—— 前言 ——

或许你对于这一种腔调不会陌生，但对于这种风格，似乎也并不能很好的拿捏，更不用说去探究他的发展脉络。介于R&B和HipHop之间，New Jack Swing是一种怎样的存在，但是对于那个时候，New Jack Swing，它听起来和看起来，定义了一个时代。（文章作者为 C.L. Williams）

Between the years of 1986 and 1994, a movement called New Jack Swing took popular culture on an unforgettable ride and its undeniable influence still carries on to this day. Harlem, New York gave birth to the Harlem Renaissance, but the grandchildren from the Harlem Renaissance gave birth to a new renaissance, the New Jack Swing movement.

在1986年到1994年之间，一个被称为 New Jack Swing 的运动将流行文化推到了难以被遗忘的阶段，直到今天它的影响仍然不能被他人否认。纽约的Harlem地区，诞生了Harlem文艺复兴，但作为Harlem文艺复兴的后代，诞生了一场新的文艺复兴——New Jack Swing运动。

By 1991, New Jack Swing was a multimedia phenomenon that embodied American popular culture, not just in film, but film, television, and fashion. Contemporary urban and pop radio formats where supplying the nation with these infectious hits from New Jack Swing artists from the east and west coasts, respectively. Building off the successes of Al B. Sure!, Bobby Brown, Janet Jackson, Heavy D and the Boyz, Guy, Bell Biv DeVoe, among many others, New Jack Swing had built a formidable following and, later on in the same year, it would reach its zenith. Michael Jackson would release the highest selling New Jack Swing album of all-time, Dangerous, with assistance from the pioneer of the genre, Teddy Riley.

1991年，New Jack Swing是一种多媒体现象，它体现了美国的流行文化，不仅仅在电影，在电影、电视、时尚中都有涉及。当代城市和流行的广播形式，从东海岸向西海岸为这个国家提供New Jack Swing的传染源，为Al B. Sure!, Bobby Brown, Janet Jackson, Heavy D and the Boyz, Guy, Bell Biv DeVoe等建立起了他们的成功，New Jack Swing已经建立了一种强大的追随效应。在这一年的后期，它达到了顶峰。Michael Jackson成为发行New Jack Swing专辑销量最高的歌手， 这张专辑是”Dangerous”，在New Jack Swing先驱Teddy Riley的协助下。

Tony Toni Tone!

With the rise of the genre, the west coast developed its own style of New Jack Swing. Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy were instrumental in formulating this sound. Their work with Tony Toni Tone! on the group’s debut and second albums showcased how influential the genre had become not only here in America, but in Europe. It had become a worldwide phenomenon. A plethora of the artists had gained an extraordinary amount of popularity worldwide, with their singles placing high on various recording charts. Record executives were clamoring to find the next hottest act to sign to their labels to a get a slice of the pie.

随着New Jack Swing的兴起，西海岸发展出了自己的New Jack Swing风格。Denzil Foster和Thomas McElroy正在利用这种风格制作伴奏，他们同组合Tony Toni Tone!在两张专辑上的合作，影响力已经不仅仅局限于美国，更传到了欧洲。它已经成为一种世界性的现象，大量的艺人在世界各地都非常的受欢迎，他们的单曲在各种榜单中频频攀升。唱片公司的高管们都在寻找下一个能够发光发热的艺人签到自己门下以分得一杯羹。

New Jack Swing artists also parlayed their singing careers into lucrative opportunities by entering the world of TV and movies. Cult classics like New Jack City and Boyz N the Hood featured some of the best that the genre had to offer by giving them movie roles and placing their music on the movie soundtracks. Artists also made guest appearances on popular TV sitcoms like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Full House and Family Matters, as well as Nike commercials.

New Jack Swing的艺人们也通过进入电视和电影世界，将发展自己的歌唱事业和获得有利可图的机会视作一种增值效应。像New Jack City和Boys N the Hood这样的经典电影通过提供角色机会和在影片中收录其作品的方式，与此种曲风最优秀的一些艺人进行了合作。他们还客串像”The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”、”Full House”和”Family Matters”这些很受欢迎的电视剧，以及耐克广告。

Artists such as Color Me Badd, C&C Music Factory, PM Dawn, Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Hi-Five, Tracie Spencer, and Another Bad Creation benefited heavily from the aforementioned artists many triumphs. Some of these artists released their debut albums to the masses and their singles dominated the pop, R&B, and dance charts for the whole of 1991. Titanic production duos L.A. Reid and Babyface, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis also played pivotal roles in helping to maintain the genre’s productivity and authenticity, along with up-and-coming producer Dr. Freeze (Elliott Straite).

