{"id":148173,"date":"2025-09-09T07:10:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T07:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/09\/word-up-cameos-funky-commercial-apex\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T07:10:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T07:10:14","slug":"word-up-cameos-funky-commercial-apex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/09\/word-up-cameos-funky-commercial-apex\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Word Up!’: Cameo’s Funky Commercial Apex"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cameo<\/strong><\/a> was remarkably prolific by the Nineteen Seventies and \u201980s, churning out a dozen albums inside an preliminary nine-year run rife with R&B hits. Originally a sprawling funk ensemble earlier than steadily downsizing, the New York City group\u2019s sustained success below the management of vocalist\/drummer\/producer Larry Blackmon mirrored an uncanny capacity to pivot and evolve. Cameo made its title with consummate dance flooring funk so aggressively syncopated (\u201cI Just Want to Be,\u201d \u201cShake Your Pants,\u201d et al.) the information felt like they could fly off the turntable. But the group may additionally adroitly dabble in disco (\u201cFind My Way\u201d), take stylistic cues from electro (\u201cSingle Life\u201d) and new wave (\u201cAlligator Woman\u201d), boast proto-broken beat jazz-funk chops (\u201cThe Sound Table\u201d), and excel with beautiful falsetto ballads (\u201cWhy Have I Lost You\u201d) all whereas remaining devoted to a core template of Blackmon\u2019s Clinton<\/a><\/strong>-esque frontman persona offset by Tomi Jenkins\u2019 silky clean vocals.<\/p>\n

\"uDiscover<\/a><\/div>\n
\"uDiscover<\/a><\/div>\n
\"uDiscover<\/a><\/div>\n

Listen to Cameo\u2019s Word Up!<\/em> now.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Featuring a Blackmon rap in reward of a peculiar femme fatale, 1984\u2019s slinky \u201cShe Strange\u201d even discovered the group assuredly harnessing hip-hop\u2019s affect \u2013 a trick that defied most of its longstanding Black music contemporaries. This willingness to embrace the burgeoning artwork type slightly than deride it as development (or worse, fumble within the face of its existential risk) wholly informs 1986\u2019s \u201cWord Up,\u201d Cameo\u2019s industrial apex. Its angular funk \u2013 within the type of chunky energy chords and horn charts \u2013 selectively incorporates rap\u2019s parlance (e.g. the title chorus; \u201cwave your hands in the air like you don\u2019t care\u201d) and perspective (see disparaging references to \u201csucker DJs who think [they\u2019re] fly\u201d) into Blackmon and Jenkins\u2019 personal confirmed songwriting and arranging acumen, yielding one of many catchiest and quirkiest crossover singles of the last decade.<\/p>\n

That stated, it wouldn\u2019t essentially shock anybody if Word Up!<\/em> was little greater than a automobile for its titular hit. Fortunately, its seven songs embody a few of the most interesting by the group (by this level formally a trio of Blackmon, Jenkins and vocalist Nathan Leftenant). \u201cWord Up\u2019s\u201d rapid follow-up, \u201cCandy,\u201d is a rhythmically infectious, earworm-laden masterpiece that completely performs Blackmon\u2019s exaggerated, nasal supply towards Jenkins and Leftenant\u2019s sweeter vocal assault. Additional songs spotlighting Jenkins\u2019 singing practically match this commonplace. \u201cBack and Forth,\u201d the album\u2019s third substantial hit, playfully laments relationship ups and downs over a buoyant monitor punctuated by traditional interval guitar shredding and drum machine claps. \u201cDon\u2019t Be Lonely\u201d displays the trio\u2019s knack for romantic materials undiminished.<\/p>\n

Thematically, the motivational \u201cYou Can Have the World\u201d appeared an apropos album nearer. Word Up!<\/em> grew to become Cameo\u2019s highest charting LP, going primary R&B and high 10 pop. It was additionally basically the group\u2019s final hurrah within the face of a sea change. As the \u201980s drew to a detailed, younger hip-hop and New Jack Swing R&B artists supplanted Cameo and different veteran teams because the pacesetters inside Black music. Yet Blackmon\u2019s signature hi-top fade grew to become the adopted look of this youth motion \u2013 symbolic of Cameo\u2019s longevity even because the baton handed to the following technology.<\/p>\n

Listen to Cameo\u2019s Word Up!<\/em> now.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n

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[ad_1] Cameo was remarkably prolific by the Nineteen Seventies and \u201980s, churning out a dozen albums inside an preliminary nine-year run rife with R&B hits. Originally a sprawling funk ensemble earlier than steadily downsizing, the New York City group\u2019s sustained success below the management of vocalist\/drummer\/producer Larry Blackmon mirrored an uncanny capacity to pivot and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":148174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[12881,12879,12880,10315,3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-148173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-apex","9":"tag-cameos","10":"tag-commercial","11":"tag-funky","12":"tag-word"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}