Throwback Thursday: Keith Sweat/Bobby Brown Verzuz Edition

Last week, we bore witness to Soulja Boy and Bow Wow on Verzuz – to which accumulated well over a million views on each platform. Tonight, the world will experience R&B in its true authentic state from two of the most prolific musical titans to date: Keith Sweat and Bobby Brown.

Earlier in the week, Verzuz made the announcement that the two R&B titans will go face-to-face – and tonight, it will come to life. 

However, let’s take a spin back to time of each artist and how influential their songs have been for nearly 4 decades. 

Bobby Brown is considered as one of the founding fathers of the New Jack Swing era of R&B – and when departing from New Edition to venture into a solo act, Bobby Brown certainly did not disappoint but rather increased the urgency of other R&B suitors to follow suit. 

One of Brown’s most posthumous records to date, “Every Little Step” was released in 1989 under MCA Records. Considered to be Brown’s sophomore album, “Every Little Step” garnered massive attraction on numerous of charts, such as:  Billboard Hot 100 which peaked at number 2, reached number 1 on both R&B and Dance charts, number 1 in countries such as Canada and Ireland. Today, the hit single is certified gold in both USA and Australia. 

The record was written and produced by both LA Reid and BabyFace and was released as Brown’s fourth single on his sophomore album, “Don’t Be Cruel,” which also garnered Bobby Brown his first Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. 

Currently, “Don’t Be Cruel” is 7 times platinum in the US, 3 times platinum in Canada, two times platinum in the UK, and platinum in Australia. 

Keith Sweat is one of the smoothest and extrinsic vocal R&B acts to date, having several number one hit singles both performed by himself and by writing for other artists (Mariah Carey, Kut Klose & Silk). Did you know that Keith Sweat originally started his musical career in a group called Jamilah in 1975? The group was created by Larry Peoples and Michael Samuels. After he disbanded from the Harlem based group, signed to another small label before scoring his big break in 1987 as he was discovered by Vincent Davis and signed to his label, Vintertainment Records by the way of Elektra Records.

In 1987, Keith Sweat released his first studio project, “Make It Last Forever” to which sold over 3 million copies. As the title of his debut album, Keith Sweat released it as his second single with Jacci McGhee back in 1988, which reached at number 2 on the Hot Black Singles chart – and 59 on Billboard 100. The record was written by Teddy Riley and Keith Sweat and produced by Teddy Riley. “Make It Last Forever” would be sampled several times throughout the years, ranging from Chante Moore, Jazz musician Paul Jackson Jr, and most notably with Mariah Carey, Joe, and Nas on Carey’s, “Thank God I Found You.”

Who are you siding with on the Verzuz battle tonight? Be sure to watch it on Verzuz TV tonight!