Songoftheday 6/21/24 -I'm dancin' with a nice honey and her friend, one on the back and one on the front...

 

 

"Clubbin'" -  Marques Houston featuring Joe Budden and R.Kelly

from the album MH (2003)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #39 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 1

Today's song comes from singer Marques Houston, who grew up in Los Angeles, where he came together with Jerome Jones and Don Santos to form the R&B trio Immature in the early 1990. Trying to be marketed as a younger alternative to the hip-hop/new jack scene, the group scored a top-5 pop and R&B hit in 1994 with "Never Lie", when Marques was only just turning 13 years old. The trio (with Santos being replaced by Kelton Kessee after their first album) would put out five album, with the last two under the modified name IMx. After a lull after six top-40 pop hits with the last being "Stay The Night" in the beginning of 2000, they split, with both Houston and Jones pursuing acting careers. 

In 2002 as soon as IMx ended, Houston secured a solo deal with the T.U.G. label, run by Immature/IMx's manager Chris Stokes, which was distributed by Elektra Records. He released his debut single "That Girl" at the beginning of the year. But while the single made the R&B Singles top-40 at #24, it stalled down at #63 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 "pop" chart. 

To turn things around, Houston and T.U.G. brought in the "big guns" for the second release, "Clubbin'". This included rapper Joe Budden, who was hot off his top-40 crossover hit "Pump It Up" in the early summer, but also the man who wrote and produced the track, R. Kelly. Yeah, that R. Kelly. Who should have surprised no one by using the moniker "The Pied Piper" which even was what showed on the Billboard charts. JFC. Anyhoo... the lyrics are your basic party at the club fare, with the rote call to "throw your hands up" every now and then, until the festivities travel back to his house for the "afterparty". Suuuuure, Robert. The production was from Kelly's "latin-soul" period, while Houston does his best R. Kelly vocal impersonation. Budden is much more subdued here in this more mainstream milieu, and is more palatable than his own aggro rants. In return, Marques found himself back into the pop top-40...

"Clubbin'" spent a week in the top-40 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in November of 2003, while climbing to #12 on their R&B Singles list, spending a hefty 31 weeks there. On the radio, the song slipped on to the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic chart at #40. Internationally, the single was an even bigger hit overseas, reaching #15 in the United Kingdom. The MH album, released in October of that year, came in at #18 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #5 on the R&B Albums list. 

The third release from the MH set, "Pop That Booty", featured rapper/producer Jermaine Dupri who co-wrote the track, but it sounded just like "Clubbin'". The song peaked at #34 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, and stopped at #76 on the Hot 100. It also scored a second top-40 hit in the UK at #23.

In 2005, Houston returned with his sophomore solo set Naked, which reunited the singer with his IMx bandmate Jones (under the moniker "Young Romeo") on the lead single "All Because Of You". The song rose to #14 on the R&B chart and stopped at #69 on the Hot 100. But the follow-up did better, landing Marques his first and only solo top ten R&B hit with "Naked", a song that came close to the Hot 100 top-40 at #47. The Naked album reached #13 on the Billboard 200 and #5 on the R&B Albums list.

By this time, T.U.G. Records was being distributed by Universal Motown, and his third disc Veteran in 2007 ended up topping Billboard's R&B Albums chart, and coming in at #5 on the Billboard 200 (though spending half the weeks of its predecessor). Of the three singles that made the R&B Singles chart, the second, "Circle", scraped the R&B top-40 at #37, while landing his so-far last Hot 100 appearance at #78. Moving to the Fontana wing of Universal, Houston released albums in 2009 and 2010, with each reaching the top half of the Billboard 200 and spinning off two minor R&B hits, the last being "Pulling On Her Hair" with rapper Rick Ross which went to #64. Going indie in 2013 on the Shenachie label, Houston released Famous, which popped on to the Billboard 200 at #180 and #33 on the R&B Albums list.

After a reunion with IMx for touring, Marques returned after almost a decade in 2022 with his most recent solo album ME. Right now, his single "Admit It" is climbing the Adult R&B Airplay chart, where it currently stands at #13. 

(5/10)

Tomorrow I'll roll out my top hits of this past week, then on Monday Song of the day will be back with a pop-rock band caught up in the high-beams.