Readers of That Grape Juice know what avid music lovers we are – especially of hits past.
So, just as our retrospective features ‘From the Vault’ and ‘TGJ Replay’ allow us the chance to re-spin the gems and jams of yesterday of one artist, our newest feature Chart Rewind – a variation of our current Retro Rewind assay – accedes salutes to an entire era of music history.
This week we’ll do ‘Doo-Wop (That Thing)’ – the debut solo release from former Fugees frontwoman Lauryn Hill. Launched late October 1998, the tune – written and produced by Hill – became the first debut single of any artist in history to debut at #1 on the Hot 100 (where it was found this week that year). A signature of the singer’s for its hard-hitting subject matter cloaked in a sonic fusion of Motown-inspired doo wop and hip hop, the song went on to Gold status before earning a few golden Gramophones at the 1999 Grammys – Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance specifically. Helping lead its parent album, the iconic ‘Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,’ to whopping sales of nearly 20 million worldwide, it stands today as one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Tuck in below to see who joined Lauryn this week in 1998:
(more…)