Kick Your Game

"Kick Your Game"
Promotional single by TLC
from the album CrazySexyCool
Released August 1995 (1995-08)
Format Airplay
Recorded Late 1993 – September 1994;
KrossWire Studio
(Atlanta, Georgia)
Genre
Length 4:13
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Jermaine Dupri
  • Manuel Seal
CrazySexyCool track listing
"Creep"
(2)		 "Kick Your Game"
(3)		 "Diggin' on You"
(4)

"Kick Your Game" is a song recorded by American group TLC for their second studio album CrazySexyCool (1994). The "funky" R&B-dance track was written by group's frequent collaborator Jermaine Dupri, his musical partner Manuel Seal and member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. In August 1995, it was picked by LaFace and Arista Records to be released as an promotional airplay single for the album. The song's context had the trio teaching guys who flirt in the club "the proper way to approach a lady" with Lopes' rap verses were said to reference her then-boyfriend American football player Andre Rison, the one whose house Lopes infamously burnt during the making of CrazySexyCool.

Since the release, "Kick Your Game" climbed to number 69 on US Billboard Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Critically, it received lukewarm reviews from music critics, some noticed the song as one of the album's highlights and praised Lopes' performance while others just didn't find it interesting. The group had performed the track on several of their tours and televised occasions, notably the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards and the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards.

Background and development

Jermaine Dupri, who had worked with the group before their debut, had later called the track one of his most proudest works in 2016.

After releasing the successful debut album Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip in 1992, TLC began working on the their second CrazySexyCool in late 1993 and continued through till September 1994.[1] On the album, again they worked with writer-producer Jermaine Dupri, the one who was significantly involved in the trio's early formation, that included creating member Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins' signature "husky" singing voice, sending their demo, helping them landed a contract with LaFace Records and working on Ooooooohhh ... On the TLC Tip, where he also wrote and produced a track named "Bad by Myself".[2][3]

For CrazySexyCool, Dupri continued to work on two of its interludes and two other full-length songs, which are "Switch" and "Kick Your Game", both being written and produced by him and his musical partner Manuel Seal, with additional lyrics written by TLC's member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes.[4] The group later recorded the track at KrossWire Studio, located in their hometown Atlanta, Georgia.[5] In 2016, marking the twenty-second anniversary of the album, Dupri stated that the song was one of his proudest works by "the sound, the lyrics, the vibe, everything."[6]

Composition

"Kick Your Game" is a "funky," "bouncy," "smooth," "finger-snapping" R&B-dance track that had a "squishy" bass riff, a sound said by Billboard's Kenneth Partridge to "prime the room for grinding."[8][10][7][11][9] Terri Sutton from Spin said the track belonged to the "cool" side of CrazySexyCool.[12] Along with "Creep", its lyrical content again brought their "traditional breed" of gender role reversals and was summed by Vibe as "an ode to dudes who holler in the club", educating them "the proper way to approach a lady."[13][14][13] Partridge also reminded their readers: "If you wanted to get with TLC in '94, you had to bring your A-game. [Watkins] and [Thomas] break it down for the fellas: Say something clever, get a little action."[9]

"Kick Your Game" is one of the only four tracks on the CrazySexyCool that had Lopes contributed her rap verses.[4] The rapper was usually absent during the album's making due to her having checked herself into rehab for alcohol abuse which had played a part in her being charged with first degree arson to boyfriend American football player Andre Rison's mansion in June 1994. The rehab facility only released Lopes for a couple of recording sessions, forcing her to have less of an input on the album.[15][16][1] Two other members of the group still performed as lead vocals while being backed by Durpi's ad-libs on the track.[4][7] "Purring 'I been watching you watching me and I know you want it' on the hook, each lady has their own intentions of getting scooped up by the guy they have their respective eyes on — if his game is tight, of course," said Preezy, an author from hip hop music website The Boombox.[7] "I just wanna know if you can kick some game, come with something more clever than just your name," the writer also pointed out another notable line of the song that sung by Thomas.[7] Lopes wrote two rap verses on the track, reenacting a dialogue between herself and a guy who was trying to flirt but didn't "pass the cleverness test."[7][8][9] Journalist of Australian digital music magazine FasterLouder Darren Levin analyzed the parts:

