Wrecks-N-Effect

the take

Most people know Wreckx-N-Effect for their hit "Rump Shaker" off their sophomore effort. But hot take: the better song that should've been bigger is the appropriately titled "New Jack Swing". Other than the opener, this album is just decent. Wreckx-N-Effect came out the gates in 1989 with "New Jack Swing", with assistance by a now-R&B legend Teddy Riley, and followed up with their self-titled debut album (albeit with a different spelling). I haven't really listened to this album much since I played it front to back for the first time back in 2019, but my main takeaway is that the rest of the album completely pales in comparison to the opening track. Fast forward to now and while I still feel the same, it's not as strong as it once was. Believe it or not, there are maybe two other songs that I'd put in the second tier of favorites for me: "Juicy" and "Deep". The production is well within the new Jack swing subgenre, but instead of having vocalists sing over the subgenre-adjacent production, we have rappers spitting over it instead. Truthfully, it doesn't make them sound aggressive whenever the group tries to go for a hardcore sound; however, when they stay true to themselves, the end results are oftentimes better. The problem I kind of have with this album is how aside from the three album cuts I've mentioned, the rest sounds kind of stale to me. Including the aforementioned possibility of the lyrics not being as convincing, the production varies so much to where I have a hard time trying to become very interested in the song I'm listening to. It's not as bad in the first half, as it's actually the most consistent of the two sides; the second half, however, is where the sound just loses its appeal due to how bland and a bit repetitious (in a bad way, though) it becomes. "Wrecks-N-Effect" may be the group's official mainstream debut album, but it's one with very few memorable moments. On the bright side, it's kind of safe to say they refined their style a bit afte