Happy 20th Anniversary to SisQó’s debut solo album Unleash The Dragon, originally released November 30, 1999.
Living through the transition of a millennium is a once in a lifetime experience that should be celebrated, but that’s not how I remember the final months of 1999. Of course, November of ’99 was the second semester of my senior year in high school, so the angst of awaiting SAT and ASVAB scores detracted from my personal adulation about the arriving decade, but it seemed as if the rest of the world was filled with its own anxiety as Y2K approached.
Even the major party anthem of the time was nuanced. In 1982, the iconic Prince scored a major hit with the LP 1999 which was led by the song of the same name. Both musically and lyrically, the song was imaginative as Prince and the Revolution used the growing concerns of the Cold War’s nuclear proliferation to plan the ultimate pre-apocalyptic party (“Two-thousand zero, zero party over oops out of time/ so tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999”). Once January 1, 1999 arrived, radio and club DJs added the 17-year-old funk classic to regular rotation which helped the resurgence of the record that captured the imagination of teenagers who were just born around the time Prince originally released the song and album.
The optimism of the new century didn’t seem to fully kick in, however, until the platinum-haired frontman of the Baltimore-bred R&B quartet Dru Hill suggested that ladies strip down to a very specific piece of intimate attire to party away the ‘90s.
SisQó had enjoyed a successful run as the visually and vocally flamboyant member of Dru Hill. The group’s eponymous 1996 debut and 1998 follow-up Enter The Dru both achieved considerable commercial acclaim, selling millions of records, and racking up chart topping hit singles. SisQó’s powerful voice, which led nearly half the songs on Dru Hill’s sophomore LP, along with his frequent changes of hair color and flashy wardrobe helped to place him in the conversation of the best leading male R&B artists heading into Y2K. SisQó’s rise to stardom was extremely timely as the newly formed Def Soul subsidiary was positioning itself to showcase the new generation of R&B/Hip-Hop-Soul and proudly touted SisQó as their flagship artist.
Directly on the heels of Dru Hill’s “You Are Everything” which featured the husky voiced rapper Ja Rule, SisQó rolled out his solo career with a mid-tempo track featuring a similarly throaty, up-and-comer delivering raps by the name of Make it Hot. The song entitled “Got To Get It” expressed the jones for female affection, with lyrics which explored the gentle, the aggressive, and the freaky approach to wooing a potential companion. The song enjoyed some success but didn’t land as a full-blown smash hit. The visually dazzling video, high powered production, and edgy lyrics did help solidify SisQó as a viable solo artist as our clocks and calendars crept closer to the end of the century.
SisQó connected with East Coast rapper Beanie Sigel to open the LP with the title track “Unleash The Dragon.” SisQó’s own rhymes on the track saw his patented Baltimore accent express his intent of crafting a game-changing album for the upcoming millennium (“What's the dragon? It's when you're tired of holdin' your style in / n***as got me pissed like Lil' Kim / so I'm about to switch the industry again / your hands up shorties /stand up shorties / I'm about to shake your whole land up shorties / we about to let the dragon out”).
SisQó let more than the dragon out for the song “How Can I Love U 2nite,” produced by his Dru Hill partner Nokio. The seductive song of forbidden love skipped all subtleties and even included an NC-17 rated skit “2Nite (Interlude)” to set the mood for anyone planning a secret hookup before the potential computer crash of 11:59 p.m. December 31, 1999.
With his debut LP off and running, and the new millennium at hand, SisQó dropped the LP’s sophomore single “Thong Song,” which fully catapulted him into the land of superstardom. The first major crossover R&B hit on this side of the millennium, “Thong Song” undeniably helped set the pace and tempo for his genre. Proving that less is more, in more ways than one, the lyrics were simple and direct in their celebration of an accessory usually regarded as unmentionable: “that girl so scandalous / and I know another n***a couldn't handle it /and she shaking that thing like who's the ish / with a look in her eye so devilish.” SisQó’s candor proved to be as precious as platinum, because “Thong Song” dominated club and airway spins well into the Summer of 2000, with help from the remix which didn’t make the album but reunited SisQó with rapper Foxy Brown. The two first collaborated on “Big Bad Mamma” for Def Jam’s How to Be a Player Soundtrack (1997) when Dru Hill added their four-part harmony to the song’s chorus.
Far from being a one trick pony, the platinum-blonde boy from Baltimore almost surprisingly surpassed the success of “Thong Song” with the more traditional R&B song “Incomplete.” The slower tempo and reflective lyrics grounded SisQó and Unleash the Dragon as a true R&B/soul artist and album, and endures as arguably the signature song for the solo crooner who belted the heartfelt lyrics “Even though it seems I have everything / I don't wanna be a lonely fool /all of the women, all the expensive cars /all of the money don't amount to you / I can make believe I have everything / but I can't pretend that I don't see / that without you girl my life is incomplete.”
The master, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, also lent his pen to help remind audiences how effortlessly SisQó’s tenor could accentuate smooth and seductive songwriting. “Addicted” is another strong addition to the album that increases its overall appeal and listenability.
A lead-in for Dru Hill’s actual reunion “Enchantment Passing Through,” “Dru World Order” is a brief interlude that allows SisQó to proclaim his devotion to his childhood friends with whom he originally formed the group.
Now 20 years old, Unleash The Dragon was on all accounts an album just right for the time. It bridged the uncertainty of a beloved decade’s culmination, while ushering in the new millennium with swagger and style. Like any true soul album, Unleash The Dragon is first and foremost true to the environment that inspired and nurtured its artist. “Thong Song” took the culture of popular nightclubs like Hammerjacks and The Paradox worldwide, years before the cameras of HBO’s series The Wire would showcase Baltimore’s nightlife. The passion from “Incomplete” is usually confined to the steepled Baptist and A.M.E churches that end the marble-staired blocks of row-homes that make up the blue-collar city on America’s East Coast.
At the turn of the century, a major label invested an enormous amount of resources in a young, unique artist who could dance and sing at various tempos and in turn, SisQó helped create the blueprint for post-millennium R&B men. If Prince helped us party like it was “1999,” SisQó showed us how to rock out like it was Y2K with his unforgettable debut LP.
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