“I got this crazy feeling, I’m gon’ be single again..”

the producer/artist partnership is so very crucial. when it’s wrong, it’s just wrong, or worse, meh. but when it’s just right, no horrible Queen Latifah/Common basketball movie can deny it. case in point-the difference between Chrisette Michele’s first album produced by LA Reid vs. her second album produced by Neyo. i chose the Keri Hilson track produced by Timbo off the top because it’s for anyone who’s ever loved Jodeci (the grown and sexy set who are currently feeling the city’s latest radio station-go G98.7, i can’t follow y’all on the tweeter, but hey. thank you for playing my favorite Toni Braxton track, the best of the latest Cee-lo, and Groove Theory specifically). In the last entry dedicated to And It Don't Stop (ed. Racquel Cepeda), Teddy Riley's in the spotlight:

“Standing on the patio of Teddy Riley’s rooftop condo-on-the-Hudson, I could hear the music of a new era. If Hendrix, Brown, Stone, and Gaye are the starting point, and Prince the bridge, Teddy Riley is the other side. Many stars are biting the New Jack Swing, including producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis-there’s a story that when they presented New Edition’s latest album to an MCA honcho, he wouldn’t accept it until they had the “Teddy Riley sound on some of the tracks,” a sound you can now hear on the group’s hit “If It Isn’t Love.”

Everybody wants to get paid. Deborah Harry’s getting the New Jack Swing treatment on a rerelease of “Rapture”, Boy George is slated for a Teddy Riley-Gene Griffin production, and there’s a Riley tune on the Jacksons’ next album called “She.” (62)

sometimes, the best call a producer can make is to check his ego and just produce, but when he’s so inspired that he can take a real risk and try something new, true musical revolution can be achieved.

here’s hoping the forthcoming Common reunion with NoID will be as sweet an aural (re)union. the previews have been good(ish), but can they hold for the whole movie?