Hearing these ladies passionately belt their tunes out about how to treat a lover right and within moments, being in a trance to their grooves. Preach, teach, lead the way.
Listening to these Funky Divas with careful attention - a curiousness surfaced to understand how they had managed to create such a new, unique sound that still sounded deliciously ol’ school.
The New Jack Movement Explodes
New jack swing (aka:“swingbeat”) is the late-1980s to mid-1990s hybrid movement in sound that fused rhythms, samples and hip-hop within the framework of classical R & B. Traditional R & B music held strong with the powerful female voices of such brickhouses as Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Dionne Warrwick and Whitney Houston-New Jack appealed to the same appetite but for today's generation.
There was just something unique about the vigor in which these women glided over the beats with such heart and truth. However it was also evident that the female African-American voice had become more a figment of classical past echoes, rather than immediately present on the radio.
The First Ladies Couldn't Come at a More Opportune Time in Hip Hop
The new jack swing entered the music scene at an explosive time with the introduction of the concept of the music video finding its actual power to stimulate and create visibility for an eclectic MTV generation.
The colorful colours of Hot-lanta’s, TLC with their tightly choreographed moves in such videos as “What About Your Friends,” and “Ain’t too Proud to Beg” was mixed with their message of safe sex through attaching condoms to their apparel.
This skyrocket them to becoming the best selling female group ever at the time. The disturbingly long, yet fascinating and unforgettable bling nails of New York based SWV showed that they really were some Sisters With Voices, achieving them mainstream success with such jams as “Weak,” and “So Into You.”
The Emergence of Ghetto-Fab Style
The large gold hoop earrings became on of the biggest visual adaptations by mainstream culture at large and you could see many women bussin’ out the attitude alongside the hoops that were popularized by Xscape in “Understanding”, Brownstone in “If You Love Me” and P Diddy’s signature girl act, Total in “Can’t You See.”
Without the emergence of new jack styles leading women groups, it would not be possible for today’s R&B super groups such as Destiny’s Child to exist with such great success and style iconography.
Women on-top of the Male-oriented Hip Hop Scene
When it comes to a female solo-artists that can be credited as being the most successful players in contributing to firstly the new jack movement, and then challenging and innovating the beats to a newer sound that R&B would take in the latter 1990s, two people come to mind: Aaliyah and Mary J. Blige.
- Aaliyah’s short career she managed to sell 32 million copies of her albums despite her tragic death at the age of 22.
Aaliyah’s music acted as a coherence link from the new jack swing movement into the more eastern influenced, experimental sound of beats with a more soft, jazzier voice. Aaliyah was the first musical prodigy of the super production team of Timberland & Missy Elliot, who remain widely relevant in music even today. There is clear and heavy influence of particularly TLC in Aaliyah's movements on video and
today the influence of Aaliyah everywhere, from the music of Ciara to that of Rihanna.
A visible trace of lineage for the black female emciees comes from the new jack movement's ability to ancor itself as a omnipresent female voice in R & B history.
- continued in The Realness of Hip Hop's First Ladies, Old School Hip Hop Beats Legacy
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