"This song is set in the dating scene, where the scrutiny is so intense that voices and even personalities have become mixed up. [Watkins] narrates the story, but when Lopes seamlessly picks up the verse, the situation is complicated. Lopes gives off her usual bravado, yet she also sweet-talks herself using another persona. She appears to be mouthing the responses for both herself and an admirer, but it's hard to tell, since the change between characters is done without a break. Throughout the track, the singers use the same tone for different speakers – whether they're playing at being flirts, nagging partners or wise-ass suitors ('I'm just a nigga [sic] that followed you to the coat rack.')"[17]

Sally-Anne Hurley of TheMusic.com.au suggested that the rapper's lyrics might have come from a real encounter between her and Rison.[8] "Miss Left-Eye / All I wanna do is kiss your hand / Let you know I'm not just another fan / I am the man" and "Baby come with me, you'll be mine so we can make love on the 50 yard line" were the two lines that Hurley and Preezy pointed out specifically as possible references to the sportsman.[8][7] Moreover, Hurley also noticed a quite character-like in the verses that further proof can be found on "Switch".[8] Slant Magazine's editor Sal Cinquemani had also commented on Lopes' rapping style in the song, he called it the rapper's "best impression of Snoop Dogg."[18]

Release and usage in media

In August 1995, LaFace and Arista Records sent the track to airplay as a promotional single for CrazySexyCool.[19] It debuted at number 71 on Billboard Hip-Hop Airplay chart of August 26 issue and climbed to the highest peak at number 69 on September 23 and 30 issues.[19][20][21] The song eventually stayed on the chart for seven weeks before disappearing after November 25.[22] Around the moment, Dupri had collaborated with rapper Craig Mack to create the song's "So So Def" remix for LaFace's promotional compilation album Rhythm of Black Lifestyle (1995).[23] Another version of the remix featured Dupri's protégés Kris Kross, but it's remained unreleased with only a 30-second snippet used to appear on the producer's website.[24][25][26] "Kick Your Game" was also one of TLC's non-single tracks that appeared on many of the group's compilation releases, including the two of their major greatest hits albums Now & Forever: The Hits (2003) and 20 (2013).[27] On television, the song was used in their 2013 VH1 biopic CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story and in "The Bryce Newman Letter", an episode from Showtime's 2016 series Roadies.[28][29] The latter usage was aimed to reflect the fictional Staton-House band's tour stop in the episode, which set in TLC's hometown Atlanta.[30]

Critical reception

While reviewing CrazySexyCool, Craig Jenkins from Complex stated: "[The album's] sex jams were delicate where they'd once been heavy-handed, but deep cuts like 'Kick Your Game' and 'Case of the Fake People' pulsed with a coolly over-it world weariness."[31] Author Preezy from The Boombox chose the song as the album's forth-best track, praising the trio for giving their listeners "a dose of their ATL swag" and "hitting another one out of the park with [the] jam."[7] Looking back at TLC's catalog for PopMatters, Quentin B. Huff admitted that he was wasn't thrilled with the "wildly" popular CrazySexyCool, nevertheless, the writer still only listened to the three tracks: "Creep", "Waterfalls" and "Kick Your Game".[32]

Sally-Anne Hurley of TheMusic.com.au thought Lopes' performance in the song was perhaps one of the rapper's "most underrated" for TLC.[8] In contrary, Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine stated that the song became one of the group's best-known due to Lopes' rap verse in the track, but for its placement on the group's greatest hits 20, Cinquemani preferred replacing it with their 1993 cover of The Time's "Get It Up".[18] Open her review by describing the track as "dazzling," however, Darren Levin of FasterLouder still pointed out Lopes' part for having many mouthpieces and viewpoints and concluded: "When Lopes' confidence is unsettled, the challenge seems to come from within her own imagination."[17]

David Bertrand Wilson of music site Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews wasn't fond of the song, the writer said it wasn't "terrible" but just one of some CrazySexyCool's "routine filler."[33] Ebony's writer Michael A. Gonzales was more negative, he said both Dupri's "jeep bounce" tracks on the album were dance pieces that sounded like "senior prom jams."[11] Agreeing with Gonzales, Consequence of Sound's Sheldon Pearce predicted the album's success could have been bigger if it sounded more like "Waterfalls" and less like "Kick Your Game".[34] On a different note, Michael Madden from the same publication praised its placement next to "Diggin' on You" on the album, calling it "a perfect segue conceptually" despite being on "separate ends of the spectrum sonically."[34] Camille Augustin from Vibe said the song might have inspired Blaque's 1999 single "Bring It All to Me" since both were "catcalls to fellas with more than just pickup lines."[35]

Live performances

TLC performed the song with Dupri and rapper Craig Mack during the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California.

