Songoftheday 5/13/24 - You know it's leather when we ride wood grain and rawhide, doing what we do watching screens getting high...

 

 

"Suga Suga" - Baby Bash featuring Frankie J

from the album The Smokin' Nephew (2003)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (four weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 27

 

Today's song comes from rapper Baby Bash, who grew up as Ronald Bryant in the Bay Area of California. After aspirations of a sports career were cut short by injury, Bryant delved into hip-hop music, originally naming himself Baby Beesh. He moved to Houston and was a part of a couple of Latin groups before coming under the wing of local indie label Dope House Records. Baby's debut album Savage Dreams came out in 2001, followed by On Tha Cool a year later. With a bit of regional buzz, he was signed by major label Universal, changing his moniker to Baby Bash in the process. 

In 2003, Baby Bash released The Smokin' Nephew. The lead single on the set was "Suga Suga", which paired Bryant up with another up and coming Latino artist, Frankie J, who had just scored his own breakthrough hit in the summer of that year with "Don't Wanna Try". The song was written by Bryant and Frankie, and produced by Nathan "Happy" Perez, who helped produce Bash's first indie albums. The lyrics have him giving props to his woman, who's there in good and bad times. The production is anchored by a repeated guitar lick that sounds more alternative rock (think Crazy Town) than hip-hop along with electric piano touches. Frankie J's vocals are laid back to the point of hypnotic, while Baby Bash's melodic flow which changes tempo mid-line at times reminds of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. The music video has the pair hanging out in the neighborhood with a bunch of hotties about. With  lighthearted lyrical material, pop radio latched on to this, and the pair found themselves with a big hit...

"Suga Suga" became Baby Bash's first hit and Frankie J's second, reaching the top ten on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in December of 2003, as well as on the Rap Singles chart at #10, while only getting to #54 on their R&B Singles chart (probably a guitar aversion on radio's part). On the radio, the song peaked at #2 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart as well as on the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single topped the chart in New Zealand, made the top ten in Switzerland (#2), Australia (#3), Germany (#4), Austria (#8), and Belgium (#8 Wallonia). It also reached the top-40 in France (#11), Czechia (#12), Denmark (#13), Poland (#18), Sweden (#28), the United Kingdom (#29), and Italy (#39). The Smokin' Nephew album, released in September of that year, came in at #48 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #32 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a half-million copies.

Baby Bash's follow-up, Shorty Doowop, had more unknown Tiffany Villareal as the guest, but it exuded a smoother soul that was even better than "Suga". However, pop radio didn't bite, and it only "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #115.

Both Baby Bash and Frankie J will be back to the series.

(6/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's Baby Bash on his AOL Sessions webisode...

and lastly, an acoustic version from Baby Bash and Frankie J...

 

 Up tomorrow: This Atlanta rapper/actor isn't taking things sitting down.