 |
Smooth | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Juanita Stokes |
| Also known as | MC Smooth, Needa S. |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Hip hop, R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Rapper, singer |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Labels | Crush Music, Jive, Perspective |
Juanita Stokes, currently known as Needa S. (formerly Smooth), is an American singer and rapper. [1]
Stokes began her career as MC Smooth, signing a record deal with the independent label Crush Music in 1990. She released her debut single "Smooth & Legit" that year, which peaked at #11 on the U.S. Rap chart. Her debut album Smooth & Legit followed on April 27, 1990 (peaking at #72 on the R&B/Hip Hop chart) and was produced by her brother Chris Stokes and Arabian Prince. Two singles "You Gotta Be Real" and "Where is the Money?" followed but did not garner much airplay. Three years later, she signed a major label deal with Jive Records and began work on her sophomore album, dropping the MC from her moniker. Her first single under the new deal, "Female Mac" garnered some airplay, and it was soon followed by the release of her second album You Been Played on August 24, 1993, which peaked at #77 on the R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. The title track was released as the set's follow-up single. Soon after, she began work on her third studio album, releasing the first single "Mind Blowin'" in 1995. The single began her breakthrough hit, hitting #7 on the Rap chart, #31 on R&B, and #75 on the Billboard Hot 100 (her first entry on that chart). Her self-titled third album was released on August 1, 1995, peaking at #35 on the R&B/Hip Hop albums chart and #17 on the Heatseekers chart. Four more singles would be released from the project: "Blowin' Up My Pager" "It's Summertime" "Love Groove" and "Undercover Lover" of which the latter three garnered her success in the UK.
Later that year, she collaborated with the R&B group Immature on their single "We Got It" which was released as a single in 1996 and became a hit, peaking at #37 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the R&B chart. She would later collaborate with them again on the song "Watch Me Do My Thing". She released a stand-alone single, "Love & Happiness" which had some airplay on the R&B stations.
In 1997, Smooth moved to Perspective Records, a joint venture with A&M Records and reintroduced herself as a R&B singer with alternative influences. She released her first single under the label, "Strawberries" that year, which became her biggest hit to date, peaking at #17 on R&B and #49 on the Hot 100. Her fourth album, Reality was released on March 10, 1998. It would peak at #48 on the R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart and #32 on the Heatseekers. One more single, "He Thinks She Don't Know" was released.
In 2003, she rebranded herself once again, under the Needa S moniker. Two singles "Sensitive" and "Baby's Mama" were released, but her fifth studio album What? was eventually shelved.
In 2013, it was announced she has joined the upcoming BET reality series Hip Hop Sisters which will focus on six female rappers' lives and their attempts to relaunch their careers. Other rappers confirmed to appear are MC Lyte, Lady of Rage, Monie Love, Lil Mama, and Yo-Yo. [2]
She has a daughter named Earanequa Carter, born in 1990. She has a daughter Jaysa Charles born 2001. [3] [4]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US R&B /HH [5] | US Heat. [6] | UK R&B [7] | ||
| Smooth & Legit | 72 | — | — | |
| You Been Played | 77 | — | — | |
| Smooth |
| 35 | 17 | 18 |
| Reality |
| 48 | 32 | — |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [8] | US R&B [9] | US Rap [10] | UK [7] | UK Dance [7] | UK R&B [7] | |||||||||
| "Smooth & Legit" | 1990 | — | — | 11 | — | — | — | Smooth & Legit | ||||||
| "You Gotta Be Real" [lower-alpha 1] [11] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Where Is The Money" [lower-alpha 1] [12] | 1991 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "Female Mac" | 1993 | — | — | 47 | — | — | — | You Been Played | ||||||
| "You Been Played" | — [lower-alpha 2] | 54 | — | — | — | — | Menace II Society Soundtrack and You Been Played | |||||||
| "Mind Blowin'" | 1995 | 75 | 31 | 7 | 36 | 14 | 7 | Smooth | ||||||
| "It's Summertime (Let It Get Into You)" | — | — | — | 46 | 20 | 8 | ||||||||
| "Love Groove (Groove With You)" | 1996 | — | — | — | 46 | 22 | 10 | |||||||
| "Undercover Lover" | — | — | — | 41 | 29 | 4 | ||||||||
| "Love & Happiness" | — [lower-alpha 3] | 66 | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||
| "Strawberries" | 1998 | 49 | 17 | — | 82 | — | 18 | Reality | ||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [8] | US R&B [9] | NZ [14] | UK [7] | UK Dance [7] | UK R&B [7] | |||||||||
| "We Got It" (Immature featuring Smooth) | 1996 | 37 | 11 | 27 | 26 | 16 | 5 | All That Soundtrack and We Got It | ||||||
| "Watch Me Do My Thing" (Immature featuring Smooth and Ed from Good Burgers) | 32 | 16 | — | — | — | — | All That Soundtrack | |||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Blowin' Up My Pager" [15] | 1995 | Smooth |
| "He Thinks She Don't Know" [16] | 1998 | Reality |
| "Virginity" (TG4 featuring Smooth) [17] | 2002 | Non-album singles |
| "Sensitive" (featuring Da Brat & Jhené Aiko) [lower-alpha 4] [18] | 2003 | |
| "Zoom" | 2004 | |
Lana Michele Moorer, better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, MC Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first female rapper to release a full solo album with 1988's critically acclaimed Lyte as a Rock. The album spawned the singles "10% Dis" and "Paper Thin".
American singer Usher has released nine studio albums, ten compilation albums, eight extended plays, and 81 singles. His music has been released on the LaFace, Arista, Jive and RCA record labels. Usher has sold more than 33 million albums in the United States alone and over 65 million albums worldwide. With over 150 million total records sold worldwide, he is one of the best selling music artists of all time. He has nine Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles and 18 Hot 100 top-ten singles. In 1994, Usher released his self-titled debut album in North America, producing three singles that had moderate chart success, and the album sold more than 500,000 copies. His follow-up 1997 album My Way sold over 8 million copies worldwide, becoming his breakthrough album. It is certified seven-times platinum in the US, and spawned three successful singles, including his first UK number-one "You Make Me Wanna..." and first US Hot 100 number-one song "Nice & Slow". Usher's success continued in 2001 with his third studio album 8701. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. The album produced two number-one singles—"U Remind Me" and "U Got It Bad". In 2002, the album was certified five-times platinum in the US for sales of 5 million copies. As of 2010, its worldwide sales stand at over 8 million.
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Smooth is the self-titled third album by Smooth. It was released on August 1, 1995, by Jive Records and produced by Chris Stokes. Smooth reached No. 35 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 17 on the Top Heatseekers chart in Billboard Magazine.
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The discography of Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj consists of five studio albums, one compilation album, three mixtapes, 136 singles, and 20 promotional singles.
American rapper J. Cole has released six studio albums, one live album, four compilation albums, three extended plays, four mixtapes, 58 singles, two promotional singles and twenty one music videos.
This is the discography of Tyler, the Creator, an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer and the former leader of the Los Angeles hip hop collective Odd Future. His discography consists of one mixtape, six studio albums, one EP, and thirty-two singles.
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American rapper Megan Thee Stallion has released two studio albums, one compilation album, three mixtapes, three extended plays, thirty-nine singles, and two promotional singles. In her early career, Megan Thee Stallion released the non-commercial, SoundCloud-exclusive mixtapes Rich Ratchet (2016) and Megan Mix (2017). She made her official solo debut by commercially releasing her first professional EP, Make It Hot, on September 18, 2017, which was followed by her second EP Tina Snow on December 21, 2018.
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