Robbed hit of the week 2/26/24 - The Isley Brothers' "What Would You Do?"

 

 

"What Would You Do?" - The Isley Brothers

from the album Body Kiss (2003)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #49 (three weeks)

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the veteran R&B act the Isley Brothers, who by the 2000s was whittled down to just brothers Ronald and Ernie. After the success of the siblings backing up R. Kelly on his top ten hit "Down Low (Nobody Has To Know)" in the spring of 1996, and especially with Ronald's alter ego in the music video as kingpin "Mr. Biggs", the pair had seen a resurgence. They released Eternal in 2001 and scored a top-20 crossover hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with "Contagious". In fact, for their lead single from their second album on DreamWorks Records, "What Would You Do?", the label was credited as "The Isley Brothers Featuring Ronald Isley AKA Mr. Biggs". That takes a good self-worth (or a bit or delulu). Like almost all of the album save one track, the single was written and produced by R. Kelly. The plodding pacing of the track is definitely signature Kelly, with Ronald barraging the female audience with questions on what they would, well, do if he brought them on stage. It all presents as so circular with little payoff, but it is a vibe, as Kelly is a master of these things (if he isn't a master of keeping it in his pants when he should). The result got the brothers back on urban radio, and with singles sales back on the Hot 100. The music video is weird, with Ronald and Ernie on stage being usurped by Kelly taking over for some reason with wads of cash to hand out...

While "What Would You Do?" spent a hefty 27 weeks on Billboard's R&B singles chart with a high of #14, the song stalled right above the halfway mark on the Hot 100 in May of 2003. On the radio, the song peaked at #17 on the Mainstream R&B Airplay chart and #2 on the older-skewing Adult R&B format. The Body Kiss album, released in May as the single was cresting, came in at #1 on the Billboard 200 sales tally (notably deposing 50 Cent's massive Get Rich Or Die Tryin' album), and topped the R&B Albums list for three weeks, going on to sell over a half million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2004, Body Kiss was nominated for Best R&B Album, losing to Luther Vandross for his Dance With My Father set. 

The second single from Body Kiss was "Busted", which featured the sisterly trio JS, one of whom would go on and marry Ronald. The song went to #35 on Billboard's R&B chart, and #15 on the Adult R&B radio list. It would also be nominated for a Grammy in 2004 for Best R&B Duo/Group Performance with Vocal, which again went home with Luther Vandross, this time for his duet with Beyonce on the cover of "The Closer I Get To You".

(4/10)