Us3 | |
---|---|
Origin | London, England |
Years active | 1992–2014 |
Labels | Blue Note Us3 |
Members | Geoff Wilkinson |
Past members | Mel Simpson (1993–95) Vocalists: Rahsaan Kelly (1993–95) Kobie Powell (1993–95) Tukka Yoot (1993–95, 2013) KCB (1996–99, 2013) Shabaam Sahdeeq (1996–99) Michelob (1999–2001) Alison Crockett (1999–2002) Reggi Wyns (2003–05) Mpho Skeef (2003–05) Akil Dasan (2005–07, 2013) Gaston (2005–07) Adeline (2007) Brook Yung (2009) Sene (2009) Oveous Maximus (2011) Akala (2011) |
Website | us3 |
Us3 were a British jazz rap group founded in London in 1992. Their name was inspired by a Horace Parlan album, titled Us Three , produced by Alfred Lion, the founder of Blue Note Records. [1] On their debut album, Hand on the Torch , Us3 exclusively used samples from the Blue Note catalogue, all originally produced by Lion.
Us3 was created by London-based producer Geoff Wilkinson. [2] Formed in 1992 alongside production partner Mel Simpson, Us3 had two previous incarnations. [2] The first, a limited edition white label 12" release in 1990 called "Where Will We Be in the 21st Century". The release garnered the attention of independent label Ninja Tune, resulting in NW1's 1991 12" "The Band Played The Boogie", featuring UK rapper Born 2 B. [2] It sampled a dancefloor tune of the burgeoning jazz dance scene, Grant Green's "Sookie Sookie", originally released on Blue Note Records.
After London's Kiss FM added "The Band Played The Boogie" to its playlist, Wilkinson avoided a lawsuit and was granted rights to the archives of Blue Note Records. [2] One of the resulting demos, recorded in March 1992, was "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)", featuring UK trumpeter Gerard Presencer. [2] It sampled Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island". [2] Two years later, it entered the US top ten and was included on Hand on the Torch, the first Blue Note album to achieve platinum status (1,000,000 sales) in the US.
More touring followed, but personnel changes within Blue Note's owner, Capitol Records, allowed Wilkinson to leave and sign to Sony, working with the A&R executive that initially signed him in 1992.[ citation needed ]. Blue Note samples were not included and two new vocalists joined the group: rapper Michelob, and singer Alison Crockett. However, before the album was complete, a major personnel change at Sony left Us3 in limbo.[ citation needed ].
After winding up Us3 in 2014, Wilkinson went on to specialise in producing film and library music. [3]
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [4] | AUS [5] | AUT [6] | GER [7] | NLD [8] | NZ [9] | SWI [10] | US [11] | US R&B/HH [12] | ||
Hand on the Torch | 1993 | 40 | 51 | 11 | 29 | 81 | 28 | 21 | 31 | 21 |
Broadway & 52nd | 1997 | 93 | 90 | 28 | 80 | 91 | 39 | 48 | — | 90 |
An Ordinary Day in an Unusual Place | 2001 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Questions | 2004 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Schizophonic | 2006 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Say What!? | 2007 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Stop. Think. Run. | 2009 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Lie, Cheat & Steal | 2011 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
The Third Way | 2013 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Title | Year | Peak positions | Album | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [4] | AUS [13] | AUT [6] | BEL (FL) [13] | GER [7] | NLD [8] | NZ [9] | SWI [10] | US [14] | US R&B [15] | ||||
"Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" | 1992 | — | 32 | 3 | 24 | 22 | 18 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 21 | Hand on the Torch | |
"Tukka Yoot's Riddim" | 1993 | 34 | — | 24 | — | 97 | — | 28 | 26 | — | — | ||
"Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" (UK reissue) | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"I Got It Goin' On" | 1994 | 52 | — | — | — | — | — | 39 | — | — | — | ||
"Eleven Long Years" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"Come on Everybody (Get Down)" | 1997 | 38 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 49 | — | — | Broadway & 52nd | |
"I'm Thinking About Your Body" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"You Can't Hold Me Down" | 2001 | 94 | — | — | — | — | 98 | — | — | — | — | An Ordinary Day in an Unusual Place | |
"Get Out" | 2002 | 174 | — | — | — | — | 97 | — | — | — | — | ||
"Say You Belong to Me" | 2007 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Say What!? | |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released. |
Jazz rap is a fusion of jazz and hip hop music, as well as an alternative hip hop subgenre, that developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. AllMusic writes that the genre "was an attempt to fuse African-American music of the past with a newly dominant form of the present, paying tribute to and reinvigorating the former while expanding the horizons of the latter." The rhythm was rooted in hip hop over which were placed repetitive phrases of jazz instrumentation: trumpet, double bass, etc. Groups involved in the formation of jazz rap included A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Gang Starr, The Roots, Jungle Brothers, and Dream Warriors.
Digital Underground is an American alternative hip hop group from Oakland, California. Its lineup changed with each album and tour.
Hand on the Torch is the debut studio album by British jazz rap group Us3. It received much attention because of its mixture of jazz with hip-hop music, with material from popular jazz musicians of the 20th century being reimagined. All samples used on the album are from old Blue Note Records classics: the most famous was Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island", which Us3 used on the track "Cantaloop ". It came out as a single having two different music videos.
2001 is the second studio album by American rapper and hip hop producer Dr. Dre. It was released on November 16, 1999, by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records as the follow-up to his 1992 debut album, The Chronic. The album was produced mainly by Dr. Dre and Mel-Man, as well as Lord Finesse, and features several guest contributions from Hittman, Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Xzibit, Eminem, and Nate Dogg.
