Earlier this week, September 16th marked the anniversary of Mariah Carey's widely beloved and acclaimed album Butterfly. So I'mma flashback to one of my favourites from the album. "The Roof". It was a tough pick between this and "Breakdown", which is my shit and also has itself a great video. So let's go back in time to relive the splendour of the rooftop that rainy night.
This is without a doubt the classiest dick reminiscent song that I have ever heard. It's like poetry. Well and truly.
Mariah's great song writing ability has always been in plain sight, and yet she continually doesn't get the credit she deserves for her pen game. Not only does she paint this beautifully vivid picture with her lyrics; but the skill to take the beat from a Mob Deep song that's so dark and hard, and then write a song that's so smooth and seductive over it? Not everybody has that. Mariah really flipped a song about gang violence and murder, and spun it into a song about getting dicked down on a rooftop in the rain. The talent.
Another thing that Mariah still doesn't get enough credit for is the part she played in bridging the gap between Pop, R&B and Hip-Hop. It's such a common thing now, with the lines so blurred to a point where rappers are Pop stars, Hip-Hop can be Pop and R&B keeps coming and going within it all like a yo-yo. But the crossover of these genres wasn't always a thing, and Mariah played a huge part in making it so. In a time when guest features in Pop feel so shoe-horned, opportunistic and like the equivalent of Beauty vlogger video collabs, Mariah's collaborations always felt like they made sense, and felt organic. Mob Deep appearing on a remix of "The Roof" makes sense. The song uses a beat from one of their most popular songs, and Prodigy is even sampled on it. Which leads to another thing, which is that Mariah's collaborations always seemed like they were born out of her genuine like of an artist and a love and respect of Rap and Hip-Hop. She's precious about her love of Hip-Hop and how it's represented on her songs in a way that few artists in Pop (and K-Pop) nowadays are.
"The Roof" is a damn masterpiece in a discography which features many. "The Roof" plays a large part as to why I absolutely adore "Giving Me Life" from Caution, as the vibes are so similar; from the sounds down to the themes of reminiscing about an old flame.
🦋 Album reviews: Caution | Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel | E=MC² | Glitter
🔊 Playlist: Mariah Carey featuring...
🎛️ A mashup that nobody asked for: Mariah Carey x Sonic the Hedgehog
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