In July 1995, TLC joined other artists for the 16th Annual Budweiser Superfest Tour, with "Kick Your Game" being added to their tracklist. On stage, they performed the song in front of the letters "CrazySexyCool" while wearing cropped t-shirts with oversize jeans that held up by thick belts, accompanied by approximate 3,000–6,000 audiences.[36][37][38] Later on September 7, singing the "CrazySexyMedley", which includes "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg", "Kick Your Game", "Creep" and "Waterfalls", at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall, New York, New York.[39] Writer Edwin Ortiz from Complex chose it as the awards' one of twenty best performances of all-time while Fuse listed it as one of their ten most-favorited least-talked-about performances on the show, Ortiz of first publication even declared: "Back in the '90s, no female R&B act could touch TLC."[40][41] On March 29, 1996, the trio performed the song with Mack and Dupri during the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California.[42] On October 16, 2013, they performed the track live at the VH1's "Super Bowl Blitz" concert at Beacon Theater on January 30, 2014, where they wore orange jumpsuits with Thomas' unzipped to her waist and their backup dancers wore similarly "paint-splattered" costumes.[43][44] This performance was only for in-house audience, during the show's televised commercial break.[44] The girls also added "Kick Your Game" to their promotional tour for 20 in 2014 and their tour in 2016 as a small interlude.[45][46]

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from CrazySexyCool's liner notes.[4]

