While he is one of the stars of Showtime’s hit series The Chi, Luke James has been making noise in the industry for almost two decades. James began his career singing background for Tyrese with his childhood friend Quentin, with whom he would later form a duo under the moniker Luke & Q.
The duo did sign to J Records. However, their debut album never saw an official release. After the group disbanded to pursue separate ventures, James would go on to write tracks for the likes of Chris Brown, Britney Spears, and Justin Bieber. In addition, James has released three solo albums and two mixtapes.
For this week’s Slow Jam Saturday, I wanted to highlight the first time I heard James sing. In 2006 as my loyal readers know, I was living in the United Kingdom and spent many a night DJing. I was part of a record pool to stay up on my music during this time. One month one of the songs was “My Turn” by Luke & Q.
Since the song dropped in 2006, it had had a “Mr. Steal Your Girl” vibe before Trey Songz made it famous. The singer’s voices compliment each other, and they avoid R&B thuggery. The lyrics may seem contrived to some, but the duo makes it work.
“Girl, who that dude you with?
Could’ve swore I saw him push up on your friend
Girl, who that dude you with?
Never seen him buy you nothing, always spending your ends
He don’t ice your wrists
Don’t take no trips
Don’t spend no time
He don’t rock your spine
But I’ll ice your wrists
We’ll take the trips
I’ll spend the time
Girl, I’ll hit ya right
Now it’s my turn, forget about your man”.
While I’m 41 now and married with children, the song still resonates, and hopefully, one day, we will get the chance to hear their aborted album.
Final Grade: B+
“My Turn” is available on all streaming platforms.
Songstress Ashanti was experiencing significant success with two platinum albums at the time of the release of her inaugural holiday project, “Ashanti’s Christmas,” on November 18, 2003. Her label head, Irv Gotti, produced most of the album. This project comprises four original songs co-written by Ashanti, in addition to six cover versions of traditional Christmas standards and carols.
Vocal quartet A Few Good Man contributed two songs to the project: a cover of “Silver Bells” and the ballad “Merry Christmas My Dear,” both of which were produced by Daryl Simmons. Demail Burks, David Morris, Aaron Hilliard, and Tony Amey were the members of the group, and after introducing themselves in the festive video for “Silver Bells,” it was only fitting that they delivered a ballad on the album.
R&B legend Luther Vandross had already solidified his place in R&B when he released his first holiday album, “This Is Christmas. Arriving in stores on October 24, 1995, “This Is Christmas” validates Vandross’s ability to sing anything.