#1401: Abstrac’

80s Snapshot:

• Number of songs on Hot 100: 1
• Highest peak position: 93
• Cumulative weeks on Hot 100: 2

As we’re still very early into this journey through the 80s, there are still several genres we haven’t fully dove into yet. One that we’ll take our first peek at today is a personal favorite: new jack swing. With its slick production featuring samples, synthesized beats and syncopated rhythms, new jack swing’s fusion of dance and R&B made it one of the few 80s genres that was able to make the transition into the early 90s. Fittingly, today’s featured song is the first we’ll look at which debuted in 1989 and saw its Hot 100 run carry over into 1990.

Abstrac’ was a New York City trio comprising Mary Brown, Marsha McClurkin and Alvina “Topaz” Del Bettis. Signed to Reprise Records, the trio got the opportunity to work with Teddy Riley, one of the emerging titans in the field of new jack swing. Riley is someone who will make multiple appearances throughout this journey, as a producer, solo artist and member of the group Guy. Riley’s fingerprints are all over the group’s self-titled 1989 album, providing backing vocals, keyboards, arrangement and mixing.

Abstrac’s first single, “Right And Hype” was released late in 1989 and features all the hallmarks of new jack swing: uptempo, catchy, tight harmonies, and most importantly a dancefloor-ready beat. It began catching on at radio almost immediately, making its debut on the Hot Black Singles chart in late October. The song enjoyed a long and successful run on this chart as it continued to grow at radio and saw its music video enter heavy rotation on BET; “Right And Hype” ultimately spent 17 weeks on the Hot Black Singles chart and peaked at #23.

“Right And Hype” also began to get crossover airplay and ultimately made its Hot 100 debut at #93 on the 12/23/1989 chart, the final new chart of the 1980s (12/30/1989 was a frozen chart due to no issue of Billboard magazine hitting shelves). The song was the lowest-ranked debut of the week, making “Right And Hype” the final song of the entire decade to reach the Hot 100. The song made modest gains as the calendar switched over to 1990, ultimately peaking at #89 across a six-week run.

Follow-up single “You Are The Party (I Am The Fun)” failed to chart, as did the parent album Abstrac’ and almost as soon as it began, the group disbanded. Brown and McClurkin regrouped as a new-jack duo, this time named M & M after their first names. As M & M, they released one album with 1992’s Get Ta Know Ya Betta, with its title track peaked at #92 on the recently-renamed Hot R&B Singles chart. As with Abstrac’, this too was a one-album endeavor before the group split once again.

Mary Brown maintained an active career in the music industry throughout the 90s and into the 2000s, working as both a background vocalist and as a songwriter. As a singer, her background vocals were heard on artists like Michael Jackson, Usher, LL Cool J, and Mary J. Blige, among many others; the highest-charting single with Brown on backing vocals was 702’s “Get It Together”, which peaked at #10 in 1997. Brown also has earned songwriting credit on a number of Top-40 hits, most notably Destiny’s Child’s debut single “No, No, No”.

Next: Eric Troyer
Previous: Wayne Massey