Levert For Real Tho

Both the late Gerald and Sean Levert (sons of O Jays lead singer Eddie Levert) along with their friend Marc Gordon exploded on the r&b scene as Levert. They had a string of hits in the beginning of their career such as Pop Pop Pop Goes My Mind, Casanova, Just Coolin, All Seasons, Baby Im Ready, and others.  They also produced songs for other acts like Troop, Miki Howard, Rude Boys, Men At Large, Chuckii Booker, and even their mentors The O Jays.  The trio kept their sound going strong in 1993 when they released the For Real Tho album on Atlantic Records.  At the time, r&b was moving toward the hardcore hip hop image and sound with the baggy jeans, Timberland boots, bandannas, dark sunglasses, and wearing baseball hats backwards.  Levert adapted to the hip hop sound but maintained their style of music with romantic and heartfelt songs. Anyway i was around the age 6 or 7 when the album came out.  I used to go family picnics in the summer and this album would be in rotation at the ceremonies. The lead off single from the record was Good Ol Days.  The song was about having fun and enjoying positive energy in the older years instead of the modern time when there is poverty at a high percentage and gun violence.  That video was getting good rotation on BET when they had the video show titled Video Soul (anybody remember that show with Donnie Simpson and the lovely and sexy Sherry Carter).  They released the slow jam ABC-123 which got some heavy radio play on the R&b stations. i remembered the radio stations playing the hell out of the song.  They also released the single and video for Do the Thangs which the song is like Zapp's Computer Love mixed the O Jays's For the Love of Money because of the lyrics and sharp production.  Other tracks i'm digging from the album are the title track, Say You Will (Marc and Gerald were going back n forth on the joint), Quiet Storm (Marc's falsetto was perfect on this song. Sean and Gerald also did well on the song.), She's All That Ive Been Looking For (another hot uptempo with Gerald and Sean trading back and forth about a woman met their expectations to fall in love with), and Me N You (Sean and Marc took the lead on this record. Marc also rapped on the track). The album had the aggressive production with the romantic and passionate lyrics of Marc, Sean, and Gerald. Though the record wasn't their best success because r&b adapted into a more aggressive sound during 1993. Levert proved that they could make the sound work during the changes in r&b music.