What a wonderful choice for this Friday Break! Thank you, Adriana, your suggestion couldn’t be more appropriate!
So what if we’re stuck in a 90s mood? It doesn’t hurt! We’re talking about music, great music! Great ideas making their way through music! Thank you for this great week, thank your for your beautiful comments! I hope you have one of those wonderfully unforgettable weekends ever! Here’s En Vogue: Free Your Mind! (by ways of Adriana, still, after the jump Salt’n Pepa ft En Vogue Whatta Man! I hope you’ll enjoy this week’s break, beautiful ladies!)
What a great way to start the week end! Pump up the volume with those two boosters here! Free Your Mind was released in 1992 by En Vogue (and included on their “Funky Divas” album). It was not by coincidence that this song emerged right after the 1992 uprising (when two police officers had beaten Rodney King in Los Angeles CA). The four En Vogue girls were musically brought up to be intelligent and fit into the new emancipate-everything movement that was taking the 90s by storm.
Funky Divas was their second album and was an absolute success, both with the public and the critics. Free Your Mind borrowed the key phrase from George Clinton (Parliament, Funkadelic: you can listen to Funkadelic’s George Clinton preaching the Free Your Mind…. philosophy here). After the highly acclaimed Funky Divas, in 1993, the girls were back at the top with Whatta Man, featuring Salt-n-Pepa.
Whatta Man was included on Salt-n-Pepa’s 1993 album “Very Necessary”. The song is a cover of a 1968 hit song called What a Man, introduced by Linda Lyndell (you can listen to it here). Almost entirely re-written for the 1993 version, the song was Cheryl “Salt” James’ doing. She later said that the song was made possible by a guy called Taz X (from Birmingham, England), Whatta Man being written for him. Both the 1968 version and the 90s Salt-n-Pepa ft En Vogue one were included in many TV Shows (30 Rock, House) so it’s still popular! (not to mention that it was used by a professional wrestler and a baseball player to accompany their appearance!). Also, if you think you’re catching a glimpse of late Tupac Shakur in the video, your eyes are not deceiving you! He made a cameo appearance in the vid (min 1:03 and 3:13). And here goes another double-Friday Break! One for Friday and one for Saturday!
6 comments
Ah, yeah! It’s was 90’s music week or maybe month, whatever, on my favourite radio station. The DJ announced Guns n’ Roses, I love(d) that band but right after GnR, I jumped from my chair, he played Free Your Mind! Girls, goose bumps as back then: En Vogue!! I own that album Funky Diva’s as I do own Salt n’ Pepa’s Very Necessary and a few Funkadelic albums whom I’ve seen live….my,my….
The original of Whatta Man is very surprising. The singer reminds of the late great Dusty Springfield.
I rushed off to YouTube to find En Vogue’s video because I loved it so much. Look how stylish and fresh and sexy all those ladies still look and sounds, isn’t it amazing? WOW! More goosebumps and I also looked for Salt n’ Pepe and thought immediately: this is great for Stylefrizz! I’ve watched this week a lot of videos on MTV and got nauseous because it was like I saw so many cheap strippers in stylish expensive clothes, ugh…..Happily I returned to YouTube to make myself smile again and watch this. And Salt n Pepa and my all time favourite soul singer the great Ann Peebles! If you do not know her music search for it on YouTube. The famous song I Can’t Stand The Rain, covered by so many artists, Tina Turner as the most well known, is Ann’s song and no one else’s. Check her out!
Kpriss, thanks for a lot for this. LOL, I play the ladies all week long but it’s so nice to see them all here also :)
To all have a free, open minded and funky weekend!
Oh and please, keep your fingers crossed again for F1 driver Rubinho Barrichello? :D
Linda Lydell was colour blind!! I’m now browsing the web to find out more about her. She was a gospel singer who sang in as well white as black churches.
Later on she has been a support act for as well James Brown and Ike & Tina Turner.
Ah, those horns on the background…..so marvelous….they remind of the Memphis Horns whom I love so much. I search on. If anyone knows? Please bring this fan the news then? TIA! :)
Sorry me again…but I just found on my YouTube channel a video message to me who’s recently made Utrecht, Netherlands.
The youth choir of the atelier ‘Pop around the world’ performed in the Jaarbeurs (Utrecht) at July 23th 2009.
Here you see them singing Free your mind.
I have to share with you, this moves me so much……there must be something in the air….something positive….:))
Love En Vogue and Salt ‘N’ Pepa they were and are styling!
Thanks for these two videos Kpriss and thank for the suggestion Adriana! :)
Mehhhhhh…….sniff, sniff, YouTube has removed this great video…..I wanted to show it to somebody and it was gone and here also….I hate the WMG rights or whatever it is. I loved that fierce video….mehhhhhhh
Yeah, here also: they are back!! Sighs, with relief and a smile…:)
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