Ginuwine – Pony (1993)
After a holiday hiatus, I was back to digging through the archives today looking for any jams that were worthy of an appearance on Throwback Thursday. Ginuwine’s “Pony” was staring me right in the face, and I couldn’t resist. Recorded in 1993, this jam’s beat, which pretty much consists of robotic belches, finds a way to be pure dynamite. On top of that, the lyrics consist of Ginuwine referring to his manhood as his “pony”…and yet the jam is still fire. It’s just one of those beats that when dropped, immediately Houdini’s everyone’s clothes away. I was 6 at the time of it’s release and distinctly remember gettin’ loose to it on my tricycle.
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City High – What Would You Do? (2001)
This was the definition of one-hit wonder. City High jumped on the scene in 2001 with “What Would You Do?”, an attempt at an emotional song from the perspective of a stripper…and they were never heard from again. Nobody could take the lyrics seriously, primarily because the chorus was way too catchy to even pay attention to the words. And it’s hard to feel legitimately emotional when you hear lines like, “And his Daddy’s gone//Somewhere smokin’ rock now”. Still an unbelievable banger.
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Download: City High – What Would You Do?
Lil Wayne (feat. Hot Boys & Mannie Fresh) – Shine (2000)
“Shine” came on shuffle the other day, and I was blown away by the difference 10 years has made to Wayne’s voice. Granted it shouldn’t be a surprise with the amount of weed and syrup that passes through his throat, but still I barely recognized him. Regardless, this jam is still one of my favorites of all time. You take the beat that sounds straight out of Super Mario Bros., and combine it with the unstoppable line: “all these karats like ima fuckin vegetarian”, and you have a hit. And I can’t get enough of the Sega Dreamcast reference at 2:40, it’s hilarious that’s what represented your baller status in 2000. Good stuff.
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ginuwine looks like a young, skinny junior seau.