Ginuwine is exactly that - the real article. The, ahem, gen-u-ine article. I guess "The Real McCoy" was too white-sounding for listener's ears. And he had the majority of them playing his slow-jam/hip-hop-and-R&B cuts any chance they could. But the man born Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (now you know why he changed his name) couldn't have done it alone. Yes, he has some moves. and that smooth-as-butter voice. But so does Usher. What separated Elgin was his association - early, minor you - with Timbaland aka super producer extroidenaire from mid/late-90's to now-and-forever. Timbaland, especially in the early days (ESPECIALLY in those early days), was a true force to be reckoned with. He was a sonic king-maker - and he knew it. Heavy hitters like Jay-Z (ESPECIALLY Jay-Z) would soon be adding them to their speed dial, their rolodex or beeper number list or whatever-the-fuck you used to keep your go-guys contact info on lock in the dawn of the personal cell-phone era of the mid-nineties. Timbaland was using sounds and twisting them in ways that had never been done before. In hip-hop or otherwise. Ever. His early material with (pretty much) every member/musical act in Da Bassment Crew; especially Missy, G, and Aaliyah, went on to establish their monumental careers and laid the foundation for a body of work in hip-pop music probably only rivaled by that "other crew from Virgina", the Neptunes.
But while the Neptunes sounded like bright hues of red and green, Timbaland sounded primarily dark. You know, black. And maybe navy blue. Some grey possibly. Dark shades of it. And that's not wrong - many of Da Bassment's visual ques matched similar color schemes - it just displays how to perceive his music, and more so how to perceive Ginuwine's first album during that early period, 'Genuine...The Bachelor'. BECAUSE IT IS A DARK, MOODY MASTERPIECE.
Entirely produced by Timbaland - as most all collabs with Timothy Mosley ended-up being in those days - 'Ginuwine...The Bachelor' harkens back to the new jack swing days with a Virginia twist. I mean, Devante Swing mentored the ENTIRE Bassment crew. So it makes sense. The album is completely anchored by runaway hit (and now a modern classic) 'Pony', which is simply amazing. It literally IS both simple and amazing. Timbaland speaks through his personalized vocoder "Yeeeeah x5" and makes his voice sound like an actual bass riff. Kinda of like what Lil Jon would do years later with Ciara's 'Goodies', the cornerstone of 'Pony' is a stretched-out vocal sample. The rest of the album is typical of what we expect from Timbaland's production - weird audio SFX and heavy-hitting drums and bass. Lots and LOTS of hard-hitting bass. He also mixes in some EDM (in mid-90's rap/R&B too!) and a traditional hip-hop style cut in 'Holler' (which is my personal favorite track...I could repeat it for an entire day and probably still want to hear it again), as well as a FABULOUS cover of Prince's classic 'When Doves Cry', which Timbo and Ginuwine update for the hip-hop era. It's simply a must-hear track. There aren't many collaborators on this album - it's "100% G" as Elgin would probably say. And with the crucial sonic assist from Timbaland, of course. If your in need of a smooth and laid-back-yet-hard-hitting R&B album, you can't go wrong with 'Genuine...The Bachelor'. It's a classic debut from a classic R&B 90's singer. Yes, Elgin might not be on top of the world anymore, and The Swing Mob/Da Basement crew might be disbanded, but this album as well as many others from this era will forever live on in the iTunes libraries of R&B fanatics for decades to come. It's a true testament to the talent involved. And for the love of G, don't listen to this album during the day. It's definitely a night-time banger - kind of like what you should be DOING while listening.
- Casper
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