Yummy Bingham - Black Radio (2005)

Following on from the recent post from Tha' Rayne, here is an album from Elizabeth T. Wyce "Yummy" Bingham, following the band's split. She was born on 7 January 1986 to R&B producer Dinky Bingham, and is the god-daughter of Chaka Khan and Aaron Hall. With a lineage like that it's no wonder she went into the music business, and in 2000, aged 14, she was recruited by producer KayGee to form the group Tha' Rayne, and signed to Arista Records. The group recorded an album, and appeared on a bunch of labelmates tracks, including Jaheim's 'Fabulous' that hit #1 on the US Billboard Adult R&B chart for three weeks from February 2003. Tha' Rayne released the single 'Didn't You Know', which peaked at #76 in September 2003 on the US Billboard R&B chart, but their debut album , 'Reign Supreme', never came out and the group disbanded in 2005. While a member of Tha' Rayne, Bingham was also getting a name for herself as the appointed vocalist of veteran hip-hop group De La Soul, being featured on various of their songs, and accompanying them on tour between 2000 and 2004. From 2003, Bingham started to collaborate with various artists, getting writing and/or vocal credits on songs from Patti LaBelle, P. Diddy, Christina Aguilera, Mary J. Blige, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Mýa and Monica. At age 18, Bingham became the youngest female CEO of a major-affiliated label, and the youngest female record executive, forming the label "Muzic Park" with Grammy award-winning beatmaker Rockwilder. 

She was the label's first signing, through a record deal with Motown in the US and Island Records in the UK, and released the singles 'Come Get It', 'Is It Good To You' and 'One More Chance', with her debut album 'The First Seed' appearing in the UK in October 2006. She continued writing and recording for other artists, and gave birth to her daughter Aviela in September 2007, after which she took some time out of the record industry to do Gospel/Inspirational music, but eventually returned to secular R&B in 2010 with a new song called 'Circles', that was featured in the movie 'King Of Paper Chasin'. In 2005 she had released a mixtape titled 'Black Radio', which was assembled as part of a planned promotional campaign for 'The First Seed', but due to the album generating a lukewarm single in 'Come Get It', that failed to catapult itself to the top of the Billboard charts, its US release was cancelled, and it was instead only released overseas, leaving 'Black Radio' indefinitely postponed. Many tracks and freestyles on 'Black Radio' do not appear on the album, or anywhere else but this mixtape, and with the addition of an out-take from the album, even fans who already own 'The First Seed' should definitely give this a listen. 

Track listing

01 Rockwilder Intro/It's My Life 
02 Queenz
03 Chaos (feat. K-OZ) 
04 I Know You Want It, Boy (feat. Redman & Rockwilder)
05 Come Get It (feat. Jadakiss)
06 Runnin' (feat. Dion Jenkins) 
07 You Should Be 
08 No Trouble (feat. Cory Gunz) 
09 Just Leave (Freestyle)
10 Just Leave (Lucifer Freestyle) 
11 Man Up (Demo for Amerie)
12 Give It To Ya
13 Never Happened
14 Freestyle/Rockwilder Outro 

Tha' Rayne - Reign Supreme (2002)

Tha' Rayne was a three-piece American R&B singing girl group that was formed in 2000 and consisted of two singing members and a DJ, with original members of the group being Yummy Bingham and Shaquana Elam (now known as Quana BelleVoix), who shared lead vocals on all of the group's recordings. The group was founded in 2000 by producer KayGee from Naughty by Nature, who recruited Elizabeth "Yummy" Bingham, Shaquana "Quana" Elam and Tina "Tina-J" Jenkins, with each of them assuming that they had a solo deal, before discovering that they were to be a girl group. The first and only recording where the three original members appear together is Jaheim and Lil' Mo's 2001 single 'Finders Keepers', where they performed vocal backup. After Tina-J left the group, Tha' Rayne remained a duet and signed with Arista Records's CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid in April 2001. They released 'Rock Wit Me' in April 2002, followed in July by 'No L.O.V.E.', which was later re-recorded by Jhené Aiko in 2003. While preparing their debut album, originally expected for an October 2002 release, Tha' Rayne collaborated with artists such as Boyz II Men, Jaheim, Queen Latifah, and Next. In August 2002, Kay Gee had the vision to create an R&B version of Salt-N-Pepa and added Michelle "DJ Myche Luv" Colon, a young female DJ to the group, and later that year they appeared on Jaheim's hit single 'Fabulous'. In January 2003, the group went through a change of lineup with the departure of DJ Myche Luv, who was replaced by Qiana "DJ Qi" Drew. Soon after, Tha' Rayne released 'Didn't You Know' (featuring Joe Budden and Lupe Fiasco), which was their first single to chart, reaching number 76 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. However, it didn't get the buzz expected by the label, and so their debut album 'Reign Supreme' was delayed. When Arista merged into Sony BMG in early 2004, and Antonio "L.A." Reid was fired, many of his artists were dropped, including Tha' Rayne, and so the group decided to split without their album ever seeing the light of day.

Track listing

01 Harmonize (Intro)
02 Can't Stop Tha' Rayne 
03 Didn't You Know (feat. Joe Budden & Lupe Fiasco) 
04 Rock Wit' Me
05 Luv Bug 
06 Kiss Me (feat. Lupe Fiasco)
07 Party Music
08 Mr. Postman
09 No L.O.V.E. (feat. Rob Jackson) 
10 Ghetto Love Song (feat. Jarron)
11 She's A Queen (feat. Queen Latifah)
12 Holla Back (Outro)