Broadway & 52nd is the second studio album by jazz-rap group Us3 and has a more dark, conscious mood to it than their first album.
"Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" is a song by British jazz-rap group Us3, originally released in October 1992 by Blue Note Records as the lead single from the group's debut album, Hand On the Torch (1993). The song was recorded as a demo a year before the group's first release and features a sample of Herbie Hancock's song "Cantaloupe Island". Another sample, the announcement by Pee Wee Marquette, is taken from the Blue Note album A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1 by The Art Blakey Quintet. "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" did not chart in the group's native UK, but in the US, it reached No. 9 and 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100, becoming the group's only top 40 single. It was subsequently re-released in UK where it peaked at No. 23. The song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 25, 1994 for selling over 500,000 copies.
The Notorious K.I.M. is the second studio album by American rapper Lil' Kim. It was released on June 27, 2000, by Atlantic Records and was her first album on her new label Queen Bee Entertainment. It debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 235,000 copies in its first week, achieving Lil' Kim's highest peak and biggest first-week sales, and reached the top of the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. A commercial success, The Notorious K.I.M. was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on August 2, 2000. It was the best-selling female rap album in 2000 with sales of over 1.5 million copies in the United States. To date, The Notorious K.I.M. has sold 4 million copies worldwide.
"I Love You" is a 1995 single by American singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige, taken from her second album My Life.
Sons of the P is the second studio album by American hip hop group Digital Underground. It was released on October 15, 1991 via Tommy Boy Records. Main recording sessions took place at Starlight Sound in Richmond, with additional recordings done at Unique Recording Studios in New York, Axiom Recorders in Tampa and The Disc Ltd. in Detroit. Production was handled by D.U. in-house production team credited as The Underground Production Squad, with Atron Gregory and member Shock G serving as executive producers. It features contributions from George Clinton, Stretch and Treach.
"Cantaloupe Island" is a jazz standard composed by Herbie Hancock and recorded for his 1964 album Empyrean Isles during his early years as one of the members of Miles Davis' 1960s quintet. Hancock later recorded a jazz-funk fusion version of the track, as Cantelope Island, on his 1976 album Secrets.
Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop is the debut album by the American hip hop producer and rapper Diamond D, released on September 22, 1992. The album features some of the earliest appearances from Diamond's later D.I.T.C. partners Big L and Fat Joe da Gangsta, as well as his crew the Psychotic Neurotics. Although Diamond D handles the majority of the album's production, other popular beat makers such as Large Professor, Q-Tip, Jazzy Jay, Showbiz and The 45 King co-produce on several tracks. The album features three singles: "Best-Kept Secret", "Sally Got a One-Track Mind", and 'What U Heard". The album was not released on vinyl; however, there were promotional copies pressed with full artwork which were highly sought-after. The vinyl edition was eventually made available as a reissue years later. The original promo version has a sticker on it; the reissue had this sticker scanned into the artwork.
"Baby-Baby-Baby" is a song by American girl group TLC. It was the second single released from their debut studio album, Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip (1992), and their second consecutive top-10 hit. It was the most successful single from the album, reaching number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, giving them their first number-one single on that chart.
An Ordinary Day in an Unusual Place is the third album by the jazz-rap group Us3, released in 2001. DJ First Rate, Michelob, and Alison Crokett contributed to the album. It was recorded in the home studio of Geoff Wilkinson.
"Didn't Cha Know?" is a song recorded by American singer Erykah Badu for her second studio album Mama's Gun (2000). It was written by Badu and produced by fellow Soulquarian member J Dilla, and features a sample from Tarika Blue's song "Dreamflower" (1977). The song was released as the second single from Mama's Gun on November 28, 2000, by Motown Records.
"Wake Up Everybody" is an R&B song written by John Whitehead, Gene McFadden and Victor Carstarphen.
"All This Love" is a single by DeBarge, released on October 17, 1982. The song was released as the third and final single from their second studio album of the same title on the Gordy label. The single would help DeBarge rise to R&B stardom. A cover version of the song was recorded by Patti LaBelle on her 1994 gold album Gems. A video for her version was also filmed.
"Love No Limit" is a song by American recording artist Mary J. Blige. It was co-written by Kenny Greene and Dave "Jam" Hall for her debut album, What's the 411? (1992), while production was overseen by Hall. Released in May 1993 by Uptown and MCA as the album's fourth and final single, the song became a top-5 hit, reaching number five on the US Billboard R&B singles chart. It also peaked at numbers 44 and 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100. Hall has stated in interviews, that he wanted to give the song an urban, hip-hop feel to a much more jazzy sound, when it was created.
"Ex-Factor" is a song by American recording artist Lauryn Hill for her debut solo studio album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998). Written and produced by Hill herself, it incorporates elements of R&B, neo soul and hip hop soul. The song features a sample of "Can It Be All So Simple" by Wu-Tang Clan. It has been claimed to be about Hill's former Fugees groupmate Wyclef Jean. The song was released as the second single from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill on December 14, 1998, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records.
Asleep in the Bread Aisle is the debut studio album by American hip hop recording artist Asher Roth. It was released on April 20, 2009, by School Boy, SRC and Universal Motown Records. The production on the album was largely contributed by Oren Yoel, while the album features guest appearances from CeeLo Green, Busta Rhymes, Keri Hilson, Jazze Pha, pop duo Chester French, and the hip hop group New Kingdom.
The Great Depression is the fourth studio album by American rapper DMX. It was released on October 23, 2001 by Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings. The production on the album was handled by multiple producers including Just Blaze, Dame Grease, Black Key and DMX himself. The album also features guest appearances by Stephanie Mills, Faith Evans and Mashonda.