 

Martinez's first album, Up Close And Personal, was released in 2001, but while the lead single from the set put out earlier, "Mi Amor", featured none other than Jay-Z, the single stalled down at #51 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart. Mind you, it was an awful record with an annoying ringing sound that didn't lend itself outside the harder rap crowd that wouldn't go near this anyway. A second try, "Dem Thangs", was an early Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) production, but that only got to #80 on the R&B list. Perhaps her lack of flow couldn't be helped by Pharrell, though even the production was subpar for them.

But Angie's clout with the top radio station in America kept her from being tossed, and after regrouping, returned with a second album Animal House in 2002. The first single from the set, "If I Could Go!", definitely attempted to cast off the underground rap aspirations and tried to paint her like a rapping J-Lo. But like J-Lo, it was totally manufactured, with guest rapper Jamar "Sicario" Austin and singer Cynthia "Lil' Mo" Loving pulling most of the weight on this record (they also co-wrote the track). Lil' Mo, who had an almost top-10 pop hit in the summer of 2001 with "Superwoman (Pt. 2)", brought some heft to the chorus, while newcomer Sacario doing the usual braggadocio that sounds weird from an unknown, but Angie herself sounds like she's just annoucing the record as it is. The production from Ricardo "Rick Rock" Thomas was a more basic take on a J-Lo record, not offensive but not especially striking. Regardless, her popularity was still peaking, and the more accessible-sounding record found a home on the radio, giving Martinez her first and biggest hit billed as a lead artist...

"If I Could Go?" reached the top-20 on Billboard's Hot 100 in September of 2002, while climbing to #26 on their R&B Singles chart and #11 on the Rap Singles list. On the radio, the song went to #11 on the Mainstream Top-40 airplay chart, and peaked at #7 on the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format (which Hot 97 fit in). Internationally, where she was pretty much unknown, the single was only a minor hit in Germany (#47) and the United Kingdom (#61). The Animal House album, released in August of that year, still rode her fame, getting to #11 on the Billboard 200 sales tally and #6 on the R&B Albums list. 

A second single from the set, "Take You Home" featuring a pre-"Milkshake" Kelis, stopped at #85 on the Hot 100, and #62 on the R&B Singles chart. 

After this, Angie would go back to her broadcasting career, though she almost was the fourth judge on American Idol in its second season. She stayed with Hot 97 until 2014, when she moved to the city's other urban crossover station, Power 105.1. 

Sacario, though signed to Angie's boutique label Animal House, where he only put a song "Live Big (Car Keys)" with Angie and Fat Joe on the soundtrack to Transporter (where "If I Could Go!" also appeared). He never released any albums on his own, but has been producing a stream of mixtapes since. 

As for Lil' Mo, she'll be back to the series.

(4/10)

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Here's Angie and Sacario appearing on BET to perform live...

Up tomorrow: Country singer goes to the mat with some libations.