Whatever Happened to: Adina Howard

February 3, 2010Edward Bowsermusic, Whatever Happened to3

Disclaimer for those of you at work: The following blog has been Rated R – for raunchy. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I don’t get all the hubbub over Nicki Minaj.

Not only is Lil Wayne’s recruit a bad rapper, she is a carbon-copy clone of Lil Kim, even down to their promotional material. See?

Eww. I bet that photo smells like fishsticks.

At least Biggie wrote most of Lil Kim’s stuff. Poor Nicki has to get rapping advice from such brain surgeons as Gudda Gudda and Lil Twist.

But before there was Nicki Minaj, Lil Kim, Trina or Foxy Brown, the original freak of the 90s was Adina Howard. Let’s see what the pioneer of freakiness has been up to.

Would I lose my cred amongst my feminist friends if I admit that “Freak Like Me” is one of my favorite songs EVER? I still listen to this song at least once a week, thanks to the wonders of the iPod.

A round of applause for Steve Jobs.

Although it’s easy to write Adina off as a one-hit wonder, her 1995 album, subtly titled Do You Wanna Ride?, was actually very good. Sure she has a one-track mind, but “My Up and Down” and “It’s All About You” were bangers.

After the success of her gold-selling debut, Adina planned to return two years later with Welcome to Fantasy Island, and its lead single “(Freak) And You Know It.” I remember being so disappointed with that song back in ’97. I wasn’t feeling it, nor was I feeling her new haircut and piercings. Guess I wasn’t the only one not feeling it because the album was shelved.

Let’s fast forward seven years. I’ve graduated high school, college and I’ve entered my third year as a working adult. I’m watching Midnight Love on BET one night and whom do I see? Adina, with a GIGANTIC ‘fro. Angela Davis would be like, “chiiiile, when you gonna trim that thing?” Yep, Adina was back with “Nasty Grind.” And the song was pretty good! Her album, The Second Coming, wasn’t much to write home about, but it did feature a few of her lost 90s cuts – including the infamous “T-Shirt & Panties” with Jamie Foxx.

She came back a couple of years later with the considerably toned-down Private Show. I guess Adina realized she was getting too old for the constant freakiness. Aside from a choice track here and there (“Doin’ 80,” “Picture This”) the album wasn’t very spectacular.

Should she come back?: Although I haven’t heard much from her recently, I assume she’s still around, touring and sporadically releasing music.

Adina Howard: Pioneer in the movement for women’s rights or catalyst for the objectification of women in music? I’ll let y’all be the judge.

In the meantime, I’m off to listen to “Freak Like Me.”