Juicy Fruit

Recorded at Eastern Artists Recording Studio in New Jersey, with James Mtume handling lead vocals, keyboards, and production, and Andy C. Wallace engineering. The track emerged from Mtume’s 1983 Juicy Fruit sessions and features contributions from the group’s core players, including Philip Fields, Ed “Tree” Moore, and Raymond Jackson. Released as the lead single from Juicy Fruit, it became Mtume’s defining hit and reached number one on the U.S. R&B chart for eight weeks in 1983. It also crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 45, making the group visible beyond the R&B audience. The song became one of the most heavily sampled R&B records of the 1980s, with its groove and bass line later underpinning major hip-hop records, most famously the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy.” Its continued presence in sample culture fixed it as a standard reference point for rap and R&B producers.