50 in the US R&B charts and appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Juice in 1992. Weaponized synth hooks combined with hard-hitting drum machine beats were Teddy Riley’s hallmark and he didn’t disappoint with the super-funky “Is It Good To You,” the keyboardist/producer’s collaboration with sweet-voiced Tammy Lucas. – Naima Cochraneīest New Jack Swing Songs: 40 Party Starting Jams 40: Teddy Riley & Tammy Lucas – Is It Good to You Enjoy these jams that prompted us to dress in our finest, dance our hardest, and chill the coldest. It includes foundational tracks from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and LA and Babyface key Teddy Riley productions songs from essential New Jack-era movies and even one hit wonders that simply encapsulate everything that defines New Jack Swing.
This list was chosen and ranked based not just on the overall quality of the song, but how impactful the track was to the genre and the culture. It also reshaped the music industry both by creating space for new, young executives with a fresh perspective and by making hip-hop more accessible to a wider audience, opening the door for rap’s increasing mainstream presence. New Jack Swing quickly expanded beyond music into television, film, and fashion. “For gangsters and their facsimiles,” Cooper wrote of Riley in 1987, “here’s the new jack talisman, warding off the evil of poverty, failure and longevity…This is about living now, money, and living large.”Įxplore the history of the New Jack Sound with the Wondery podcast, Jacked: Rise of the New Jack Sound. Sure and Heavy D., were all from uptown, and by extension the fashion and energy of from the streets was inseparable from the sound. The majority of the earliest artists, producers and figures who shaped New Jack Swing culture, including Riley, Harrell, Keith Sweat, Riley’s fellow Guy members Aaron and Damien Hall, Al B. It was aspirational the source from which Uptown Records founder Andre Harrell coined the term “ghetto fabulous,” and the inspiration for the label’s ethos. Uptown was a land of style, flash, shine…and parties. Teddy took the sound and added Harlem’s flavor to it: The energy of hustlers, gangsters, fly girls, and those hoping to either be – or be with – any of the above.