Songoftheday 09/09/24 - It was weird how we met, she was with her mom at Bank of America...

 

"One Call Away" - Chingy featuring J. Weav

from the album Jackpot (2003)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (five weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 17

Today's song comes from rapper Chingy, whose debut album Jackpot had already scored a pair of big hits that made the top ten on both the "pop" Hot 100 and R&B Singles charts in Billboard magazine with "Right Thurr" and "Holidae Inn". The third and final single from the set was "One Call Away", which featured actor turned singer Jason "J. Weav" Weaver, who originally got his big musical break first as Michael Jackson in the TV miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream, then as the vocalist of younger Simba in the Disney animated movie The Lion King.  In 1995, a year after The Lion King, Weaver released an album on Motown Records, Love Ambition, that sent three singles into Billboard's R&B Singles chart, with "Luv Ambition (Call On Me)" making it to #32. Written by Chingy (under his real name Howard Bailey) with producers Trak Stars (Shamar Daughterty and Alonzo Lee) with former Con Funk Shun bassist Sedrick Martin, the lyrics have Chingy going the romantic route, with a meet-cute at a bank where he offered her a ride on a jet (um, this was his debut album he didn't have jet money yet) but then to more plausible date scenarios. But then he switched gears with "Girl, recognize game before game recognize you, You dealin' with a playa, true, now what you wanna do" which confuses everything since he already confessed to getting goofy around the fellas. The production from the Trak Stars is light and pop-friendly in its groove, and Weaver gives a smooth if undistinctive chorus reading.  By the end, I really don't know if he intends to stay with her, but the platitudes must have worked, since the audience gave him a hat trick top tenner in return....

"One Call Away" became Chingy's third top ten hit from Jackpot on the Hot 100 in March of 2004, while spending two weeks at #3 on the R&B Singles list and topping the Rap Songs chart for three weeks. On the radio, the song peaked at #6 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart, #2 on the Mainstream R&B list, and #3 on the R&B/dance-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single rose to #3 in New Zealand and #5 in Australia, and reached the top-40 in Ireland (#25) and the United Kingdom (#26). 

Weaver (or "J Weav") would leave the music industry, but continued to act on many movies and TV shows.

Chingy will be back to the series.

(5/10)

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Here's Chingy performing live on a radio gig...

Up tomorrow: This pop superstar is bad for your health.