Guilty Pleasures: Shades, “Tell Me”
We all have guilty pleasures, those songs that have no business on our iPods or the tracks we only blast with the windows up. In this column I man up and share my darkest musical secrets.
Before Destiny’s Child demanded that some poor sucker pay their bills and years prior to Gangsta Boo screaming about money, we had Shades.
The short-lived quartet dropped “Tell Me (I’ll Be Around)” in 1997 and immediately told us their game plan:
Tell me your name
(‘Cuz I wanna know)
What car do you drive?
(And tell me where can we go)
How much money do you make
(How can I be down)
As long as you have
(I’ll be around)
At least they’re honest.
Also, the track has the exact same beat as LL Cool J’s superior “Loungin’ Remix,” both sampling Bernard Wright’s “Who Do You Love.”
So these women are judging men by their bank accounts and cars while going around jacking other people’s beats? That’s some top-shelf gold-digging right there.
(Yeah, yeah, I’m sure the real story behind LL and Shades sharing the same beat isn’t that diabolical, but I don’t trust those ladies).
Shades might be cold-hearted and ruthless, but “Tell Me” is still inviting 16 (!!!) years later. If you see me at the gym with my earbuds in, there’s a decent chance I’m listening to this song.
Sorry, fellas, I sold out. Watch my shame below.
What’s your guilty pleasure? Email soulinstereoblog@gmail.com, hit me up on Twitter @etbowser, or stop by the comments section and share your guilty pleasures. Leave a sentence or two and I’ll share your selection in a future column.
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