Cameo was remarkably prolific by means of the Nineteen Seventies and ’80s, churning out a dozen albums inside an preliminary nine-year run rife with R&B hits. Initially a sprawling funk ensemble earlier than steadily downsizing, the New York Metropolis group’s sustained success beneath the management of vocalist/drummer/producer Larry Blackmon mirrored an uncanny skill to pivot and evolve. Cameo made its title with consummate dance flooring funk so aggressively syncopated (“I Just Want to Be,” “Shake Your Pants,” et al.) the data felt like they could fly off the turntable. However the group might additionally adroitly dabble in disco (“Find My Way”), take stylistic cues from electro (“Single Life”) and new wave (“Alligator Woman”), boast proto-broken beat jazz-funk chops (“The Sound Table”), and excel with attractive falsetto ballads (“Why Have I Lost You”) all whereas remaining devoted to a core template of Blackmon’s Clinton-esque frontman persona offset by Tomi Jenkins’ silky clean vocals.
Take heed to Cameo’s Phrase Up! now.
That includes a Blackmon rap in reward of a peculiar femme fatale, 1984’s slinky “She Strange” even discovered the group assuredly harnessing hip-hop’s affect – a trick that defied most of its longstanding Black music contemporaries. This willingness to embrace the burgeoning artwork kind moderately than deride it as pattern (or worse, fumble within the face of its existential risk) wholly informs 1986’s “Word Up,” Cameo’s industrial apex. Its angular funk – within the type of chunky energy chords and horn charts – selectively incorporates rap’s parlance (e.g. the title chorus; “wave your hands in the air like you don’t care”) and perspective (see disparaging references to “sucker DJs who think [they’re] fly”) into Blackmon and Jenkins’ personal confirmed songwriting and arranging acumen, yielding one of many catchiest and quirkiest crossover singles of the last decade.
That mentioned, it wouldn’t essentially shock anybody if Phrase Up! was little greater than a automobile for its titular hit. Thankfully, its seven songs embody a few of the most interesting by the group (by this level formally a trio of Blackmon, Jenkins and vocalist Nathan Leftenant). “Word Up’s” rapid follow-up, “Candy,” is a rhythmically infectious, earworm-laden masterpiece that completely performs Blackmon’s exaggerated, nasal supply in opposition to Jenkins and Leftenant’s sweeter vocal assault. Further songs spotlighting Jenkins’ singing practically match this normal. “Back and Forth,” the album’s third substantial hit, playfully laments relationship ups and downs over a buoyant observe punctuated by traditional interval guitar shredding and drum machine claps. “Don’t Be Lonely” displays the trio’s knack for romantic materials undiminished.
Thematically, the motivational “You Can Have the World” appeared an apropos album nearer. Phrase Up! grew to become Cameo’s highest charting LP, going primary R&B and prime 10 pop. It was additionally primarily the group’s final hurrah within the face of a sea change. Because the ’80s drew to an in depth, younger hip-hop and New Jack Swing R&B artists supplanted Cameo and different veteran teams because the pacesetters inside Black music. But Blackmon’s signature hi-top fade grew to become the adopted look of this youth motion – symbolic of Cameo’s longevity even because the baton handed to the subsequent era.
Take heed to Cameo’s Phrase Up! now.
