Songoftheday 12/05/24 - My neighborhood my old G's the young n****s behind me, the don't spread the hustle hard these b*tches that remind me...

 

 

"Southside" - Lloyd featuring Ashanti

from the album Southside (2004)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #24 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 11

 

Today's song comes from R&B singer Lloyd Polite Jr., who performs under just his first name (confusing I know, since at the same time rapper Lloyd Banks was on the scene). Lloyd who grew up in Georgia, had been singing from a very young age, and was initially part of a boy-band put together by a member of the R&B group Klymaxx, Joyce Irby. However that act never got much notice, and evenutally Lloyd moved to New York City and got signed as a solo singer for rapper Ja Rule and producer Irv Gotti's label Murder Inc, which had morph to just "the Inc." by the 2000s. 

 

Lloyd released his debut album Southside in the summer of 2004, with the title track put out as a single a few months before. "Southside", written by Irby, Traci Hale, producer Wirlie Morris, and Tab Nkhereanye, had Lloyd conversing with his woman, who's father clearly doesn't approve, but still tries to flex how hard he is (with "pocket full of crack"?) but claims he's not in the gang lifestyle. He's paired with super hot in the biz at the time Ashanti, whose second album had spun off two top ten hits on Billboard's Hot 100 with "Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)" and "Rain On Me", as well as scoring a third as a featured singer on rapper Fabolous' "Into You", is the female counterpoint saying that her father will come around (how I have no idea). The production from Morris is sparse and reminds me of the Latin freestyle ballads of the 80s. The music video tries for the "Romeo and Juliet" meets cougar-young stud story, but it's a bit forced with Gotti being the "father figure", but it's not that offensive, and MTV ate it up....

"Southside" became Lloyd's first hit, reaching the top-40 on Billboard's Hot 100 in August of 2004, while peaking at #13 on their R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. On the radio, the song popped in at #33 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart as well. The Southside album, released in July of that year, came in at #11 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #3 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a half million copies.

The follow-up single from the debut, "Hey Young Girl", has Lloyd going for cougars to the younger crowd, but it stalled down at #61 on the R&B Singles chart, not going near the Hot 100. 

But Lloyd will be back to the series.

(6/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

A remix of the song featuring rapper Scarface from the Geto Boys was also put out...

And lastly, here's the pair appearing on BET...

Up tomorrow: the tragic tale of a troubled one-hit wonder.