Friends ft Eric B & Rakim - Official Jody Watley Website

A few April Jody Watley music milestone anniversaries.

#OTD April 15, 1989

The Platinum second Solo Album – Happy 33rd Anniversary

“Larger Than Life”

Debuted on the Billboard 200 chart.

Multi-Chart Top 10 Hits

“Real Love” written by Jody Watley & Andre Cymone

The groundbreaking “Friends” ft. Eric B. & Rakim – written by Jody Watley, Andre Cymone, Rakim, Eric Barrier

Ballad “Everything.” written by Gardner Cole, James Newton-Howard

Produced by Andre Cymone

The album cover is featured in Taschen 1000 Greatest Album Covers.

Art Direction –

Lynn Robb

Concept

Jody Watley

Inspiration – High fashion, good music and never playing yourself small – Make it ‘Larger Than Life’

The spelling error I unfortunate – the cover spectacular nevertheless.

Released #OTD April 15, 1989:

“Friends”

ft. the Legendary Eric B. & Rakim

Written by: Jody Watley, Andre Cymone, Rakim, Eric B.

Billboard Charts

#3 Hot R&B,

#7 Dance,

#9 Hot 100

The first original Pop/R&B/HipHop/Rap/Dance single to crossover Top 10 on Multiple Charts.

#OTD April 16, 1988

“Some Kind Of Lover”

Happy Anniversary

by GRAMMY® winner Jody Watley

Peaked at #10 on the @billboard Hot 100 chart

Written by: Jody Watley, Andre Cymone

Produced by Andre Cymone

Additional Chart Notes

#1 Dance,

#3 Hot R&B

Full Jody Watley Discography – https://jodywatley.net/discography/

The second platinum solo album featured Top 10 Singles “Real Love”, the groundbreaking “Friends” featuring Eric B & Rakim along with the ballad “Everything.” The 4 and final single was the mid-tempo “Precious Love.”

The album featured photography by legendary fashion photographer Steven Meisel and a change in the visual style and look to a more fashion forward aesthetic also incorporating designer looks with street style. T

The now classic “Real Love “ video directed by David Fincher remains one of the most nominated in MTV Awards history with 6.

“Friends” featuring Eric B & Rakim is the first original song pairing a Pop / R&B artist with Rap/Hip Hop verses to crossover into the Top 10 on multiple charts.

1989

Real Love (J. Watley, A. Cymone) Jody Watley Music BMI, Ultrawave ASCAP

# 2 Hot 100

# 1 Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles

# 1 Hot Dance Club Play

Friends featuring Eric B and Rakim (J. Watley, A. Cymone, Rakim, Eric B) Jody Watley Music BMI, Ultrawave ASCAP

# 9 Hot 100

# 3 Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles

# 7 Hot Dance Club Play Singles

Everything (G. Cole, J. Newton-Howard)

# 4 Hot 100

# 3 Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles