narrowcast: Deep Album Cuts Vol. 259: Mario

Deep Album Cuts Vol. 259: Mario

Mario is going up against Omarion on Verzuz this Thursday, and I won't lie, he's at a real disadvantage just in terms of overall sales and number of hits. It's kind of a bummer when the match feels lopsided and everyone knows who's going to come out looking better as soon as it's announced, I wish they put Mario against someone like Lloyd who's also good but a little more in his bracket, career-wise. In any event, Mario is a great singer with an underrated catalog, and one of the biggest artists to come out of Baltimore in the 21st century, so I want to give him his props.

Mario deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Holla Back

2. Never

3. Put Me On

4. 2 Train

5. Couldn't Say No

6. Like Me Real Hard

7. Call The Cops

8. Here I Go Again

9. For The Love (with Drew Sidora)

10. Go

11. Skippin'

12. Kryptonite (featuring Rich Boy)

13. Right And A Wrong Way

14. Stranded

15. I Choose You

16. Starlight

17. Goes Like That

18. Mirror

19. Good Times (featuring Buddy Guy)

20. Stuck On You

21. Anticipated

Tracks 1, 2, 3 and 4 from Mario (2002)

Tracks 5, 6, 7 and 8 from Turning Point (2004)

Track 9 from Step Up (Original Soundtrack) (2006)

Tracks 10, 11, 12 and 13 from Go (2007)

Tracks 14, 15 and 16 from D.N.A. (2009)

Tracks 17, 18 and 19 from Dancing Shadows (2018)

Track 20 from the Empire (Season 6, Got On My Knees To Pray) EP (2019)

Track 21 from the Closer To Mars EP (2020)

I have fond memories of 2002, driving around Baltimore and hearing all these Baltimore artists on the radio -- Mario's "Just A Friend 2002" blew up around the same time as B. Rich's "Whoa Now," Dru Hill released their last major label album that year, and there was a wave of independent artists with Rod Lee-produced regional hits (Tim Trees, Davon, Nature's Problem). It was exciting to realize Mario was really going national and seeing the "Just A Friend 2002" video, shot at the legendary Senator Theatre, on "106 & Park." So I've always rooted for him, and it was great to see him take "Let Me Love You" all the way to #1. I think "Goes Like That" is the only Mario song where he actually references Baltimore, although he did a song with Baltimore's King Los a while back.

Mario didn't write much on his own albums until his last full-length, Dancing Shadows, but he's had some big name talent writing and producing songs throughout his career. Mario was one of the first artists Alicia Keys wrote for after she became a major star, "Put Me On" and "2 Train" on his debut (producing the latter). Pharrell produced "Go," The-Dream and Tricky Stewart wrote "Starlight," and Babyface and Stargate wrote "I Choose You," which is one of Mario's top streaming tracks, it actually has more plays on Spotify than "Break Up" or any of the other singles from D.N.A., I'm curious how that happened. "Call The Cops" is the only Mario track produced by Scott Storch besides "Let Me Love You" and its remix (they reunited a few years ago for a song called "Enemy," but the Mario version never came out and the song ended up on a Chris Brown album instead).

I don't know how Mario ended up doing a song with blues legend Buddy Guy on his last album, but it came out pretty cool, would love to hear him branch out more like that. And Go featured a pretty good cover of the Keith Sweat deep cut and quiet storm staple "Right And A Wrong Way." Over the years Mario has done a bit of acting, including in the first Step Up movie, also appearing on its soundtrack. And toward the end of "Empire"'s run he had a role on there and did some good original songs, so included one of those.