In Effect Mode was released on May 3, 1988 to an ever-changing R&B fan base and it became an instant success for newcomer Al B. Sure! Upon its release, Al B. Sure! created quite a buzz with his lead single “Nite and Day.” At a time where the R&B genre was at a crossroads in terms of the musical and artistic direction, Al B. Sure! arrived on the scene with a groundbreaking sound called New Jack Swing.
New Jack Swing was a new movement dominating the R&B music scene in the late 1980s.
Teddy Riley is credited with ushering in this musical genre after the pivotal success of
Keith Sweat's “Make It Last Forever” album that was released a year earlier.
In Effect Mode was transcendent in proving how commercially viable New Jack Swing could potentially become as a musical genre. It helped to create a new wave of New Jack Swing performers for the ladder half of the 1980s and the early 1990s.
Alongside his cousin,
Kyle West, Al B. Sure! produced, arranged and wrote every song on the album with the exception of two records. He ultimately became one of the more noteworthy figures in the R&B scene of the late 1980s and gave credence to a burgeoning genre of urban music.
Unlike most R&B singers, Al B. Sure!'s musical foundation was built in rap music. He was best friends with
Eddie Ferrell (Eddie F.) of
Heavy D & The Boyz while growing up in New York and his desire was to become a rapper initially, but it wasn't until after listening to the music his cousin, Kyle West was producing that he decided to pursue a singing career.
In the course of a six month period, Sure! taught himself how to write, arrange and produce R&B songs in the same vein of his idol
Michael Jackson. After turning down an athletic scholarship to play sports at the University of Iowa, he shifted his focus to become a full-time recording artist. For the last few months of 1986, he spent time honing his craft in as a songwriter and musician to begin producing his debut album. In January of 1987, he met
Andre Harrell who was starting his own record label called Uptown Records and here is where his story begins.
Between the autumn of 1986 through the spring of 1988 the majority of
In Effect Mode was recorded in Unique Recordings studio in New York, New York.
SoulCulture recently sat down with Kyle West, the first cousin of Al B. Sure! and co-writer and co-producer of seven songs on Al B. Sure!'s debut album, In Effect Mode to talk about the process of creating the album from start to finish.
In 2009 I discovered Fresno, CA rapper Fashawn and his incredible indie debut Boy Meets World. The Exile-produced album was one of the year’s strongest, and like so many great hip hop albums, it was a stunning life-up-until-now story. Ever since, dropped Fashawn has faced the Nas-like challenge of matching his debut whilst trying to tell the slightly less interesting story of his life as it is now. Unlike Nas, the West Coaster has shown a remarkable degree of consistency with his post-Boy Meets World releases.
Recent projects such as Higher Learning 2 and This Generation, his collaboration with Murs, are testimony to his role in a New West movement that’s actually a lot wider (and older) than many people think - and proof that it’s not merely a New Los Angeles wave. At the same time, the good music hasn't changed the fact that he has some work to do to be considered a household name outside California. Champagne & Styrofoam Cups is an important step in his transition from the Cali underground of the past to the brave New World.