''Pronounced Jah-Nay'' is the debut studio album by American R&B group

Zhané Zhané ( ) was an American R&B duo, best known for their 1993 hit " Hey Mr. D.J.", which reached No. 6 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Other popular hits include " Groove Thang" (U.S. No. 17) and minor hit " Sending My Love", both released i ...

. It was released on February 15, 1994, via

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

. Recording sessions took place at Enterprise Studios and at Encore Studios in Burbank, at Marion Recording Studio in Fairview, New Jersey, and at

Unique Recording Studios Unique Recording Studios was a five-room recording studio operating near Times Square in New York City from 1978 until 2004. Founders and co-owners Bobby Nathan and Joanne Georgio-Nathan installed the first Otari 24-track tape deck in New York. ...

and at Soundtrack Studios in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Production was handled by Naughty by Nature and Zhané. The album peaked at number thirty-seven on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number eight on the

Top 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. It was certified platinum 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 ...

on October 4, 1996. The album produced five singles: " Hey Mr. D.J.", "

Groove Thang "Groove Thang" is a song by American R&B group Zhané from their debut album, '' Pronounced Jah-Nay'' (1994). Released in January 1994, it was produced by and features a rap verse from Naughty by Nature. The song is based on a sample of " Have ...

", " Sending My Love", "

Vibe ''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 productio ...

" and "You're Sorry Now". Its lead single, "Hey Mr. D.J.", became the group's most successful song, reaching number six on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and receiving gold certification by the RIAA.

Critical reception

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' wrote, "The concept this female duo– Renee Neufville and Jean Norris–practises is relatively new. Blending sweet

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

with hip hop rhythm tracks, the outcome is not unlike "Sons Of Soul" Tony! Toni! Tone!. Compared to their own streetwise rap records, producers Naughty By Nature were very smooth operators in the studio for this one. Apart from the two singles Hey Mr. D.J. and

the beat is rather slow. Pronounce "Ge-nius," we say sans gene."

Track listing

;Sample credits *Track 1 contains a sample from "Lookin' Up to You" performed by

Michael Wycoff Michael Wycoff (January 1, 1956 – March 13, 2019) was an American R&B singer. He scored several hits on the US R&B chart during the 1980s. Biography Wycoff attended Wilmington Junior High School and Phineas Banning High School in Wilmington ...

*Track 3 contains a sample from "

Love X Love "Love X Love" is a song written by Heatwave (band), Heatwave's keyboard player Rod Temperton and recorded by American guitarist and singer George Benson. Featured on Benson's ''Give Me the Night (album), Give Me the Night'' album, it was also re ...

" performed by

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, pla ...

Personnel

*Renée Neufville – vocals, lyrics (tracks: 1, 3-11, 13), piano (track 8), strings (track 12), producer (tracks: 6, 8, 9, 12), executive producer *Jean Norris – vocals, lyrics & producer (tracks: 10, 12), keyboards (track 10), piano (track 12), executive producer * Keir "Kay Gee" Gist – vocals (track 2), drum programming (tracks: 6–8, 10, 13), executive producer *Wendell & Face – vocals (track 2) *Les – additional vocals (track 3) *Voe Harris – keyboards (track 3) *Naheem "Pop Holiday" Bowens – keyboards (track 3) *David Bellochio – keyboards (tracks: 4, 5, 7, 8), piano (track 9), additional producer (tracks: 4, 5), co-producer (track 7), recording (tracks: 1–8, 10–13) *

Alan Goldsher Alan Goldsher is an American author of 15 books, performs on bass and keyboard, and is a music and sports journalist. He lives in Chicago. Writing Goldsher has written 15 books, both fiction and non-fiction. His debut novel, ''Jam'', was publish ...

– bass (track 9) *Steve Williams – drums (track 9) *Frank Gravis – bass (track 10) *Paul Levant – guitar (track 10) *Kevin Batchelor – trumpet (track 10) * Naughty by Nature – producers (tracks: 1–8, 10, 11, 13) *Craig King – co-producer (track 6) *Angela Piva – recording (tracks: 1–8, 10–14), mixing (tracks: 1–7, 9-14) *John Van Nest – mixing (track 8) *Frank Fagnano – recording (track 9) *

Quincy Jones III Quincy Delight Jones III (born 23 December 1968), better known as QDIII, QD3 and Snoopy, is an English-born Swedish-American music producer and film producer. Family Jones was born in Wimbledon, London, the son of Swedish model Ulla Andersson ...

– remixing (track 13) *Ed Miller – recording assistant *Fred Kelly – recording assistant *John Buttigieg – recording assistant *Mufi – recording assistant *Rob Polhemus – recording assistant *Scott Blockland – recording assistant *Scott Canto – recording assistant *Steve McKeever – executive producer, liner notes *Jonathan Clark – art direction *Shauna Woods – design *James Minchin III – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Zhané Zhané albums Motown albums 1994 debut albums Albums produced by KayGee