February 8, 2001

Joe : Stutter

Joe and Teddy Riley remix the fuck out of 'Stutter' and fashion a minor classic...

Although he doesn't exploit it, when Joe bumps up the tempo, he jumps leaps and bounds over his contemporaries (even if, when push comes to shove he would rather sing ballads until the cows came home). And 'Stutter', whatever mix you've heard on national radio, in the skanky club you go to or on your dad's car stereo, started out as a mini ballad.

What's different about this song, however, is that Joe and Teddy Riley decided to remix it (in the same way that last year's 'Table For Two' and Joe's early swing-beat foray 'I'm In Love' were), therein proving that when Joe concedes to club tastes, he does so with deliberation.

Riley & Joe's collaboration, on the Double Take Remix, is confirmation of the above assertion. It's stunning in its accuracy of grasping the bold, sexy belligerent nature of Joe's argument: ("I know you've been lying/cos when you're replying/you stutter/stutter/stutter/stutter") and its sample from The Pharcyde's 'Passing Me By' is purely inspired, proving, like Cinderella, that when Joe wants to come to the ball, he makes a entrance.

Jacqueline Springer

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