This is another pre-existing Soul Vendor post that I am updating with 320kbps rips goodness. I'm also making this a double post with both the UK CD Single and the US promo releases. Don't say I'm never nice to you. ;)
Anyway...
The soundtrack album for seminal Hip-Hop movie Juice was overflowing with dope tracks from various artists like EPMD, Naughty By Nature, Big Daddy Kane and others. It really is up there with the greatest urban soundtrack albums. Leading the way in terms of single releases were Aaron Hall's superb Don't Be Afraid as posted previously, alongside this monstrous cut.
Is It Good To You is a reworking of a tune of the same name that TR produced for the late great Heavy D a year before. That song featured the bassline from Junior Giscombe's 'Mamma Used To Say', and, coupled with Heav's quality rhymes, made it a song of some note. Forward on a year and Teddy hooked up with long term collaborator, the honey voiced Tammy Lucas to rework the song into a fully fledged New Jack Swing masterpiece.
It's a real shame Tammy Lucas never blew up in her own right. I always loved her voice; she sounded damn near angelic, sung with real style, and stole the show whether guesting on the brilliant 1nce Again by A Tribe Called Quest, or Blackstreet's Tonight's The Night (both of which I will be adding to this site in the coming weeks). Frank/Windowlicker mentions in the older post's comments section reading an interview with her where she mentions that, as a plus sized woman, the record company didn't know how to market her, and so she went into writing rather than being an artist herself. What a superficial world we live in; hypocritical, too, with Heavy D's larger size being perfectly acceptable.
This release, then, is a nice reminder of a wonderful soul singer who never quite got her due.
There are six tracks on the UK single, most of them sound almost identical barring one or two slight differences in the arrangement, so I will let you judge which is the best. However, the Acapella might be of interest for you mixologists. For me, much like Aaron Hall's Don't Be Afraid, it's the album version featured on the Juice OST, conspicuous by its absence, which is best, so I've included it as a bonus track.
UK CD Single tracklist
- Is It Good To You (On The Radio Mix)
- Is It Good To You (Acapella)
- Is It Good To You (Hip Hop Mix)
- Is It Good To You (In The Clubs Mix)
- Is It Good To You (Lucasade Mix)
- Is It Good To You (Instrumental)
And here is the US release for sake of completion, which contains Percapella and Bonus Beats versions not available on the UK disc. I don't have the actual CD to hand at the moment to scan the artwork, so cover and CD courtesy of Discogs. :)
If you appreciate this post, or have great memories of it then please leave some love in the comments section. This track deserves it.
Peace and love x
- Is It Good To You (7" Mix)
- Is It Good To You (12" Mix)
- Is It Good To You (Hip Hop Mix)
- Is It Good To You (Instrumental)
- Is It Good To You (Percapella)
