Blackstreet Another Level

Blackstreet: Teddy "Street" Riley, Eric "E" Williams (vocals, various instruments); Chauncey "Black" Hannibal, Mark L. Middleton (vocals).
Additional personnel includes: Dr. Dre, Queen Pen, Beverly Crowder, Karen Anderson, Shaquanna Elam, Darryl Adams, ELAN, Lamenga Ford, Shannon Cooper, Deja, Taja (vocals); William Stewart, Sprague Williams, Serban Ghenea, Eric Williams, Wesley Hoggs, Tommy Sims (various instruments); Frank "Nitty" Pimental, Roosevelt Harrell (programming).
"No Diggity" won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and was nominated for Best R&B Song.
Teddy Riley's fans were begging for a reunion of Guy, the trio with which he brought deep-soul music back to the R&B genre, but Riley chose to forge ahead with his new band, Blackstreet, instead. Wise move. Blackstreet's second album really does take the Riley R&B sound to ANOTHER LEVEL. It's one of the best R&B albums we've heard in a long time.
The tracks here are unbelievably funky, and though two of Blackstreet's four singers have turned over since the debut--the new ones are Eric Williams and Mark L. Middleton--the vocal harmonies are breathtaking. Classic Stevie Wonder would be an apt comparison. Riley evokes old-school soul a number of times here--"Don't Leave Me" and "The Lord Is Real" sample the DeBarge tunes "A Dream" and "Time Will Reveal," respectively. But that's not to say Blackstreet doesn't move forward to ANOTHER LEVEL, because with super-producer Riley, of course it does.

• Genre: R&B
• Format: Vinyl