Readers of That Grape Juice know what avid music lovers we are – especially of hits past.
So, as our retrospective segments, ‘From the Vault’ and ‘TGJ Replay,’ allow us the chance to re-spin the gems and jams of yesterday of one artist, our latest feature – Chart Rewind – serves as a variation of our Retro Rewind assay to salute an entire era of music history.
This week we wanna take it back to Joe‘s 2000 hit, ‘I Wanna Know.’
Join us inside:
Going from virtual unknown to having the year’s biggest R&B hit seemed like it happened overnight for Joe (born Joseph Thomas) overnight, but longtime fans of the Georgia-reared R&B star know better.
After seeing his 1993 debut album, ‘Everything,’ widely ignored, Thomas didn’t rise to national recognition until contributing ‘All the Things Your Man Won’t Do‘ to the Wayans Bros.-led ‘Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood’ movie soundtrack. Becoming his first top 20 hit, ‘Man’ – also featured on his Billboard 200 top 20 sophomore album ‘All That I Am’ – would set the stage for its follow-up to do even greater.
Evidence of that was found in the critical and commercial response to 1999’s ‘I Wanna Know’ – the first single from his first studio offering of the millennium (third album overall). Penned by Joe, Joylon Skinner, and Michele Williams, the Tony Nicholas and Timmy Allen-produced jam was drenched in all the qualities that made the crooner a hit with his growing legion of fans – a convicted vocal performance underscored by a captivating R&B melody and mid-tempo instrumentation.
First appearing on the soundtrack to the now-cult classic film, ‘The Wood,’ ‘Wanna’ – thanks in part to its cinematic, Billie Woodruff-directed music video starring Claudia Jordan – eventually soared to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 (where it was found this week in 2000). Not only did the rung mark the highest he’d reached up to that date, but its enduring success helped it rank #1 on the genre’s year-end chart.
When the dust settled, ‘Wanna’ helped its parent album, ‘My Name is Joe,’ peak at #2 on the Billboard 200 (his highest mark on that tally to date).
Look below to see who joined the Joe fan-favorite in the Hot 100’s top 25 this week 20 years ago:
Hot 100 This Week in 2000
Hot 100 This Week
Click here to read this week’s full TGJ Chart Check: Hot 100 edition.