Straight
from the good Ol Kentucky city of Louisville comes these
gentlemen with a touch of class, is the group PLAYA. They started out in there
hometown of Louisville,
doing talent shows, serenading the ladies , driving them wild. Until one day a
blessing from above sent them Jodeci a group they admired , rolled into town
for a concert. They caught Jodeci after the show and sang for them. DeVante
liked what he heard, and signed them to his Swing Mob label. From Kentucky
they were flown out by DeVante to Rochester,NY at Andrews
Building (aka Da
Bassment.. Many would have thought it was a music school. In that Bassment they
had artists like Sugah, Accion, Ginuwine, Da Boogieman (now Bazaar Royale),
Timbaland & Magoo, Sista (Missy Elliot) , Stevie J, Reboc, Mr Brendal,
Dante Hawkins, Renee Anderson, and of course now Playa.
Working
on many songs at Da Bassment.. Playa guest appeared on the Jodeci cut ‘ Can We
Flow” , “Love You Down” (Nutty Professor sdk) , and Al Greens “Could This Be
The Love” . Plus Playa had unreleased songs such as “Count On Me” w/K-Ci , “Ridin
Around”, Get Down” feat. Timbaland, “Come On,Girl”. For whatever reason all the
artists in Da Bassment left to persue there careers on there own.
HOW
I FOUND THE NEW PLAYA ALBUM
Around
1998 I was in Strawberries Records and Tapes..buying
CD’s, use to be my weekly thing as a DJ . As I was thumbing through the racks I
came across the album Cheers 2 U by Playa. I though to myself “ Hmmm.. is this
Playa from Da Bassment that I read in the liner notes of Jodeci’s album”.
Looking more closely to the CD I recognized there faces from the “Gin &
Juice” DeVante video from my Make It Or Break It VHS collection I had.the
Excited, I purchased the album , ran straight to my car, grabbed some
Mickey D’s, and decided to go on a road trip on a hot summers day. Luckily I had
my bathing suit, towel, and my portable CD player.
Arriving
at my destination (Gregg Lake- Antrim,NH
please visit if you get a chance). I found my spot on the beach, laid my
blanket down, popped in my ne Playa CD, and chilled under the hot summer sun rays.
The whole CD was a timeless #CLASSIC . My favorite tracks were “Cheers 2 U” , “All
The , Way” , “Derby
City” “Ms Parker” feat.
Missy Elliot. , “One Man Woman” feat. AAliyah, and “I’ll Be 2 C U” . The album was
produced partly by Timbaland. As well as sangin Dem Playa Boyz wrote and produced
on the album as well. Black from Playa wrote for Aaliyah’s second album. Smokey
of Playa had hand in Drake’s “Look What
You’ve Done”
. Static Major of Playa broke the Lil Wayne career breaking
platinum single “Lollipop” (Grammy Winning song).
Playa went to go on to create more
classic music. If you get a chance cop the albums and mixtapes
,
- Playa unreleased Compilation
- Smoke E Digglera- Personal. Pain & Pleasure
- Smoke E Digglera- Sittin On A Goldmine
- Smoke E Digglera- Truth In The Booth
- Digital Balck- R&B Street Mixtape
- Digital Black- Memoirs of an R&B Thug
- Digital Black- Autobiography of Benjamin Bush
- Lil Flip & Static- Suppertime Mixtape
- Static Major- The Christmas Mixtape
- Smoke N Big
- Smoke N G.No
- Smoke E Digglera- R&B
Covers Mixtape
- Playa- Cheers 2 U
Mention: Hug Bizza “Work Ya Body”feat.
Static, “Wiggle”- Smoke E Digglera
Static Major Interview (RIP)
