Cool Relax was released on September 16, 1997 by Epic Records. Coming off a successful debut album, Bonafide in 1995, Jon B. returned to the heavily crowded R&B landscape by leaving an indelible mark with his sophomore album. He drew comparisons to his mentor, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds due to the fact Babyface was the executive producer of his first project.
The singles that were released from the “Bonafide” album contained many of Babyface’s trademark production elements. It wasn’t public knowledge that Jon B. wrote and produced the majority of the songs on his debut release.
Cool Relax revealed the production and writing talents of Jon B. and established him as an artist to be reckoned with for years to come.
For decades, the R&B genre has been dominated by African-American artists, but Jon B. became one of the few White artists to succeed and have staying power with a predominantly Black listening audience. Alongside the production talents of producers, Tim & Bob, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Marc Nelson, Babyface and Diane Warren he crafted a distinct sound, which ultimately led to the highest selling album of his career.
A native of Pasadena California, Jon B. grew up in a musical household. Both of his parents were music teachers and his siblings were also musicians. At the tender age of five, he began learning how to play the piano and gradually moving toward keyboard, drums and bass guitar. By the age of nine he wrote his first full composition. As a teenager, he sold his first album during lunchtime at his middle and once he attended high school he started his own rock band with neighborhood friends, called The Switch. This is where Buck started to gain a following and continued to hone his skills as a songwriter.
His big break would occur in 1992 when Tracey Edmonds, then President and CEO of Yab-Yum Records, heard his demo and immediately contracted him to write songs for After 7, Gina Thompson, Color Me Badd, Toni Braxton among countless others. Shortly thereafter, he would be signed as an artist to Epic Records and release his solo debut album.
Between September 1996-May 1997 the majority of
Cool Relax was recorded in DARP Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, AIR Studios in London, England and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds studio in Los Angeles, California.
SoulCulture recently sat down with Jonathan “Jon B.” Buck to talk about the album and some of its creative influences.
Before there was Hype Williams, Little X and Benny Boom, there was Lionel C. Martin.
From 1987 to present, Martin’s videography reads like a scroll of all of the great talents of the past 25 years in urban and popular music. Martin is responsible for giving urban music videos life and authenticity at a time where Hip Hop and R&B desperately needed a pioneer to deliver a quality product for the world to see. Martin has produced videos for TLC, Stevie Wonder, R. Kelly, Public Enemy, Bell Biv Devoe, Big Daddy Kane, Jay-Z, Keith Sweat, Toni Braxton, Boyz II Men, SWV, En Vogue, MC Shan, Jodeci, Mariah Carey, Jill Scott, Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Notorious B.I.G., Father MC, Hi-Five, Tupac, N’Sync, Backstreet Boys and many more.
Martin, a native of Queens, NY, was a trailblazing force in the 1980s when he helped launch the Video Music Box channel with his childhood friend, Ralph McDaniels in 1984. The Video Music Box channel was only seen in the Tri-State area at the time. The Tri-State area consists of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Martin was one of the first hosts on the show and his moniker was (The VidKid). The channel would play every Hip Hop video from the popular artists of the time period.
After its inaugural year, Martin devised an idea to expand the channel’s brand and this move helped to make the channel achieve legendary status. Martin alongside McDaniels made the decision to travel extensively through the emerging hip-hop scene to cover parties and shows to illustrate the influence that Hip Hop culture was having on New York City and the surrounding areas. It would prove to be pivotal in shaping the career path of Martin.
During this time, the Video Music Box channel was the only Hip Hop program in syndication on public television in the United States. It gave a voice and face to a culture that would begin to dominate the mainstream in the forthcoming years. Whilst working on the Video Music Box channel, Martin would see the types of videos that would come in from the artists and thought that the Hip Hop culture needed to have better representation for the art form. This is where his voyage of directing music videos begins.
Recently, SoulCulture sat down to talk with Martin about his contributions to urban music videos, behind the scene stories and the importance of maintaining pride in urban culture.