诸如Color Me Badd, C&C Music Factory, PM Dawn, Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Hi-Five, Tracie Spencer, and Another Bad Creation这些歌手或组合，他们的成功很大程度上得益于上述（当然他们的音乐优秀的没的说）。其中的一些歌手向公众发行了他们的首张专辑，他们的单曲在1991年占据了流行、R&B和舞曲榜单的制高点地位。 L.A. Reid、Babyface（之前文章介绍过这两位以及LaFace Records的发家史，各位请翻阅）、Jimmy Jam、Terry Lewis，也在帮助保持这种风格好流派的生产力和真实性中，扮演了关键角色，之后便是Elliott Straite a.k.a. Dr. Freeze。

In many ways, New Jack Swing was the soundtrack to young America of the late 1980s and early 1990s in the same vein that Motown was the soundtrack to young America of the 1960s. The story of New Jack Swing begins in Harlem at a rooftop skating ring and a child prodigy. The term New Jack Swing was coined by the iconic writer Barry Michael Cooper in his Village Voice article from 1987 entitled “Teddy Riley’s New Jack Swing: Harlem Gangsters Raise a Genius.” He co-wrote the screenplay for the movie New Jack City in 1991. Cooper describes how he came up with the term initially.

在许多方面，New Jack Swing是80年代后期和90年代早期年轻的美国的原声，并同摩城音乐60年代Motown的年轻美国故事异曲同工。New Jack Swing 的故事起源于在纽约Harlem区的一个屋顶屋顶溜冰场和一个神童。New Jack Swing 这个称呼被创造是在1987年图腾级作家Barry Michael Cooper发表的文章“Teddy Riley’s New Jack Swing: Harlem Gangsters Raise a Genius”。他在1991年合作编写了电影”New Jack City”。Barry Michael Cooper阐述了最初他是怎么有这一想法的：

“Harlem was flat-lining in the mid to late ‘80s because of the crack epidemic. So my reporting served to set the record straight, about the people I knew, the dignity they had, the intelligence they never lost, despite some losing their way temporarily because of this monstrous plague of a drug. The crack era reminded me of the prohibition era of the 1920s, and Teddy’s music—with its jazz like swing and melodic force—reminded me of stories like the Great Gatsby from writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald.

“Harlem在80年代中后期由于毒品泛滥而逐渐丧失生命力(crack epidemic指的是1984到1990年美国大城市“快克”可卡因泛滥成灾的时期，crack是可卡因的一种，一般翻译成“快克”，很多歌里都提到过)。因此，我的报告提供了一个直观的记录，关于我知道的人，他们所拥有的尊严，他们从未失去的天赋，尽管有的人在这场毒品瘟疫中暂时迷失了方向。这段时代让我想起了20世纪20年代禁酒时代，Teddy Riley的音乐以其爵士乐一样的律动和旋律所带来的的力量，让我想起了很多像“了不起的盖茨比”那样的故事。”

“But what Teddy was doing was brand new. That’s why I named it ‘New Jack Swing’. Teddy’s music was the soundtrack to a new version of the Harlem Renaissance, and I wanted my reporting and writing to reflect that, too: a sense of historical relevance, social and political accuracy, and spiritual uplift to make it memorable.”

“但Teddy Riley所做的一切是崭新的，这就是为什么我叫它”New Jack Swing”。Teddy的音乐是新一轮哈林复兴的主题歌，我也希望我的报道中反映出这一点：历史的关联感，社会和政治的准确性，以及让其被铭记的精神升华。（Harlem Renaissance哈林复兴是指20到30年代的黑人文化爆发性发展的时期，被认为是美国黑人艺术的重生）。”

During the 1920s and 1930s, Harlem was the epicenter of popular culture for many African Americans. Some of the greatest pieces of literature ever written were constructed during this juncture as many blacks were fleeing from the south in record numbers to seek refuge and a piece of the American Dream. Fast forward the clock to 1986, another transformation was happening in what is known as New York City’s sixth borough, as the worlds of R&B and hip-hop would merge to formulate one of the most popular cultural movements of the era.

