For this week’s Second Listen Sunday, I wanted to travel back to 1999 and show some love to R&B group Amyth, which was initially signed to LL Cool J Rock the Bells Records. Hailing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the group was formed in 1995 while the members were students at Southern University.
Steven Joyce, Otis “Labo” Jupiter, Jelani Philipps, and Wayne Spear made up the group and first appeared on their soundtrack to LL’s summer shark film “Deep Blue Sea” with the song. “Come Home With Me” In the fall of 1999, the group would release their first single “1, 2,3”. Uncle L’s longtime collaborator Rashad Smith produced the single.
The song was a typical nineties song that wanted to chase the club crowd. It finds the group members crooning about the complexities of love and emotional conflict, particularly the challenges of being torn between two romantic interests. There’s also a half-hearted rap by someone named Smokeman. Nothing stands out in the song, and it’s easy to see why it didn’t make a dent on the charts.
For the next single, “My Body,” the group dipped into the ballad bag and attempted to craft a song for the bedroom. The group penned this song while Alex Morris and Charlie Oliie Harris produced. Now, as a fan of slow jams, I am always open to a sensual song. However, in 1999, Silk had just dropped their third album, “Tonight,” and had the baby marker market on lock. So, in that regard, “My Body” comes across as a cliched seduction attempt.
The final single was a cover of the legendary ballad “Tender Love. “Now, I will give the group credit for attempting to make the song their own, but vocally, it’s a mess. The appeal of “Tender love” is always in the gentleness of Antoine “T.C.D.” Lundy’s vocal. In a retrospective about the track, songwriters Jimmy Jam &Terry Lewis also said they wrote it as a simple melody so even a wedding singer could sing it. Whoever was singing lead in the group didn’t understand the assignment.
The rest of the album is filled with typical nineties tropes, with nothing particularly memorable. One of the most surprising things about the album is that label head LL Cool J didn’t contribute any bars to it or enlist help from his connections to give the group at least one big single to push the album.
Due to weak promotion and no memorable tracks, like numerous R&B quarters before and after them, Amtyh was a one-album group. While “The World Is Ours” didn’t fully embrace their talent, the potential was apparent. It did show some potential, though.
Final Grade: C-
“The World Is Ours” is available on most streaming platforms.
