Urban Thought Collective

Not all one hit wonders suck. Yes, Skee-Lo sucks. A lot. Like, a whole lot. But Digable Planets doesn’t suck. Often, being a one hit wonder is based on luck. Maybe the artist hits the zeitgeist for that particular moment in time. A year passes, the music world has moved on to a new trend, and the artist is left hit-less. They still may put out quality music, but no one is buying it. Of course, sometimes the artist does suck. See Gerardo. Anyhoo, here are some one hit wonders I think don’t necessarily suck. Holla.

ADINA HOWARD | “FREAK LIKE ME”
“I will take you around the hood on a gangsta lean.” Ahh jeah! The first time I heard this song, I figured it would probably be a hit. Then when the video came out? Come on, was there any doubt? This track was definitely one of the anthems during spring break, freshman year. You could run all you wanted to, but there was no escaping Adina’s freaky stylings. Unfortunately, another hit did escape her grasps. Oh well, we’ll always have this video.

TRACY LEE | “THE ANTHEM (IT’S PARTY TIME)”
“Hey it’s party time.” Can I get a hell yeah?!? This track really did get the party jumping back in the day. I respect this track so much, I don’t have any snark to offer….OK maybe a little. Whenever the hook of your biggest song is derived from a Saturday morning cartoon, you’re pretty much guaranteed to never have another hit. I hope he enjoyed the ride.

AHMAD | “BACK IN THE DAY”
This song was pretty much tailor made for Old School Spotlight, wasn’t it? How many of ya’ll actually remember ’85? I stared 4th grade, and got all A’s and 2 B’s the whole year [nerd alert]. The Chicago Bears literally scared the bejeezus out of me. “The Thundercats” premiered and I, along with every other 9 year old boy, immediately fell in love with Cheetara. And of course, “We Are The World” Ah yeah…good times.

CHI ALI | “AGE AIN’T NOTHIN’ BUT A NUMBER”
“Try to refrain from playing them childish games.” Maybe Chi should’ve refrained from playing with guns , but that’s another story. Back to the music. I always thought this video was hilarious. The off-the-charts misplaced swag. The stunna shades. The 20 year old model playing a 13 year old. The subsequent dis. “I can get in between.” I can just picture a 15 year old Kanye West watching this video going “Nah dog. That should be me. That’s go’n be me. This dude has NOTHING on me.”

And now…for something a little whacked out…

NENEH CHERRY | “BUFFALO STANCE”
I didn’t really know what to think when I first saw this video. Is she a rapper? Is she a singer? She was kind of Lauryn Hill’s predecessor wasn’t she? At any rate, she was cute so I hung in there. Ultimately, this is a quirky funky little track that I totally don’t understand. It’s all good though. Here’s something I bet you guys didn’t know: in 2004 Neneh became a grandmother. I am now officially ancient.

Diallo Tyson is a filmmaker, comedian and old school music junkie. When he’s not busy, he is a rapper with the group “Two Pimps and a Dream.” Step into a groovin’ time machine every week on UTC.