在20年代到30年代，Harlem去是许多非洲裔美国人流行文化的中心。许多最伟大的文学作品诞生于这一时期，因为许多黑人从南方逃出以寻求庇护和潜心中的美国梦。时钟快速前进到1986年，另一个转换是纽约“第六区”的形成（纽约有曼哈顿区、皇后区、布朗克斯区、布鲁克林区和斯塔滕岛区五大区，这是未曾发现的一个“乌托邦区”），作为R&B和HipHop融合构想的地方，这将制定一个时代下，最流行的文化运动。

Guy

The two men who sought to bring a new sound to the forefront of not only urban culture, but pop culture as a whole were Andre Harrell and Teddy Riley. They were directly responsible for laying the foundation for a burgeoning genre. Harrell founded Uptown Records in 1986 and, a short time later, Teddy Riley began producing hit records for some of the new talent on the Uptown Records roster like Al B. Sure! and his own group Guy, as well as other up-and-coming R&B acts, such as Johnny Kemp, Keith Sweat, and Bobby Brown. New Jack Swing arrived on the scene with impeccable timing. After the doors were opened by Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, more urban artists were receiving major airplay on MTV and VH1. The successes of Johnny Kemp’s smash single “Just Got Paid” and Keith Sweat’s debut album, Make It Last Forever proved that New Jack Swing was anything but a fly-by-night fad. It was legitimate force to be reckoned with in the forthcoming years.

Andre Harrell和Teddy Riley（前者是Uptown Records创始人，后者是LaFace Records创始人），两人试图把这种新的声音，不仅局限在城市文化，而是作为整体流行文化的前沿。他们直接负责为一个新兴的流派奠定基础。Andre Harrell于1986年成立了Uptown Records，一段时间后，Teddy Riley开始在Uptown Records制作它的唱片，并且引入了Al B. Sure!和Guy，以及其他一些R&B歌手，如Johnny Kemp、Keith Sweat、Bobby Brown。New Jack Swing的发展有了一个完美的时机。之后那扇门被Michael Jackson和Whitney Houston打开了，更多的城市艺人在MTV和VH1大放异彩。Johnny Kemp的单曲“Just Got Paid”和Keith Sweat的首张个人专辑”Make It Last Forever”的成功， 证明了New Jack Swing根本不是一颗转瞬即逝的流行。在未来的几年里，它将是一股不可忽视的力量。

Producer Kyle West recalls the experience of working together with Riley and Harrell and the beginning of the New Jack Swing era. “Working with Riley and Harrell was quite the experience,” says West. “We would all get in a room and just borrow ideas from each other. We learned from each other and it was a really fun, exciting time because none of us knew what was going to happen and that was the true beauty of it.

制片人Kyle West回忆与Andre Harrell和Teddy Riley以及为那段New Jack Swing时代工作的经验。“与Andre Harrell和Teddy Riley一起工作一段宝贵的经验，”Kyle West说。“我们会在一个房间里，互通彼此的想法，我们互相学习，这是一段非常有趣的同时又令人兴奋的时间，因为我们没有人知道会发生什么，这是它的真正魅力所在。”

“Credit goes to Andre because he knew where to take it next because that’s where things could have really gotten messed up. New Jack Swing became bigger than what we initially thought. Andre had the genius to know how to keep the movement going. He wanted to keep it true—hood and New York—but at the same time he didn’t want to turn away pop audiences. Andre knew how to keep his artists clean, but not too ghetto and that’s what made it appeal to the masses.”

“信任来源于去Andre Harrell，因为他知道在何时该采取下一步的行动，或许这件事情已经搞砸了。New Jack Swing变得比我们最初想象的更庞大了。Andre Harrell有那种知道如何保持运动的天赋，他想保持真正的街头性和纽约性，但同时不想赶走流行的大众。Andre Harrell知道如何保持他的作为艺人的干净，但不要太ghetto，这正是它能吸引到大众的点。”

The architect of the New Jack Swing sound was Edward “Teddy” Riley. While growing up in Harlem, Riley was a prodigious talent playing a multitude of different instruments. By the time he was a teenager, Riley was producing for a number of local hip-hop acts. He received his big break when he produced “Go See the Doctor” by Kool Moe Dee in 1986. The demand for his production talents grew exponentially.

Teddy Riley是New Jack Swing的建筑师，他在Harlem区长大，是一个能够演奏多种不同乐器的天才。在少年时，Teddy Riley制作了相当数量的本地HipHop。当他在1986年为Kool Moe Dee制作了“Go See the Doctor”，他获得了相当大的事业突破。对于他制作的作品需求成倍增长。

Riley’s creation of New Jack Swing music was best described by West: “I remember listening to records in 1985 and the drum sounds were very poppy and had a lot of reverb,” says West. “The records had a 2/4 beat structure to them. They were popular in the music you would hear at clubs during that time. When the New Jack Swing sound came in, it kicked up the BPMs from 94 to about 105. It was much faster and there was more rhythm, percussion, and movements within the drum tracks. Keyboard-wise, it was very busy and we would call it organized noise. It was like chaos, but organized. It showcased the backbeat in music and a lot of the percussion shuffles. These were the types of things we didn’t have in the mid-1980s.”

