Rick James - Street Songs

Tracklist:

1. Give It To Me Baby
2. Ghetto Life
3. Make Love To Me
4. Mr. Policeman
5. Super Freak
6. Fire And Desire (with Teena Marie)
7. Call Me Up
8. Below The Funk Pass (Pass The J)
9. Give It To Me Baby (12" mix)
10. Give It To Me Baby (instrumental)
11. Super Freak (12" mix)
12. Super Freak (instrumental)

- Clique Aki

Street Songs became the biggest R&B album of that year, staying at the top of the charts for 20 consecutive weeks and since then the album has gone multi-platinum.

The sound quality is amazing, much clearer than the first copies of this CD in the mid-80s.The songs are all here!
There's the bass-heavy "Give It To Me, Baby", the street anthem "Ghetto Life" (which surely inspired a lot of the hip-hop that was soon to follow),the nice slow jam "Make Love To Me", and the reggae-tinged "Mr. Policeman", which, must have inspired latter rap songs about police brutality.
Then there is the masterpiece, the New Wave-styled "Super Freak", which still sounds fresh and new after all these years. The duet with Teena Marie "Fire and Desire" is steamy and intense, even if they do go a little overboard, vocally. "Call Me Up" is sexy and to the point, while "Below The Funk(Pass The J)" is a perfect album closer, another badass street anthem that reflects the mood of the album. Fortunately, the fun doesn't end there.
At the end of this first disc, there are bonus 12" versions of the hits "Give It To Me Baby" and "SuperFreak". The 7-minute remix of "SuperFreak" is particularly fierce, with the catchy sing-along hook "SuperFreak,the girl's a SuperFreak....SuperFreak,the girl's a SuperFreak".
Rick James had already reached the top of the R&B charts numerous times before STREET SONGS, but this 1981 release was the crossover breakthrough that earned him pop stardom. This is where his mix of P-Funk grooves and Blowfly lyrics hitched ... Full Descriptionits wagon to some surefire pop hooks without losing any of the funk. The album is best remembered for its two enduring hits, "Give It To Me Baby" and "Super Freak," but the action doesn't stop there. James unleashes his inner Barry White on "Fire and Desire," a romance-dripping slow-jam duet with Teena Marie, and the tight, funky grooves of "Below the Funk" and "Call Me Up" are as irresistible as those of the album's better-known tracks. Oh, and just in case anyone wants to stop dancing long enough to think about it, STREET SONGS is supposedly a concept album about the street life of ladies of the night and their, um, business managers.