Over the last few days there's been some news that Jeremih is on a ventilator in an ICU suffering from the coronavirus, and I'm pretty upset about it. I've been a fan of his from the very first album a decade ago, and he's only 33. His song with Ne-Yo, "U 2 Luv," is #3 on hip hop/R&B radio right now, and he just did a great feature on T.I.'s latest album, which makes me think about my interview with T.I. and how I felt like I was arguing with a brick wall trying to tell him what the mortality rates are for COVID, especially among black Americans, and how it's about reducing the spread and not just assuming you'll be fine if you catch it if you're relatively young and healthy. I hope Jeremih pulls through, but I also hope what he's going through is a wake up call to some people who aren't taking this as seriously as they should. I've been listening to a lot of Jeremih this week, so I put together a playlist of some of my favorites.
2. 773 Love
3. Starting All Over
4. Take Off
5. Impatient (featuring Ty Dolla Sign)
6. These Days (with Ty Dolla Sign)
7. Jumpin
8. Stockholm
9. Love Don't Change
10. Paradise
11. Cards Right
12. Woosah (featuring Juicy J and Twista)
13. Sleepers
14. Copenhagen (featuring Sonyae)
15. Actin' Up
16. Buh Bye
17. Imitate (with Ty Dolla Sign)
18. Perfect Timing (with Ty Dolla Sign)
19. British Headboards
20. Love All Night
21. Break Up To Make Up
Tracks 3, 7, 16 and 21 from Jeremih (2009)
Tracks 4, 9, 13 and 20 from
All About U (2010)
Track 2 from Late Nights With Jeremih (2012)
Tracks 1, 5, 10, 12 and 15 from Late Nights: The Album (2015)
Tracks 8, 14 and 19 from Late Nights: Europe (2016)
Track 11 from The Chocolate Box EP (2018)
Tracks 6, 17 and 18 from MihTy with Ty Dolla Sign (2018)
Wikipedia doesn't list "Break Up To Make Up," "Love Don't Change," and "773 Love" as singles, so I'm just gonna run with that and call them deep cuts, I don't think people who aren't Jeremih fans really remember those songs anyway. Plus "773 Love" is one of the only songs from the Late Nights With Jeremih mixtape that's on streaming services so I wanted to represent that release, which was the first time a lot of people really appreciated Jeremih outside of "Birthday Sex."
I still really like the first two albums produced by Mick Schultz and think they're kind of slept on, but some of those tracks do sound a little dated now, I tried to cherry pick the stuff that sounds good in context with the rest of his catalog. "Starting All Over" was the song that made me really appreciate the sweetness in Jeremih's voice, he can really hit that joyful Stevie Wonder or young MJ tone that few modern R&B singers have in their arsenal. And I love that nod to Soulja Boy's "Donk" on "Jumpin." But Late Nights: The Album is definitely his masterpiece, I can't believe they delayed that album for almost 2 years even when the advance singles were smashes.
It's a shame that Def Jam never seems to really believe in Jeremih, no matter how many hits he makes. Each of his albums had a huge top 10 crossover hit, and the last one was his first to go platinum, but he hasn't released a proper solo album in almost 5 years now. "Impatient" and "Love Don't Change" went platinum without radio play, and "Paradise" went viral for a minute in 2017 when Kim Kardashian posted a video with it as the background music. He's appeared on major hits by everyone from Wale to DJ Khaled to Natalie La Rose to Meek Mill, wrote songs for Chris Brown, Rihanna, and Ariana Grande, and guested on Kanye and Nicki Minaj albums. Practically every major label rapper from Chicago for the past 10 years has worked with Jeremih, often on singles. Somehow he never got the same rep as a hitmaking secret weapon like The-Dream or Ty Dolla Sign, who he did a whole album and some other great songs with, but he absolutely deserves to be in that conversation. I hope he gets well soon and can get back to constantly exceeding people's expectations.
This entry was posted
on Friday, November 20, 2020 at 11:48 AM.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
Post a Comment