One of the Songs that Changed the Game

Many love to laugh at and criticize MiMi. Despite being one of the biggest selling artist(male or female) in music history and basically owning a DECADE many dismiss her as a pop artist (although they can't deny her voice). Like all the great artist there needs to be a lasting impact and in my opinion she left and will leave two major impacts. One she will serve as vocal inspiration for years to come and TWO.. she should be credited for changing the game in 1995, for her song Fantasy. Fantasy was a major hit on all charts but most surprisingly on the R&B/Hip Hop charts. Sure she wasnt the first singer or act to work with rappers..(plenty of artist have.. Vanessa Williams, Jody Watley, Michael Jackson..etc). but the impact of this song changed pop/hip hop/ and R&B forever. A pop princess with a gully rapper like ODB and Puffy on remix duty seemed odd on paper but it worked and paved the way for the marriage of Pop/R&B and Rap. She has duplicated the formula with much success(Honey, Thank God I Found You, Always Be My Baby, I Still Believe..etc). Mariah will never get the props she truly deserves but this Brutha here recognizes the crazy genius and groundbreaking appeal of Ms. Carey

Enjoy the trip.....

Brutha #2 adds-

The year 1995 was a turning point in Hip-Hop as well, where you no longer saw pop friendly rappers like Hammer doing it big on the mainstream charts. You had some of the grittiest rappers up there on the top ten album charts next to Madonna or Celine Dion. Judging by the record sales, the pop audience was listening to a lot more rap than they were given on pop radio, VH-1 and the non urban shows on MTV. Mariah's "Fantasy" with the addition of ODB came at a time where rap was somewhat still looked at like the marijuana joint a parent finds in their wholesome child's backpack...lol. Pop had a pristine often times made up image and sound that the targeted audience (ages 13-21 in 1995) wasn't fully feeling. Mimi had nothing to lose considering she didn't completely fit in with urban music at the time, but her pop audience was strong and into hip-hop. She was the perfect artist to navigate between those two worlds and ultimately change the game.