Kyle West对于Teddy Riley创作New Jack Swing有着最恰当的描述：“我记得听1985年的唱片，鼓的声音有很多混响，”Kyle West说“他们的唱片都是2/4 beat结构，这是当时很受欢迎的音乐，你会听到在俱乐部时常听到它们。当New Jack Swing的声音到来，它激发起BPMS从94到105。它的速度快得多，节奏感更强，有着更多的打击乐器，以及在鼓点内的运动。键盘是非常繁忙的，我们会称之为有组织的噪音，这看似是一场混乱，但很有组织。它展示出了音乐的基调强节奏和很多的打击音符。这些都是在80年代中期我们没有捕获过的类型。”

Before New Jack Swing transpired, R&B music was at a crossroads and looking for a new youthful direction. New Jack Swing revitalized a classic genre while staking its claim in hip-hop. The trailblazing genre introduced the format of having an R&B and hip-hop artist on the same song together. This formidable combination resulted in a seismic shift for urban and pop music. By the late 1980s, music was dominated by this union and pop culture audiences gravitated to it en masse.

在New Jack Swing出现以前，R&B处在一个十字路口，且正在寻找一个新的、年轻的方向。New Jack Swing复兴经典体裁，并在HipHop方面提出自己的主张。这种具有开创性的体裁将R&B和HipHop纳入了同一首歌。这一强大的组合导致了城市和流行音乐地震级别的转变。到80年代末，因为它们的联合和流行吸引了大批听众。

Legendary music video director Lionel C. Martin remembers how he had to change his methodology in producing videos once New Jack Swing became prominent on the musical landscape. “When I directed hip-hop videos, there wasn’t a formula, you just went with the flow,” says Martin. “The hip-hop guys dressed a certain way and they had a lot of street credibility. As a result, the videos were more edgy. When I directed R&B videos they had a more smooth, nightclub type of vibe. The artists would dress very sharp and more grown up. hip-hop felt younger and R&B felt older to me. So when this marriage with the music happened, it forced me to change the way I directed videos.”

传奇音乐录影带导演Lionel C. Martin记得，随着New Jack Swing在音乐领域的异军突起，影响了他在执导音乐录影带时候的方法论。“当我在指导HipHop露营地时，并没有一套公式，只是流畅的进行下去，”Lionel C. Martin，“这些玩HipHop的家伙会喜欢一种特定的方式，并认为街头有着绝对的可靠性。也正是因此，这些音乐录影带普遍恶俗丑陋。当我执导R&B音乐录影带时总会更加的平顺。艺人们会表现的更加专业和成熟。HipHop在我看来更加年轻但R&B更加老成。所以当这种音乐上的联姻达成，它促使着我改变执导音乐录影带的方式。”

These videos were an amalgamation of these different styles and it helped to cultivate another movement in television and motion pictures. The early 1990s ushered in a plethora of new talent and some of the top stars in the industry took advantage of the opportunities presented to them, which expanded New Jack Swing into the homes of urban and suburban audiences. The Arsenio Hall Show hit the airwaves in 1989 and it showcased performances by numerous New Jack Swing artists, thus giving credence to the genre.

这些录影带是不同风格的融合，它有助于通过电视和电影培养另一种运动。在90年代初期，大量的新人才和一些行业的顶级明星利用了机会，扩大New Jack Swing在城市和郊区的家庭中的观众基数。 例如1989年的The Arsenio Hall Show，它展示了众多New Jack Swing艺人的表演，加以力证了这一风格。

TV sitcoms were given to urban artists in prime-time slots such as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) and Queen Latifah (Living Single). With Andre Harrell as its Executive Producer, the police drama New York Undercover was an offspring of the New Jack Swing era. Movies as varied in style and theme as House Party, Do the Right Thing, Boyz N the Hood, New Jack City, and Boomerangproved to be viable hits at the box office. This ultimately led to more films being made by prominent filmmakers about urban culture.

