And in this role Hollister has never been better.Īs the follow-up to his solid Chicago ’85the Movie (2000), Things in the Game Done Changed is Hollister’s first recording for the famed Motown label. On Things in the Game Done Changed, Hollister, as the title suggests, is less the thug nigga (much of Ghetto Hymns was about Hollister negotiating the challenges of celebrity and post-Blackstreet “authenticity”) and more the soul singer-poet, trying to navigate the joys and despairs of love, life and mortality. Kelly had to re-tool a bit, as evidenced by tracks like “I Wish”, “A Woman’s Worth”, and his still unreleased Loveland which is his most mature and affecting recording to date.

It was the success of Ghetto Hymns that created the commercial space for the Tanks, Transitions and Jaheims of the world, so much so that the latter (whose new single “Fabulous” is simply ethereal) has easily transcended the shadow of Hollister. Executively produced by the Erick Sermon and filled with cameos by Redman and Jazzy Pha, Ghetto Hymns was the real deal spawning underground classics like “Baby Mama Drama” (and furthering the cottage industry of baby-mama hate) and “My Favorite Girl”. Though efforts in the neo-soul world, notably those of D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, and Erykah Badu welded hard-bopped old-school soul rhythms with hip-hop, Hollister successfully brought “thug niggas” into conversation with the ghost of Donny Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield, and Sam Cooke and living legends like Al Green, Teddy Pendergrass, Frankie Beverley, Bobby Womack, and Otis Clay. Hollister had been one of the co-leads of Blackstreet - he’s the lead vocalist on the group’s “Before I Let You Go”, easily one of the finest slow jams of the 1990s - before heading out on his own after the group’s debut, Blackstreet (1994). Dave Hollister’s new disc is titled Things in the Game Done Changed and Hollister, for sure, changed the game when he dropped his solo debut Ghetto Hymns in 1999.

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