Rare Essence
Encyclopedia
Rare Essence, is an American
go-go band
, originally from Washington, D.C.
, and Confunkshun. Eventually the band adapted more players and conformed to the go-go sound that started in 1976. It was at that time that the band called on the assistance of Quinten's mother, Annie Mack, who became the band's first manager.
Today, Rare Essence is composed of 12 musicians who play a range of instruments from the timbales
to the bass guitar
. They play up to six nights a week.
Rare Essence has had success with such hits
as "Body Moves", the hit album
Live at Breeze's Metro Club, and the single "Lock-It" which was featured on the Strictly Business film soundtrack
. The band's most successful single
, "Work the Walls", reached #68 in the US
Billboard
R&B
chart
.
In 1993 Rare Essence had a deal with Andre Harrell who was the president of Uptown Records, signed the group Rare Essence through Sean Combs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Combs|, but the group's recordings didn’t do too well so that relationship fizzled. Go-go fans complain that most studio recordings aren't "hitting it”, says the Chicago Reader. But there are some studio recordings that are out there and Rare Essence has sold upwards of 30,000. However, fans prefer to listen to recordings of live shows.
Rare essence sued Jay-Z
on the basis that their song “Overnight Scenario” was copied by Jay-Z in the song “Do It Again (Put your hands up)” which was the first single off of Vol.3 the Life and Times of S. Carter. There is an hour to hour account in the song “Overnight Scenario” and “Do it again”, follows the same concept. For example Rare Essence's line was “Three in the Morning the Pancake House” while Jay-Z said “4 AM at the Waffle House”. The question was whether or not the problem should be called plagiarism or just similar concept. The group had been performing the song for most of the late 1990s and wanted an undisclosed amount of money in addition to writing and production credit. Jay – Z’s defense was that go–go music is just remakes of other artists’ songs.
A few band mates left the group Rare Essence in late 2000 and formed 911; howevever they didn't stray too far from Rare Essence's call and response funk. The new group's first CD, "Blueprint," earned good reviews and a couple songs got radio time. Whether it was simply because of a maturing audience or clubs trying to get away from the stereotypical violence associated with go –go, they have been moving away from aggressive sound toward what has been called "grown and sexy”, where groups use a backbeat of congas and timbales to jazzy, horn- driven R&B covers. Floyd from the group 911 called it, the "out to party, but dressed to impress and laid-back" crowd in the article called “Some Familiar Faces” in the Washington Post.
911 started to play a more seasoned style and so they changed their name too Familiar Faces. Still, Familiar Faces takes artists like Sade and play their songs more powerfully than most R&B covers, by putting a sharp beat behind the mellow vocals, but Familiar Faces says "It's not the music that makes it grown and sexy, it's the lyrics". Now the group is moving from covering other peoples songs and focusing on original material stating that, “The only way go-go will ever make it nationally is on the strength of the original songs”.
Band member Anthony (Little Benny) Harley died on May 30, 2010 in Washington, D.C. He was 46 years old.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
go-go band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
, originally from Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Career
The band developed from a relationship between four childhood friends: Quinten "Footz" Davidson, Andre "Whiteboy" Johnson, Michael "Funky Ned" Neal and John Jones. After school, the four young musicians would get together in each other's basements and play top forty hits from such influential bands like Parliament/Funkadelic, CameoCameo (band)
Cameo is an American soul-influenced funk group that formed in the early 1970s. Cameo was initially a 13-member group known as the New York City Players; this name was later changed to Cameo to avoid a lawsuit from Ohio Players, another group from that era. Since then, Cameo has recorded several...
, and Confunkshun. Eventually the band adapted more players and conformed to the go-go sound that started in 1976. It was at that time that the band called on the assistance of Quinten's mother, Annie Mack, who became the band's first manager.
Today, Rare Essence is composed of 12 musicians who play a range of instruments from the timbales
Timbales
Timbales are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing, invented in Cuba. They are shallower in shape than single-headed tom-toms, and usually much higher tuned...
to the bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
. They play up to six nights a week.
Rare Essence has had success with such hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
as "Body Moves", the hit album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
Live at Breeze's Metro Club, and the single "Lock-It" which was featured on the Strictly Business film soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
. The band's most successful single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Work the Walls", reached #68 in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
.
In 1993 Rare Essence had a deal with Andre Harrell who was the president of Uptown Records, signed the group Rare Essence through Sean Combs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Combs|, but the group's recordings didn’t do too well so that relationship fizzled. Go-go fans complain that most studio recordings aren't "hitting it”, says the Chicago Reader. But there are some studio recordings that are out there and Rare Essence has sold upwards of 30,000. However, fans prefer to listen to recordings of live shows.
Rare essence sued Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
on the basis that their song “Overnight Scenario” was copied by Jay-Z in the song “Do It Again (Put your hands up)” which was the first single off of Vol.3 the Life and Times of S. Carter. There is an hour to hour account in the song “Overnight Scenario” and “Do it again”, follows the same concept. For example Rare Essence's line was “Three in the Morning the Pancake House” while Jay-Z said “4 AM at the Waffle House”. The question was whether or not the problem should be called plagiarism or just similar concept. The group had been performing the song for most of the late 1990s and wanted an undisclosed amount of money in addition to writing and production credit. Jay – Z’s defense was that go–go music is just remakes of other artists’ songs.
A few band mates left the group Rare Essence in late 2000 and formed 911; howevever they didn't stray too far from Rare Essence's call and response funk. The new group's first CD, "Blueprint," earned good reviews and a couple songs got radio time. Whether it was simply because of a maturing audience or clubs trying to get away from the stereotypical violence associated with go –go, they have been moving away from aggressive sound toward what has been called "grown and sexy”, where groups use a backbeat of congas and timbales to jazzy, horn- driven R&B covers. Floyd from the group 911 called it, the "out to party, but dressed to impress and laid-back" crowd in the article called “Some Familiar Faces” in the Washington Post.
911 started to play a more seasoned style and so they changed their name too Familiar Faces. Still, Familiar Faces takes artists like Sade and play their songs more powerfully than most R&B covers, by putting a sharp beat behind the mellow vocals, but Familiar Faces says "It's not the music that makes it grown and sexy, it's the lyrics". Now the group is moving from covering other peoples songs and focusing on original material stating that, “The only way go-go will ever make it nationally is on the strength of the original songs”.
Band member Anthony (Little Benny) Harley died on May 30, 2010 in Washington, D.C. He was 46 years old.