It's Hammer Time! (Part 1)

In the music world it seems to be obligatory that once an artist hits the big time, he/she must then discover a new talent or protegee. MC Hammer was no excpetion to this rule and after the worldwide success of his "Please Hammer Don't Hurt Em" album he began to create his own musical posse on the now defunct Bust-It Records

B Angie B was to MC Hammer as Michel'Le was to Dr. Dre/Eazy-E. She was Bust-It's premier RnB songstress. Angela Boyd was discovered by MC Hammer in the late 80's and went on to become one of his dancers. However, Hammer quickly realized girlfriend could sing like a natural born diva. Her vocals were featured on his "They Put Me In The Mix" single in 1988 and then in 1989 for Oaktown's 357's "Juicy Gotcha Krazy" remix (we'll get to them later!).



In 1991 B Angie B was finally ready to shine in all of her loudness with her self titled debut album. Many of you may remember her debut single, the 70's cover "I Don't Want To Lose Your Love". This song proved to be a minor hit. Angie made appearances on Arsenio Hall and BET. Unfortunately the next two singles didn't do as well. "So Much Love" and "Sweet Thing" were both beautiful ballads ignored by radio. The later suffered from beig released around the same time Mary J Blige's own version of "Sweet Thing" was released. In 1992 B Angie B released one final song/video, "Class Act". This was taken from the "Class Act" soundtrack. The video was hot and featured the chiseled and sleek B Angie B strutting her stuff in a skimpy Catholic school girl uniform (hmmm, perhaps Britney was a fan?). Unfortunately this song failed to light a spark in her career and she was subsequently dropped.

In 2005 Angie's album was remastered and re-released with a bonus DVD! The DVD not only contained two music videos but several tv performances. It is definitely a nice treat for fans of early 90's RnB! You can get a copy here!

B Angie B, we miss you gurfren!

Got to tell me something

Ana Rodrí­guez was born in Cuba in 1974 and came to the US at an early age w/ her family. Ana (as she is known) released her self-titled debut album in 1987 on Parc/Epic Records. That same year, 80s teen queens Tiffany and Debbie Gibson also debuted. Unlike the afore mentioned, Ana didn't become a household name.

She did, however, score a minor hit with Shy Boys (#94 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #23 on the Billboard Dance Chart). The album did go on to enjoy success in Japan even resulting in it being released w/ a different cover and alternate title, Shy Boys.



In 1988 a single entitled Before I Jump was also released inbetween albums (Thanks to Justin for this info).



In 1990 at age 16 Ana released her second full length album, and probably her most known. Entitled Body Language (yes kiddies Ana did it before Kylie), Ana worked w/ a few different producers on this release and it was with this album that I became a fan.



With her trademark booming voice (if you've never heard her sing, you're missing out! think a Toni Braxton-esque voice) and w/ the help of the man behind NKOTB, Maurice Starr, one would have thought this album would have been a smash! But by the early 90s teen pop was already beginning to fade away. The music world's loss if you ask me.



Got To Tell Me Something, the albums only charting single peaked at #66.

Subsequent singles were released and failed to chart. A duet w/ then NKOTB hearthrob Jordan Knight entitled Angel Of Love received some airplay, as the record company was trying to repeat the success of Donnie Wahlberg's duet w/ Japanese pop singer Seiko. Deborah 'Debbie' Gibson wrote and produced 2 songs for this album including fan favorite Everytime We Say Goodbye. Several tracks were also produced by Hector Almaguer and Kiki Garcí­a, former members of Miami Sound Machine.

After this album failed to make a splash it seemed that Ana was destined to fade into pop obscurity...or so we thought.

Let me share a little story w/ you all now (the shortned version). My family used to own a Spanish language record store and back in early 2004 I was browsing through some promo cd's. I came across a single by a singer named Mia entitled Convencete. I popped it in because I was immediately drawn to the trampy girl on the cover.

I immediately liked it and said to my bf, God doesn't she sound like Ana?

So after some extensive research it turns out Mia is Ana!



Why the name change? I have no idea. With a new name, new sound and a new label, Ana/Mia returned! Released on Univision in the fall of 2003 Ana/Mia brought us Tentación:



During the time she was away Ana/Mia got married, had a child and then divorced. She felt she shouldn't give up her dream (thank god) and called long time friend Rudy Pérez to help her get back into music. While it wasn't a blockbuster success, it did garner Mia a nomination for Best New Artist at Premio Lo Nuestro.

It's been almost 2 years since Mia's Spanish language debut, and again she's missing! There is no sign of her on her labels website, and Tentación has since gone out of print. I think there still may be hope as lately Univision has been including Mia on many compilations. So while we wait for Mia/Ana to reemerge (again) let's check out her über hot video for Convencete (thanks to Chicago_Sexbox for ripping it from DVD to mpg)...