B Angie B

Emerging under the wing of pop-rapper MC Hammer, B Angie B ranked among the more promising urban contemporary and neo-soul vocalists of the early 1990s. The Mississippi native—distinct from Angie B of the Sequence—ultimately proved a one-album wonder whose potential went unrealized after a single release, yet that lone project retains considerable interest. Born Angela Boyd in Morton, MS, the gritty, big-voiced performer joined Hammer’s circle in the late 1980s and traveled with the celebrated pop-rapper as a dancer. Hammer soon recognized her singing ability and, in 1991, placed her on his Capitol-distributed Bust It label. Bust It/Capitol then issued her self-titled debut album, produced that year by Hammer and his Northern California associate Felton Pilate, formerly of the 1970s/1980s funk band Con-Funk-Shun. Merging a reverence for classic soul with sleek, high-tech hip-hop production, the album captured the core of neo-soul. Although the soul-meets-hip-hop approach had already surfaced by 1991 in recordings by Keith Sweat, Michel’le, En Vogue, and the innovative Force MD’s, B Angie B helped deliver soul music to a hip-hop and urban contemporary audience, and she did so ahead of Mary J. Blige, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, or Jill Scott.

Bust It/Capitol extracted several singles from the album, among them “So Much Love” and updated versions of two 1970s soul classics: Rufus & Chaka Khan’s “Sweet Thing” and the Emotions’ “I Don’t Want to Lose Your Love.” The latter registered as a minor hit, but Capitol found overall sales disappointing and dropped the artist. When the 21st century arrived, Angie had still not issued a second album.