Wanda Dee started out as a member of Afrika Bambaataa's fam, and she released a pretty cool, more club-oriented 12" a few years earlier [I'll blog about that one someday, too]... but this is where she really made a name for herself. It's a double A-side in the truest sense... even the picture cover has two alternate fronts images.
"To the Bone" is a hot track, produced by Jazzy Jay. In some ways it's dance oriented, with a bouncy bassline and snappy drums, but Jay uses some great, dusty horn samples for the hook and throughout that really ground it in soul. And Wanda raps pretty hardcore. It would fit right in with the material on Jay's classic Cold Chillin' In the Studio Live album. She very briefly sings, "I Wanna See You Sweat" which is the sample KLF first took.
...See, what happened was they sampled her voice on two of their singles which blew up, so they then brought her in to be their live vocalist. Later they broke up, and got heated when Wanda continued to tour with their name. But, really, who cares about the KLF stuff? This 12" is where it's at!
The other side, "The Goddess," is produced by The 45 King in his prime. It's cool and surprisingly less dance-oriented (considering he was doing all those house-type tracks for Latifah around this time)... it's uses some familiar elements, but combines them in a new way. There's a little "Oooh, love to love you baby" vocal sample on the hook; but it's greatly overshadowed by Wanda doing some really intense straight-out-of-a-porno moans of passion between each verse. I don't know if it really adds anything musically, but it sure gets your attention and made the track a memorable one (bear in mind, this was almost twenty years ago). On this song, both Wanda's delivery and lyrics walk a strange line between hardcore raps (and also shouting out the other female MCs of the time who she considers queens) and a softer, sexier style:
"God fearin', domineerin';
The blood in your face Is searin'.
The Lips? Succulent and bold.
Physique is the peek: body of goddess mold.
Skin of bronze, hair of gold;
Wild child from the Nile - my tale is told.
Serious, delirious and imperious;
Call me just the queen? I get furious!
Eternity's a certainty.
'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust?'
...Ain't for me.
'Cause your love strong I live on;
That's what I came to explain
...In this song.
I give my flesh the best, and yes,
That's what I came to confess...
I'm the goddess!"
There's vocal and instrumental versions for both songs, and there's a hidden (not mentioned on the sleeve or label) acappella for "To the Bone."
Disappointingly, she doesn't seem to have a myspace. In 2003, though, Wanda Dee did make a comeback, forming her own record label (Goddess Empire Record Label... adding the "Label" so it would acronym into G.E.R.L. - get it?) and putting out a new album (and at least one 12" single), The Goddess Is Here. Among other things, she sings a house music version of "La Vie En Rose." 0_o She's a talented and energetic singer; and if you like that electro-dance-diva kind of stuff, it was a pretty underrated album. But me? I'll stick to Wanda Dee the MC.
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wanda dee is a hot mess soft pron just a hot mess her voice quivers
ReplyDeleteshe is what we call a person trying to make it . its time to give it up
she is old and tattered now she never made it . give it up and get a real job
no one knows who she is . but we all know she is a fraud
and that person she calls her husband they are the laughing stock of
the professional industry and hungry moochers .
Wanda Dee is alive, well, surviving & thriving in Las Vegas, where she is a headliner 5 nights a week, starring in the title role of "NAKED @ THE FEAST: An Evening With Josephine Baker", which she and her husband / manager of 25 years, Eric Floyd http://www.arkenitv.com/EricFloydGEM.html, serve as Co-Producers.
ReplyDeleteThe ass hole, Ron Richardson that obviously wrote the aforementioned snide remark about her is the same tacky, tasteless, tired & tawdry crack injested, H.I.V. infected, gap toothed, dilapidated queen who handles the equally useless has been (and former drug riddled wreck), Melba Moore. They deserve each other... for if after her almost 50 years in show business, she doesn't have the good sense to get far better representation than the likes of him, she deserves the catastrophe that he's made of what's left of her career.
Wanda Dee has been a successful wife of a quarter of a century to one MAN... a Mother to an incredibly gifted Son, Siameze: The Godson Of Rock & Soul www.arkenitv.com/Siameze.html ... and having sold in excess of 25 million records worldwide, singing in 7 different languages, platinum in 77 countries, being Hip Hop's 1st female DJ (SEE "BEAT STREET"), the 1st female in the Universal Zulu Nation, the 1st female rapper to go platinum and having sold out in some 150 cities, 90 countries and 6 continents; she is a world class Hip Pop/Dance diva who has indeed left her indelible mark on the industy thus far... and shows no sign of slowing down!
Talk about two sides of an issue! I can't say I followed the KLF stuff enough to have a strong opinion either way about what went down (like I said above, I prefer Wanda Dee the MC), but glad to get hear from both view points. Definitely some great photos on that page, too! :-O
ReplyDeleteLook for that other Wanda Dee post I hinted at to come in the next few days, too (I just got one more post I want to do first).
CUD Y SEND ME THE LYRICS FOR ..TO THE BONE WANDA DEE PLEZZ
ReplyDelete