Recording and management

Personnel

Charts

Chart (1995) Peak
position
US Billboard Hip-Hop Airplay[20] 69

References

  1. 1 2 Krulik, Nancy (August 1, 2002). Lisa Lopes: The Life of a Supernova. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1-4391-0409-3.
  2. ↑ Dupri, Jermaine; Marshall, Samantha (December 30, 2008). Young, Rich, and Dangerous: The Making of a Music Mogul. Simon and Schuster. p. 68. ISBN 0-7432-9981-7.
  3. ↑ Ali, Rahsheeda (October 21, 2013). "Who Are The Five Most Important People Behind TLC's Career?". VH1. Viacom International Inc. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 CrazySexyCool (Compact Disc liner notes). TLC. United States: LaFace. 1994. 73008-26009-2.
  5. ↑ Billboard staff(s) (October 3, 1998). "Production Credits for Billboard's No.1 Singles (September 26, 1998)" (Google Books). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 110 (40): 47. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  6. ↑ Dupri, Jermaine (November 16, 2016). "Picture posted in November 16, 2016". Instagram. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Preezy (November 15, 2014). "Five Best Songs From TLC's 'CrazySexyCool' Album". The Boombox. The XXL Network. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hurley, Sally-Anne (November 14, 2014). "Inside TLC's Game-Changing Album 'CrazySexyCool'". TheMusic.com.au. Street Press Australia Proprietary Limited. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Partridge, Kenneth (November 15, 2014). "TLC's 'CrazySexyCool' at 20: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  10. ↑ Davis, Rea (November 24, 2014). "Exclusive: Recounting the "Crazy, Sexy, Cool" of TLC's Classic Diamond-Selling Album, 20-Years Later (with Commentary from Chilli!)". ThisIsRnB.com. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  11. 1 2 Gonzales, Michael A. (November 18, 2014). "TLC Marks 20 Years of 'CrazySexyCool'". Ebony. Ebony Media Operations, LLC. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  12. ↑ Spin staff(s) (January 1996). "20 Best Albums of '95" (Google Books). Spin. SpinMedia. 11 (10): 62. ISSN 0886-3032. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  13. 1 2 Iandoli, Kathy (November 14, 2014). "20 Years Of 'CrazySexyCool': Why TLC Is More Important Than Destiny's Child". Vibe. Billboard Music. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  14. ↑ Vibe staff(s) (October 21, 2013). "10 TLC Songs To Prepare You For Tonight's Vh1 Biopic". Vibe. Billboard Music. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  15. ↑ Lee, Christina (November 17, 2014). "TLC's 'CrazySexyCool' Turns 20: Backtracking". Idolator. Hive Media. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  16. ↑ Barnes, Tom (June 27, 2014). "12 Facts That Will Change the Way You Listen to TLC's 'CrazySexyCool'". Mic. Mic Network Inc. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  17. 1 2 Levin, Darren (April 24, 2014). "How TLC's 'CrazySexyCool' changed everything". FasterLouder. Junkee Media. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  18. 1 2 Cinquemani, Sal (October 20, 2013). "TLC – 20 review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  19. 1 2 "Hot R&B Airplay for Week Ending August 26, 1995" (Google Books). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 107 (34): 23. August 26, 1995. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  20. 1 2 "Hot R&B Airplay for Week Ending September 23, 1995" (Google Books). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 107 (38): 29. September 23, 1995. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Hot R&B Airplay for Week Ending September 30, 1995" (Google Books). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 107 (39): 27. September 30, 1995. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  22. ↑ "Hot R&B Airplay for Week Ending November 25, 1995" (Google Books). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 107 (47): 29. November 25, 1995. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  23. ↑ The Rhythm Of Black Lifestyle (Promotional CD). Various artists. United States: LaFace. 1995.
  24. ↑ "Unreleased Track Titles: TLC". CyberTLC.world. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  25. ↑ TLC "Kick Your Game" (Unreleased So So Def Remix f/ Kriss Kross) on YouTube
  26. ↑ "Mix". SoSoDef's website. Archived from the original on December 5, 1998. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  27. ↑ "Kick Your Game" appeared on these two compilations:
  28. ↑ Stone III, Charles (Director) (October 14, 2013). CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story (Motion picture). United States: POP Films/VH1 Productions.
  29. ↑ "Roadies – Season 1, Episode 3: The Bryce Newman Letter". Showtime. Showtime Networks Inc. and Showtime Digital Inc. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  30. ↑ "Showtime(R) Reveals Eclectic "Roadies" Music Roster from Series Creator and Music Supervisor Cameron Crowe" (Press release). Los Angeles, California: The Futon Critic. Showtime. June 22, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  31. ↑ Complex staff(s) (July 11, 2014). "The 50 Best R&B Albums of the '90s". Complex. Complex Media Inc. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  32. ↑ B. Huff, Quentin (June 3, 2007). "TLC – Now & Forever – The Video Hits review". PopMatters. PopMatters Media, Inc. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
  33. ↑ Wilson, David Bertrand. "TLC". Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  34. 1 2 Madden, Michael; Pearce, Sheldon (February 1, 2015). "Dusting 'Em Off: TLC – CrazySexyCool". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  35. ↑ Augustin, Camille (November 13, 2014). "20 Years Of 'CrazySexyCool': 10 Songs TLC (Probably) Influenced". Vibe. Billboard Music. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  36. ↑ Givhan, Robin D. (July 24, 1995). "Superfest: The Day the 'Do Died The Rain Fell, Then the Hair Fell. But Spirits Were Hardly Dampened.". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
  37. ↑ Perkins, Terry (July 19, 1995). "Boyz II Men's Fireworks Ignite A Superlative Superfest". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis, Missouri. p. 39.
  38. ↑ Variety staff(s) (July 24, 1995). "Finding the key to a magical tour". Variety. Variety Media, LLC. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
  39. ↑ "1995 MTV Video Music Awards". MTV. Viacom International Inc. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
  40. ↑ Ortiz, Edwin (August 23, 2014). "The 20 Best VMA Performances". Complex. Complex Media Inc. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
  41. ↑ Sundstrom, Mark; James, Nicole; Benjamin, Jeff (August 22, 2014). "10 Awesome VMA Performances You Probably Forgot". Fuse. Fuse Networks, LLC. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  42. ↑ TLC (March 29, 1996). 1996 Soul Train Music Awards (Television production). Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California: BET.
  43. ↑ Runtagh, Jordan (January 31, 2014). "TLC Chase "Waterfalls" In Manhattan During Sultry Super Bowl Blitz Show". VH1. Viacom International Inc. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  44. 1 2 Midgarden, Cory (January 31, 2014). "TLC Bring The House Down At Super Bowl Concert: Watch Now". MTV. Viacom International Inc. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  45. ↑ Veevers, Brendon (June 10, 2014). "Live Review: TLC – 9th June 2014 – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Australia". Renowned for Sound. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  46. ↑ "TLC 2016 Tour: Setlist". CyberTLC.world. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
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