90's Guilty Pleasures #4: Ghost Town DJ's "My Boo" (1996)

Before 2-step, before UK Garage, before M.I.A., there was... that weird R&B sub-genre with drums that sampled Kraftwerk (or used very similar electro-beats), which is possibly called "bass music R&B," or "booty bass." In 2006, Yo Majesty made a dent in the undergroup hiphop landscape by adding huge helpings of raunch to this combination. However, back in the mid-90's, the appeal of this sub-genre's most popular songs lie within their innocence, such as INOJ's "Love You Down," KP & Envyi's "Shawty Swing My Way," and especially the Mack Daddy of them all, the understated 90's classic "My Boo." There's definitely something distinctively "classic 90's" about a song whose drums are encouraging grind-dancing, but whose innocent lyrics, playful keyboards, and simplistic vocal melody paint images of 7th graders dreaming about their crushes while they're supposed to be workin' on their studies.

I've never seen this video before, but upon my first viewing, it's not exactly matching up with what I had envisioned earlier... But pool parties are fun too. Whatever. And hey... at 1:40.. is that Jermaine Dupri again?? Making his 2nd appearance in the Top 10??? Right on, Jermaine is clearly the master of the 90's guilty pleasure... (Unfortunately this shortened "video edit" doesn't do the song as much justice as the full version, available here..)


INOJ "Love You Down" (1997) Youtube

KP & Envyi "Shawty Swing My Way" (1997) Youtube

Freak Nasty "Da Dip" (1997) Youtube