Down By Law

Before the marriage that wasn’t, before the vehicular indiscretion, before her brother was a porn star, Brandy Norwood simply wanted to be down…

It was the end of innocence. Brandy’s “I Wanna Be Down” was one of the last songs I could remember that let a girl be a girl. She was fifteen rocking some too-tight braids over a forehead that was stronger than pride. She was dressed, far from stressed and her music reflected it. The original “IWBD” was playful yet direct and anchored with radio-ready production by Keith Crouch and Kipper Jones. The beat was one of those perfect hybrids; a melody that the ladies could sing-a-long to but with drums that knocked hard enough for dudes to bump in their cars (think A Tribe Called Quest’s “Find A Way” or D’Angelo’s “Lady”). It was so dope in fact that Latifah, Yo-Yo and MC Lyte were brought in for the remix. ‘ Is it just me or were the leather jackets in that video sick as hell?? ‘94 was untouchable.

But let’s be real, adding some rappers to the same beat is not a real remix. So I figured my first stab at an R&B remix would be an oldie but goodie. (Shout out to the folks at Acapella Archive for the vocals.)

I stuck to the keep it simple mantra, adding a flirtatious guitar to a standard kick/clap combo and hi-hats, but the result was much more than the mere sum of its parts. I likey. Yo, Brandy, keep ya head up.