Monica has long reigned as one of R&B’s most enduring talents and boasts a catalog to match.

And while she’s released many gems we’re fond of, this week’s From The Vault spotlights one of her rarest – ‘All Eyez On Me.’

Released in 2002, the uptempo jam was penned by the late LaShawn Daniels and produced by Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins. The funkified cut was built around a sample of Michael Jackson‘s classic ‘P.Y.T’ – a huge honor given how rarely use of the King of Pop’s material for new music has been granted.

Noticeably more Pop-kissed than the songbird’s R&B mainstay, the club jam saw the star – who was transitioning from teen idol to young womanhood – let her love interest know that she knows they’re watching. The song more broadly sees Mo throw down a challenge for her would-be boo to waste no time acting on their attraction.

Its Chris Robinson-directed music video brought the lyrics to life in a “popping” party setting that saw Monica break into choreography for its climax.

Despite its certified bop status, the track (which was the lead and also the title track of its companion album) isn’t all that known to the masses. And the reason is unique.

‘All Eyez Me’ – both the song and its like-titled LP – were first released in Japan in September 2002 with a view to follow-up with a US launch in November of the same year. It was to serve as her first release on Clive Davis‘ then-new J Records imprint.

Bootlegging and the lukewarm commercial response in its initial market (#14 charting album in Japan) and the song’s so-so showing elsewhere (#69 peak on the US’ Hot 100 and scraping top 40 in just a handful of other countries) saw plans swiftly changed.

Although technically already released in select parts of the world, the ‘All Eyez On Me’ album and era were essentially shelved. Instead, the record was retooled and re-released as ‘After The Storm’ in 2003. That iteration of the LP, which proved a success, featured select tracks from the original project and new numbers (such as smash hit ‘So Gone’).

Suffice to say, all worked out. Monica nabbed another hit album with her reworked project and loyalists still have this bonafide bop.

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