The Best You Never Heard: Kelly Rowland, Brandy, Pebbles, & Sheree Whitfield

The Best You Never Heard is back!  Each week will once again see That Grape Juice spotlight an array of little known gems. Featuring picks from the TGJ editorial team, we want to know…who chose the best song! Let us know below…
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Kelly Rowland – Turn It Up

While many look to ‘Motivation’ as Kelly Rowland‘s finest moment, its parent album ‘Here I Am’ is – for yours truly – her strongest body of work to date.
Boasting production from the likes of Tricky Stewart, Rico Love, The-Dream, and Ester Dean, the 2011 set served up Urban-Pop in the most palatable way. Put simply, (almost) every song was a smash-in-waiting.
Ironically, the rise in Kelly’s solo stock saw The X Factor UK came a’knocking, ultimately making the aggressive promo push required to capitalise on ‘Motivation’s buzz difficult. Catch 22, ay?
Still, the LP remains the most solid of Rowland’s solo catalogue – thanks to gems such as ‘Turn It Up’.
Helmed by the iconic Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins, the dance-floor jam delivered drums, bass, sass, and spark – resulting in this firework of a track. How this did not receive the single treatment will forever puzzle. After all, it’s the exact brand and strand of song to showcase what the masses have a hunger to see more of – Kelly Rowland, the performer. Imagine Kelly rocking out to this in the vein of her BET Awards ’11 performance or this year’s Black Girls Rock.
Shoulda, woulda, coulda’s.
In any case, the cut continues to garner many a replay from yours truly. Here’s hoping there are more tracks in this vein on future projects.  {SAM}

LISTEN: [audiotube id=”wKDZhR2eSe8″]
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Brandy – It’s Not Worth It

As you’ve probably figured out, we love us some Brandy here at TGJ. Her extensive back-catalogue boasts many a could-have-been-hits. Case, point and example: ‘It’s Not Worth It’ from 2002’s ‘Full Moon’ LP
A very close sibling to the classic ‘Angel In Disguise’ from previous effort ‘Never Say Never’, ‘Worth It’ is an uptempo track that sees B-Rocka in the middle of a tumultuous relationship trying to make things right when her lover is ready to throw in the towel.
Helmed by the legendary Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, the track is yet another mix of high-octane production and stellar vocal arrangements with the cherry on the cake being a “special appearance” by none other than King Of Pop Michael Jackson – himself bringing a slight melancholic dimension to the tune only with a few notes delivered falsetto style.
Although it had not been pushed at its full potential for reasons that go above and beyond “the industry” (see: pregnancy), the ‘Full Moon’ album remains a gold mine that houses some of Ms. Norwood’s best moments ever, this song being one of them. {JOE}
LISTEN:  [audiotube id=”XlRUpUBV9Ts”]
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Pebbles – Girlfriend

Pulled from Pebbles‘ self titled debut album, ‘Girlfriend’ came courtesy of then-friend and later husband- LA Reid together with R&B maestro Babyface.
Co-produced by the performer herself, the empowering cut first hit shelves in 1987 and subsequently topped the interestingly named ‘Billboard Hot Black Singles‘ chart while earning a peak position of #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
What’s more, its success on US shores saw it push its supporting album to a top twenty Billboard 200 peak position, snatching the #14 spot, while the cut rocketed into the top ten of UK’s Official Singles Chart.
It was there, perched at #8, that ‘Girlfriend’ became the star’s first and last UK Top 40 chart entry, outperforming her signature hit ‘Mercedes Boy’ which parked at #42 upon its March 1988 arrival!  {DAVID}

LISTEN: [audiotube id=”Avtj8tdpr5Y”]

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Sheree Whitfield – Who Gon Check Me Boo

It’s the song every ghetto girl and their grandmother wishes would play when she walks in a room (or down the aisle).
Before ‘Gone With the Wind Fabulous’ and ‘I’m Very Rich B*tch’ swept the net as the memorable quotes from Bravo TV’s wildly popular ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’, former starlet of the show Sheree Whitfield‘s “Who Gon Check Me Boo?” was the series’ signature phrase.
Yes, Leakes took to fashion as a means to brand her expression, but, unfortunately, Moore and Whitfield took to music. With neck roll and side eye clearly in tow, Whitfield took jabs at her former co-star [Leakes] in the autotune-doused number ‘Who Gon Check Me Boo’. And, though the number got little traction on the net (as it was overshadowed by Whitfield’s unceremonious ousting from the show), we at TGJ HQ hide our heads in shame as we guiltily bounce our shoulders to the bass driven disaster of a song.
Press play and be ashamed with us. You’ll love to hate it and hate to love it. {RASHAD}

LISTEN: [audiotube id=”4OJ7GdzZ6HU”]

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Whose Pick Was Best This Week?!

Whose ‘Best You Never Heard’ Pick Did You Prefer…
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