I pulled out Chico's last 3 cd's and played them in the studio this past weekend. Not only are all 3 cd's very good, the thing that kept jumping out at me is how much they sounded like D'angelo type material and vocals.

Am I tripping?

No. Chico is very, very talented and sadly underrated. And he can sing live.



[Edited 12/8/08 12:41pm]

Graycap23 said:

Not really tripping. Chico was definitely on a D'Angelo trip, who was on a Marvin/Prince trip, lol.

But I would argue that Chico, while sounding similar to D'Angelo also did his own thing. I think Chico's music is less airier and harder than D'Angelo's

Didn't Kedar Massenberg bring out D'Angelo and Badu as well as Chico? That might explain it.

daytonohioplayer said:

That would imply that it is Kedar's formula. I'd say that is NOT the case.

Yes, Kedar brought out all 3 at the same time. However, D'Angelo had already written the song You Will Know, so he kinda had his own sound. Chico had written songs for Erykah that were scrapped and used for one of his later cds.

Chico's last cd, Free, sounds very different from his previous 2 cds-not really neo soul at all
[Edited 12/8/08 14:27pm]

It's funny that you mentioned Chico. I watched TVone's Unsung special, about Debarge. It made me go back and listen to his "Long Time No See", CD. I have not listened to it in years. I forgot how good it was. "Iggin Me", was the bomb. El can really play the organ.

shorttrini said:

child yes!!! that album was nothing but the truth!!! I'm pulling mine out right now!!!

My first date was a Chico Debarge concert right around the time when this album was released...and yes he was great live!!!!

This is all so WILD to me!

Chico fell off of my radar in the late 80s when he was arrested. The guy put out Talk to Me, then disappeared.

I didn't even know--or care--that he re-emerged as a neo-soul artist later.

I vaguely remembered seeing the No Guarantee video with him and Joe back in the day, but I didn't put 2 and 2 together. The Chico I remembered from the 80s (who I'd LOOOONG forgotten about) was brownskinned. I had no idea that high yella R&B tough guy was my 5 minute popstar crush from when I was 14.

How WILD!!!

Rare Chico track from the Coming to America soundtrack

scriptgirl said:

DAMN!!! you took it back, as many times as I've watched this movie, I had no idea that this song was sung by Chico!!! I guess you learn something new everyday. I believe this song was playing when Arsenio and Eddie were meeting all those strange women in the club.

I discovered that track by accident
What is interesting is that Chico's voice then sounds nothing like it does now.

shorttrini said:

"Iggin Me" made me buy the CD. Off the hook.

Joe and Chico should've done a whole album back then. Their styles mixed well.

Joe and Chico do a collabo on Chico's new cd

missfee said:

What happened to the guy that took you to the concert?

shorttrini said:

What about the 2 cd's after that. I dig both of them as well. The duet with Bobby Brown is pretty good as well.

I love all of Chico's music, but Free is a mite spotty

scriptgirl said:

Lol.....I ignored the last 2 cd's until this past weekend.

Graycap23 said:

I have not picked them up.

shorttrini said:

U should check them out. I had never really listened 2 them. Not bad....

Chico makes very, very good music. He is an excellent arranger, writer and singer. Not so sure sometimes about his producing

shorttrini said:

Well not sure what he's doing now, haven't seen him in years.

Chico caught the end of the so called Neo Soul movement. It is a shame that Neo Soul was treated as a fad because it was the most soulful music released in years by artist as Erikah, Jill, Dangelo, Chico etc. I love the retro (real) sound of this musical genre that I continue to listen to now.

totaldiva said:

He didn't catch the end of it, he came in the middle ('97) of its hey day. What happened was, the giants of the genre (D', Badu, Maxwell, Lauryn) basically went dormant for a few years after 2000, and the genre couldn't sustain itself with the 2nd tier Neoers like Jill, India, and Musiq. Chico was part of that 2nd tier.

MuthaFunka said:

Yup! That is the jam . It's the reason I bought the album too.

Musiq and Chico never really got great promotion and after her first CD , it seemed people weren't interested in India that much anymore