New Jack Swing
tagStarted 1987Peak 1988-1991Last big hit 1993From New York, United States
Located in 1 route
Teddy Riley's signature fusion: a hard, swung hip-hop drum machine groove — kick on the downbeat, snapping triplet-feel snares — under stabbing synth-brass hits, slap bass and gospel-bred male vocals. Brash, mechanical yet soulful, with rap cadences in the phrasing and the room mixed loud and bright for radio.
History
Named in Barry Michael Cooper's 1987 Village Voice profile of Riley, the style crystallized on Keith Sweat's 'I Want Her' (1987) and Guy's debut (1988). Riley then co-wrote Bobby Brown's 'My Prerogative' and produced for Michael Jackson; the swung-snare template defined Black radio through the early 90s before harder hip-hop soul displaced it.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_jack_swing
- https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/teddy-riley-talks-honing-new-jack-swing-learning-from-michael-jackson-114778/
- https://timeline.carnegiehall.org/genres/new-jack-swing