EP113: Shana Redmond on Jodeci’s “Forever My Lady” (1991)

Episode 112

21st November 2019

Forever My Lady was the pick of our guest, UCLA professor, Dr. Shana Redmond who studies popular music, race and politics. Her first book, from 2014, was Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora and she’s currently working on two new books including Everything Man about the life and legacy of singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson. She discovered Jodeci at the precocious age of 11 and along with Morgan and Oliver, they discussed how Jodeci cut a different path into R&B of the era, whether the album’s ballads or dance jams aged better, and whether or not Jodeci covering the ‘60s pop group, The Association, was a wise decision or not. 

Episode notes

The Album: Jodeci’s Forever My Lady (1991)

“Don’t talk, just listen.”Jodeci announced themselves to the world on their 1991 debut album, Forever My Lady. They didn’t invent new jack swing but few R&B groups so seamlessly melded the bravado of hip-hop style with soulful pipes that could melt hearts and quicken pulses. Backed by the musical mentorship of Al B. Sure and A&R-ed by a young Uptown intern named Sean “Puffy” Combs, Jodeci all but heralded the end of ‘80s quiet storm respectability and stepped left of the youthful innocence of early New Edition and even the genteel charm of their contemporaries, Boyz II Men. K-Ci, JoJo, Mr. Dalvin and DeVanté Swing were the self-proclaimed “bad boys of R&B” and they wore that attitude on their sleeve and in their songs.

Forever My Lady was the pick of our guest, UCLA professor, Dr. Shana Redmond who studies popular music, race and politics. Her first book, from 2014, was Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora and she’s currently working on two new books including Everything Man about the life and legacy of singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson. She discovered Jodeci at the precocious age of 11 and along with Morgan and Oliver, they discussed how Jodeci cut a different path into R&B of the era, whether the album’s ballads or dance jams aged better, and whether or not Jodeci covering the ‘60s pop group, The Association, was a wise decision or not.
More on Shana Redmond
More on Forever My Lady

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Forever My Lady unless indicated otherwise):

  • Forever My Lady
  • Stay
  • Pebbles: Love Makes Things Happen
  • MC Hammer: Addams Groove
  • Come and Talk to Me
  • 112: Cupid
  • It’s Alright
  • Interlude (553 – Nasty)
  • Stay
  • U and I
  • Come And Talk To Me
  • Jodeci: Feenin (Remix)
  • The Association: Cherish
  • Cherish
  • X’s We Share
  • Forever My Lady

 

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there.

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In this episode...

Guests

  • Shana Redmond

About the show

Hosted by Oliver Wang and Morgan Rhodes, every episode of Heat Rocks invites a special guest to talk about a heat rock – a hot album, a scorching record. These are in-depth conversations about the albums that shape our lives.

Our guests include musicians, writers, and scholars and though we don’t exclusively focus on any one genre, expect to hear about albums from the worlds of soul, hip-hop, funk, jazz, Latin, and more.

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