Robbed hit of the week 08/05/24 - Mary J. Blige's "Not Today"...

 

 

"Not Today" - Mary J. Blige featuring Eve

from the album Love & Life (2003) and Barbershop 2: Back In Business (Original Soundtrack) (2004)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #41 

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the self-proclaimed "queen of hip-hop soul", Mary J. Blige, whose sixth studio release Life & Life in 2003 had scored a pair of moderate hits with "Love @ 1st Sight" and "Ooh!".  The third American single from the record paired Blige up with female rapper Eve, who's last album at the time Eve-Olution had also landed a pair of hits, with "Gangsta Lovin'" with Alicia Keys going a month at the #2 spot follows by the top-40 "Satisfaction". "Not Today", written by the two artists with producer Dr. Dre, Mike Elizondo, Theron Feemster, and Bruce Miller, has the pair confronting a lover in the middle of a break-up, both saying they are sick and tired of the games (without spelling clearly out what the betrayal was though it's either cheating or stealing which are equally wrong).The production from Dr. Dre is tight and ominous, and with Mary and Eve at their strong point, the jam is unassuming but has a power that grows during the record. With a music video that clearly is about cheating, and placement in the second Barbershop movie starring Ice Cube, the song seemed like another winner...

While "Not Today" rose to #21 on Billboard magazine's R&B Single chart, the song stalled one notch away from the top-40 on the Hot 100 in January of 2004. On the radio, the track climbed to #35 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart, #18 on the Mainstream R&B airplay list, and #24 on the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. The Barbershop 2 soundtrack, released in February of 2004, peaked at #18 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #8 on the R&B Albums list.

A fourth single from the record, "It's A Wrap", was a minor R&B hit at #71. Another cut from the international version of the record, "Whenever I Say Your Name" with Sting, was a minor British hit at #60, but did win a Grammy for the pair for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. 

 

As for the Barbershop soundtrack, a second single, "I Can't Wait" by Outkast affiliate Sleepy Brown, made the top-40 and will be on the main Song of the Day series. Meanwhile, the Vandross-sampling track "Never" from Keyshia Cole which also featured Eve, was the former's breakthrough single at #71 on Billboard's R&B chart. 

(6/10)

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Here's Mary and Eve performing at the VIBE Awards...