Songoftheday 4/22/24 - To who may need to know that's her on the floor, sliding down the pole wanted her for sure...

 

 

"Thoia Thoing" - R. Kelly

from the album The R. in R&B Collection, Vol. 1 (2003)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #13 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 14

 

Today's song comes from singer/songwriter/producer/convicted sexual felon R. Kelly, whose album Chocolate Factory had spun off a pair of top-40 crossover hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with "Ignition (Remix)" and "Snake".  A couple more tracks from the album got enough unsolicited urban radio airplay to make Billboard's R&B Singles chart, with "I'll Never Leave" spending 31 weeks on the list with a high or #29 (while also bubbling under the Hot 100 at #103), and "Forever" taking 17 weeks on the chart peaking at #71. Also, a non-album charity single, "Soldier's Heart", made it to #80 on the Hot 100 and #84 on the R&B Singles chart. However, this benevolent measure was like putting lipstick on a pig, as the initial repercussions of the Chicago Tribune investigation and subsequent indictment for child porn charges were beginning to tank his standing in the "mainstream" music community, even if the urban radio market and fans continued to support him for quite a bit. His record label, Jive, may have sensed this and to hedge their bets issued a greatest hits set, The R. in R&B Collection as an ominous "volume one" in the early autumn of 2003. The compilation not only had the single remix of "Ignition", but it contained their previously unreleased tracks. One of them, "Thoia Thoing", was released as a single (albeit only physically in 12" vinyl form). Written and produced by Kelly, the title is pretty nonsensical, even he's said it could "mean anything". The lyrics are just Kelly bragging about the various women he's been with, from a stripper to a group of party girls to a woman from Africa he met at the mall. The music video and production borders on appropriation with Asian-type lettering and imagery pervades the pseudo dancehall beats that's under it. It definitely takes cues from what Sean Paul was doing sonically, while presenting it with women in "Geisha face" that's disconcerting....

"Thoia Thoing" reached the top 20 on Billboard's Hot 100 in October of 2003, while climbing to #6 on their R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the song reached #6 on the Mainstream R&B chart, #23 on the Dance Airplay list, and #16 on the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, where the song was frequently paired with other Kelly hits on a physical CD single, it peaked at #10 in the Netherlands, and made the top-40 in the United Kingdom (#14), Belgium (#14 Flanders/#22 Wallonia), Australia (#16), Switzerland (#18), Germany (#23), and France (#30). The R In R&B Collection, released in September of that year, came in at #4 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #2 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a million copies (a separate DVD version separately hit the chart at #135 Billboard 200/#31 R&B Albums). 

Another of the new tracks, "Touched A Dream", tried to tone things down for the older folk, but it only managed to make it to #49 on the R&B Singles chart.

Kelly will be back to the series with a song from his previous album.

(3/10)

Up tomorrow: A young rapper grows up a little and makes his move with a Baby in tow.