''Guy'' is the 1988 debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American R&B band Guy. Released on June 13, 1988 by

Uptown Records Uptown Records is an American record label, based in New York City, founded in 1986 by onetime rapper Andre Harrell. From the late 1980s into the early 1990s, it was a leader in R&B and hip hop. During the 1990s, aided by its A&R worker Sean ...

. It was produced by group founder

Teddy Riley Edward Theodore Riley (born October 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer credited with the creation of the New Jack Swing genre. Riley credits Barry Michael Cooper with giving the genre its name.Hogan, Paul. "Tedd ...

and manager Gene Griffin. The album peaked at number 27 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. In July 1994, it was certified

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

, for shipments of two million copies in the United States. In 2007, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the album,

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

reissued the recording complete with a remastered version of the original album and a second CD of remixes.

Background

The origins of Guy came about when Aaron Hall and Timmy Gatling worked at the same clothing store,

Abraham & Straus Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company ...

in New York. Riley was introduced to Hall by way of Gatling and the three then decided to form a group. Riley and Gatling were in a group prior to forming Guy called Kids At Work. Producer and manager Gene Griffin introduced them to Uptown Records founder Andre Harrell, who immediately signed the trio. After they were signed, they moved to Washington, D.C. to live with Griffin. However, things went south after Hall and Gatling were fighting the entire time of the recording. Gatling then left the group and was replaced by Aaron's younger brother Damion Hall. The eventual reasons of Gatling's departure from the group were issues with the contract and pressuring personal relationships during the time, although he was credited and earned royalties by his contribution of writing and producing.

Recording

The album was recorded at several studios in New York—Chung King Studios, Sound Works Studios, and Unique Studios in New York City, Hillside Studios in Englewood, and Quantum Studios, Jersey City. The recording sessions were engineered by

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...

's son Dae Bennett and Dave Kowalski. The album was mixed by Timmy Regisford, who would work with Riley on a number of projects over the next few years. ''Guy'' was initially recorded at the house of Riley's mother. The reason for it was because the group had no money to record like they wanted in a professional studio. Although they did get around to recording in a professional setting, in the end, they used most of the vocals recorded from home because Riley felt they sounded better. One of the songs on the album- "You Can Call Me Crazy"- was originally intended for singer

Al B. Sure! Albert Joseph Brown III (born June 4, 1968), known professionally as Al B. Sure!, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, radio host and former record executive. He was born in Boston and raised in Mount Vernon, New York. During the ...

for his debut album ''

In Effect Mode ''In Effect Mode'' is the debut album by Al B. Sure!. It was released on May 3, 1988 on Uptown Records with distribution handled by Warner Bros. Records. It was one of two albums by Sure! that was released under Uptown that were not issued under i ...

''. Griffin took the song back as he felt the album needed to be filled. In the end, they decided to keep the song on the album with Sure!'s vocals still on the song. Another song on the album "Piece Of My Love" was the source of an

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

for a number of years. It was assumed that Hall sang the words "dumb bitch" at the beginning of the track. The rumor was so widespread, it was even referenced by

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

in his song "Reminding Me (Of Sef)", the first single from his 1997 album ''

One Day It'll All Make Sense ''One Day It'll All Make Sense'' is the third studio album by rapper Common, released on September 30, 1997, on Relativity Records. It was the follow-up to his critically acclaimed album ''Resurrection'' and the last Common album to feature prod ...

''. In a 2000 interview with

Vibe Magazine ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down production ...

, Riley insisted that it wasn't what Hall was saying, but rather "come on, babe". To further support his claim, he played the master tapes and isolated Hall's vocals to prove otherwise. The album started recording in October 1987 and was completed in March 1988. A

new jack swing New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle, new jack swing was mos ...

album, ''Guy'' incorporates hip hop, R&B, and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

styles.

Commercial performance

''Guy'' peaked at twenty-seven on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 and reached number one on the

R&B Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

chart where it remained for five nonconsecutive weeks. The album was certified platinum in March 1989 and double platinum by July 1994. In addition, ''Guy'' was the highest charting R&B album on the

Billboard Year-End ''Billboard'' Year-End charts are cumulative rankings of entries in '' Billboard'' magazine charts in the United States in any given chart year. Several hundred Year-End charts are now published by ''Billboard'', the most important of which are ...

chart for 1989.

Critical reception

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' gave the album an "A−" and recommended for listeners to "absorb the beats and focus in on Aaron Hall". He felt that the band "sound like almost arrogantly anonymous light funksters" and found Riley and Hall underwhelming as

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

singers, but stated, "where

Bobby Brown Robert Barisford Brown (born February 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Brown, alongside frequent collaborator Teddy Riley, is noted as one of the pioneers of new jack swing: a fusion of hip hop and R&B. Brown started h ...

and

play the love man falsetto straight, Hall adds depth by straying toward the manly emotionalism of the church. And unlike most light funksters, Riley doesn't aspire to slow ones." John Leland of '' Spin'' viewed ''Guy'' as exemplary of contemporary

albums, which he felt all sound "low-budget, without effects or orchestra, but yet they're very sophisticated". Alex Henderson of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave ''Guy'' five out of five stars in a retrospective review, crediting the album for doing "more than any other to make ew jack swingso incredibly popular in the R&B world" and citing it as "one of the most seminal and influential releases of the late '80s". The song "Groove Me" appears in the 2004 video game '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' on the radio station '' CSR 103.9'', which plays new jack swing music.

Track listing

Personnel

*Franklin D. – assistant engineer *Alan Friedman – assistant engineer *Alan Gregorie – assistant engineer *Jay Henry – assistant engineer *Dennis Mitchell – assistant engineer *Mario Salvati – assistant engineer *Dawn Thomas – composing *Dae Bennett – engineer *Dave Kowalski – engineer *Guy – executive producer *Andre Harrell – executive producer *Timmy Gatling – group member *Timmy Regisford – mixing *Gene Griffin – vocals, producer, arranger *Teddy Riley – vocals, producer, arranger, keyboards, drum programming *Louil Silas, Jr. – remixing * Aaron Hall – vocals *Tammy Lucas – background vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

*
Guy
' at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

"The secret of his success"
by ''

Creative Loafing Creative Loafing is an Atlanta-based publisher of a monthly arts and culture newspaper/magazine. The company publishes a 60,000 circulation monthly publication which is distributed to in-town locations and neighborhoods on the first Thursday of ...

'' {{Authority control 1988 debut albums Guy (band) albums MCA Records albums Uptown Records albums Albums produced by Teddy Riley Albums recorded at Chung King Studios