电视情景剧给了城市艺人如例如 Will Smith的”The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”和Queen Latifah的”Living Single”出现在黄金时段的机会。Andre Harrell作为执行制片人，警匪剧集”New York Undercover”是New Jack Swing时代的产物。电影的风格同样多样，像”House Party”、”Do the Right Thing”、”Boyz N the Hood”、”New Jack City”和”Boomerangproved”等都有极佳的票房收入。这最终导致了著名的电影制片人制作更多关于城市文化的电影。

Boyz II Men

Angela Hunte-Wisner was the first African American stylist for urban music videos during New Jack Swing’s heyday. She was the mastermind behind many of the fashion designs in urban videos, such as artists wearing Starter jackets and jerseys, Hi-Tec boots, one shoe and one boot, graffiti jackets, backward jeans, multicolored Nike shoes, Air Jordans, and baggy clothing. She also coined the term Alexvanderpool Era when referring to Boyz II Men’s hip-hop / couture outfits, which consisted of Ralph Lauren jean shirts, Tommy Hilfiger sweaters, jean shorts, and a tie.

在New Jack Swing的全盛时期，Angela Hunte Wisner是第一个非洲裔美国设计师，服务于城市音乐录影带。她在是很多录影带中时装设计的策划者，如让艺人们穿着Starter夹克和球衣、高帮鞋、一鞋一靴、涂鸦夹克、破旧的牛仔裤、多彩耐克鞋、乔丹鞋、肥大的衣服。她还创造了一种称之为Alexvanderpool的时代，指的是Boyz II Men的HipHop时装，其中包括Ralph Lauren牛仔衬衫、Tommy Hilfiger的毛衣、牛仔短裤，搭配一条领带。

Hunte-Wisner shares some of her insight for her designs and her feelings about the New Jack Swing era. “I dressed Boyz II Men, Hi-Five, Jodeci, New Edition, Robert Kelly before he became R. Kelly, among many others for these videos,” says Hunte-Wisner. “I was the first young, black stylist to change the way we dressed and the way we thought about fashion by mixing hip-hop with couture. I never sought credit for it because I thought it was something I shouldn’t take credit for. I was doing what I did every day when I dressed myself. I was basically incorporating my everyday style with the artists I was working with back then.

Hunte-Wisner分享了她的观点以及她对于New Jack Swing时代的感情。“在Boyz II Men, Hi-Five, Jodeci, New Edition, Robert Kelly成为他们自己之前，通过这些音乐录影带，他们成为了它们”，Hunte Wisner说“我是第一个年轻的黑人设计师，去改变我们着装的方式，并想要通过时尚混合HipHop与时装。我从来没有从中去寻找一种可靠性，因为我认为这是我不应该采取的方式。当我开始打扮自己时，我每天都在做我应该做的事情。我基本上把是在把我的日常生活风格与我当时所要去工作的艺人结合起来。”

“We were a movement and a culture. The budgets that we had were very limited. No one could have done what we did back then with the budgets we had. By the time we started doing R&B videos, we finally started to move up to $100,000 budgets, but before then our budgets were between $10,000 and $30,000. We had to make a dollar out of 15 cents during those days. Improvisation was the key to our success.”

“我们是一次运动和文化。我们所拥有的预算非常有限，没有人能用同我们一样的预算，做和我们所做的事。当我们开始做R&B录影带的时候，我们终于开始上升到10万美元的预算，但在此之前，我们的预算是在1万-3万美元之间。在那些日子里，我们用15美分做出1美元的东西。即兴作品是我们成功的关键。”

The New Jack Swing era tapped into the heartbeat of America and beyond, making use of all media available at the time. From the high top fades, to the Cross Colors apparel, to the popular dance moves fans would perform in nightclubs and at school dances alike, nothing could touch the core of the movement. Looking back twenty years later on New Jack Swing’s impact on popular culture, the music sent shockwaves across the globe forcing audiences to become enraptured with the burgeoning genre. The fashion matched the youthful exuberance in the music by incorporating styles the artists were influenced by in their respective cities. New Jack Swing, in its sound and look, defined an era and its relevance to the recent history of pop music remains unquestioned.

New Jack Swing时代逐渐进入了美国流行音乐的心跳节奏并超越了它，同时利用各种媒体。从交叉颜色的服装，到流行的舞蹈动作，人们在夜店或者学校模仿这些舞蹈，没有什么能触及到这次运动的核心。回首二十年后New Jack Swing的对流行文化的影响，这种音乐性的震动促使全球歌迷狂喜于这种新兴的体裁。具有时尚与活力音乐风格的艺人受到了各自的城市的影响。New Jack Swing，它听起来和看起来，定义了一个时代，它在流行音乐的历史意义是毋庸置疑的。