Few songs are so 90s as 'This is how we do it' by Montell Jordan

It is Friday night and there is a party in the Westside. In South Central Los Angeles there is a exuberant drink, toasted, danced and scattered with one hundred-dollar bills. The women wear short summer skirts. The men's hip hop clothing from Karl Kani. Everyone is nice and cheerful. The active gang members in the neighborhood will also keep it peaceful tonight.

Few lyrics are so-90s as those of the energetic 'This is how we do it' in which R&B singer Montell Jordan glowing a party in his neighborhood in Los Angeles describes on a strong propellent hip-hop beat, built around a sample of Slick Rickren Story '.

'This is how we do it' is a light -hearted, sizzling swinging club cracker with a layered, perfectly sing -along Call & Response-Refrein and was the debut single by Jordan thirty years ago, who will perform twice in the Netherlands next week.

Polished cars

The accompanying video clip, with images of polished cars, stylish group choreography and intimate scenes of parties at home and outside on the street, is from director Hype Williams who, with his beautiful contrast and colorful video clips, also determine the dominant image of hiphop and R&B in the nineties.

Montell Jordan combined Uptempo dance numbers with soul ballads, rap verses with soulful vocals on his eponymous debut album, and blues with G-funk. He was an R&B singer Flow, Style, appearance and the way in which he tangled himself in his texts, artistically showed many similarities with rappers of his generation.

'This is how we do it' fitted seamlessly into a far -reaching musical fusion of RAP and R&B that was already going on in 1995. For example, it stamped a solid exclamation mark behind the New Jack Swing Swing era that walked shortly afterwards by influential producers such as Teddy Riley and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. And in style and atmosphere, it was also strongly involved in the success of, for example, the gangstarap on the local record label Death Row, where fellow Snoop Dogg with his melodic, relaxed, classic soul and funk had helped to delay his genre.

Madonna past

'This is how we do it' is an R&B-Evergreen. Montell Jordan sold countless records and, for example, also had a big hit with cheating classic 'get it on tonite'. But his debut single was immediately his biggest hit. He pushed Madonna out of the top of the hit list to stay there for seven weeks, and made a HipHop plate company Def Jam a major player in the R&B scene.

At the start of this millennium, Jordan stepped up at Def Soul; The record label specialized in R&B that Def Jam launched after the success of 'This is how we do it'. The singer thought that his music was no longer properly promoted and started to feel more uncomfortable with his older work and image. In 2010, Jordan announced that he wanted to stop as an artist, because God would ask him. The R&B singer, who had discovered his musical talent during his childhood around the church, turned into a pastor and became a pastor at Megachurch Victory World Church in Atlanta.

Eight years ago Jordan told in talk show RTL Late Night To Humberto Tan that he was 'not proud' on sexually tinted success numbers such as 'Let's Ride' and 'get it on Tonite' And for example, he no longer played 'Let's Ride' live. « They just have to put it back home in the car, » he told Tan. He still sang other hits, Jordan said, « sometimes with some adjustments. »