GR Productions: An Ode To The New Jack Swing Empire That Never Came To Be
"All my beats are very hype/yes GR is movin' it right" ---New Jack Swing (1989) Thirty years ago, New Jack Swing king Teddy Riley' was everywhere. Back in '89 you couldn't flip over a CD or 12 inch album cover and not see his name in the credits. Riley was only 21 years old and had already racked up a career's worth of hits that changed the direction of Black music. Riley's rump-shaking rhythms ended the reign of R&B's Great Black Pop Takeover and champagne-and-roses Quiet Storm. Joining forces with singer-musicians Aaron Hall, Timmy Gatling and later Hall's percussionist/vocalist brother Damion to form Guy, Their songs Groove Me , I Like, Spend the Night, Don't Clap, Just Dance and Teddy's Jam were R&B joints constructed like hip hop records. Instead of live horn and rhythm sections, the music was packaged in a whirling dervish of Riley's keyboard chords, drum machines and sampled breakbeat...
