Sisqo Could’ve Been One Of The Greatest R&B Artists
Most people’s first thoughts about Sisqo revolve around “The Thong Song.” It introduced an entire generation of young boys to the beauty of women in thongs. I love that song, but for me it never defined his career. Platinum albums didn’t. The ridiculous, still talked about colored hairstyles didn’t either. It was the music.
Sisqo’s Unleash The Dragon is a masterpiece. The type of album you can pull up on any day and it sounds amazing. It, of course, housed the biggest hit of his career. No, it wasn’t that thong thong thong thong thong. “Incomplete” was number one on Billboard’s hot 100 charts. You also had Beanie Sigel on the title track, or “Got To Get It,” which I heard for the first time from some promotional McDonalds CD that was a couple dollars. I’m still mad the production on “Dru World Order (Interlude)” wasn’t used for more than a talking session.
Then, there’s “How Can I Love U 2nite.” In all seriousness, somebody at Def Jam dropped the ball, because this should’ve been a hit single. It’s arguably the best record he’s ever created as a solo artist. The different ranges of his voice and the ad-libs were just incredible. If there’s a limit to how many times you should play one record, I went over the limit at least a year ago. I probably played it at least once a day for almost a year straight, and I’m not tired of it yet.
If I hadn’t picked up on Unleash The Dragon so late, I would have told you that Sisqo would one day be one of the greatest R&B artists of all time. Only, that never happened. His name is synonymous with one single, or being Dru Hill’s frontman, or his platinum hair. Return Of Dragon was deemed a commercial failure with no hit singles, but holds a million plus copies sold certification. Then, he vanished as a solo artist.
We got two Dru Hill albums, 2002’s Dru World Order and 2010’s InDRUpendence Day. They didn’t satisfy. Both were decent albums at best. Where was solo Sisqo? Is he plotting on taking over the game with a new sound? Hold up, new Sisqo on a blog in 2007! It’s time for the comeback…..until you click play and realize Sisqo has morphed from a singer with endless potential into a bitter, aging and washed-up man who felt necessary to attack Usher and R. Kelly.
In life, you stumble. You can make decisions that are wrong. I forgave Sisqo. Maybe it was just one of those days. Months. Years. In 2007, Usher was quietly plotting his return and R. Kelly provided Double Up with “Same Girl” (and featured Usher) and “I’ma Flirt.” It’s easy to see why Sisqo was a bit frustrated. Eminem once said he wanted to diss Lil Wayne and Kanye, because they were running rap and he could barely create anything worthy of public consumption.
The beef actually stemmed from 2002’s Best Of Both Worlds, where R. Kelly threw shots first. As he told MTV’s Shaheem Reid, he felt a type of way for Sisqo to be running around claiming he ran R&B. Sisqo fired back at him and Nas a few months later, but it didn’t make sense for it to happen again in 2007.
So, what really happened with Sisqo’s career? The explanation comes from an interview he did with Noisey earlier this year.
“A lot of the decisions I made in terms of people not seeing me in the mainstream anymore were the sacrifices I had to make to achieve anything. At the end of the day, the core of what I want is to make good music. But I think you can get to a level where the business interferes with the music. With the exception of a few artists, now it’s all quantity over quality. I didn’t want to put out a bunch of stuff just because. I’ve got millions of songs laying around, but I think that’s irresponsible to your fans and to your music. I didn’t want to sell out to stay in front of the camera. That’s phoney, I’ll take the long way and see you on the other side.”
Sisqo, like many artists, just wanted to make music and not deal with politics. With his last album considered a failure, the label would have less faith in him. At the same time, he fell into that Dr. Dre trap. Sisqo says he has “millions of songs” stashed away, but it’s damn near impossible to not have a whole album worth of songs from there. Dre’s perfection ultimately led to years of waiting when it came to releasing another album. Unlike Dre, Sisqo’s business didn’t boom. He didn’t land a deal to create headphones or team up with Apple Music.
After his career hit “crying wolf” status, The Last Dragon finally arrived in this past February. Man, I’d do anything to erase the memory of that album. It was the moment when you realized it was over. Hell, it had been over but you held onto hope that one day, somehow and someway, he’d rise back up. Instead of trying to bring good music, he merely tried to fit into what’s hot: a too confusing, too late feature from Waka Flocka and dated pop culture slang (seriously, turn my swag on in 2015, no).
It’s a sad subject. Sisqo was put under a great deal of pressure, then forgotten when he made a slip up. He kept himself out of the spotlight for over a decade for only reasons he can truly understand. With the right guidance, opportunity and acceptance for not being perfect, Sisqo could’ve been one of the greatest R&B artists; Solidifying his spot on the R&B Mt. Rushmore.
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