R&B lover man Keith Sweat already had an impressive three-album discography to his credit when he released his fourth album Get Up On It in June of 994. The lead single was the up-tempo “How Do You Like It”, which featured Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of TLC. While I can understand where R&B was at the time, it actually made sense for the lead single to be an up-tempo number.
However, after his breakthrough first album, Keith’s strong point for me are in his ballads and slow jams. Thus, the second single from Get Up On It titled “When I Give My Love” still ranks high in my personal playlist of Keith Sweat slow jams. Sweat wrote and produced the song with Fitzgerald Scott and Joe Jefferson. The song starts with an intro that slowly creeps up on the listener before beginning with the chorus and then transitioning into the first verse.
From the moment Sweat croons the first verse “Hush, my baby, baby, don’t say a word, I got so much love for you, girl, haven’t you heard. Now I’m on a mission, girl, my intuition says you should be mine, I should be yours”, you know you have a classic on your hands. The album version of the song clocks in at over six minutes, yet Sweat never over sings the song or becomes repetitive with his delivery of the lyrics.
I also enjoyed the video for the song as it pays homage to the seventies classic film Cooley High. I have had the pleasure of seeing Keith Sweat live in concert twice, and even own his live DVD, Keith Sweat, The Sweat Hotel Live. However, much to my dismay, I have never heard the song live, nor is there a remix for it.
Nevertheless, “When I Give My Love” is as forgotten gem in Keith’s already impressive catalog.
Final Grade: A
Get Up On It is available on all streaming platforms
This week’s Second Listen Sunday pick takes us back to 2006 to revisit “So Amazin’,” the third album from Christina Milian. Arriving in stores on April 19 of that year, the project was produced largely by Cool & Dre, sans one song, and saw the singer earn writing credits on nine of the album’s songs.
For this week’s Slow Jam Saturday, I want to showcase love for Rahsaan Patterson and his album track “Can We Wait a Minute” from his self-titled debut album, released in 1997.
For this week’s Second Listen Sunday, I wanted to take a trip back to 2000 and show some love to the R&B duo K-Ci & JoJo and their third album, “X,” which was released in stores on December 5, just in time for a holiday stocking stuffer. Arguably, the group suffered from the sophomore slump with their second album, as only two singles were successful.
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