Diary of a Mad Band is the second studio album from American R&B group Jodeci, released December 21, 1993, on Uptown Records and distributed through MCA Records. The album also featured the first-ever album appearances from Timbaland & Magoo, S.B.I, Missy Elliott (credited as Misdemeanor) and Sista, two years before the latter group became known in the music industry. New Jersey rapper Redman also makes a guest appearance on the album. It was Jodeci's second album to reach number one on the R&B album chart, where it stayed for two weeks. It spawned the number 1 R&B hit "Cry for You"; the number 2 R&B hit "Feenin'", and the Top 15 R&B hit "What About Us". Despite not being released as a single, the album's opening track, "My Heart Belongs To U", was also an urban radio hit with it peaking at #55 & charting for 20 weeks on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. To date, the album has sold over four million copies in the United States and six million worldwide.
Diary of a Mad Band | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | December 21, 1993 | |||
Recorded | July–November 1993 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 66:03 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | ||||
Jodeci chronology | ||||
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Singles from Diary of a Mad Band | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Chicago Tribune | [3] |
Christgau's Consumer Guide | [4] |
Entertainment Weekly | B+[5] |
Los Angeles Times | [6] |
Orlando Sentinel | [7] |
Dimitri Ehrlich of Entertainment Weekly wrote that at times bested the group's first, stating that the songs on their sophomore effort "often transcend the formulaic histrionics that marred their debut."[5] AllMusic critic Ron Wynn deemed the record "jarring" and "mismatched", preferring its sentimental love songs to the sexually explicit, hip hop-influenced "come-on numbers", which he found to be in poor taste.[1] Rohan B. Preston from the Chicago Tribune found the lyrics clichéd and Jodeci "certainly not as funky as H-Town nor as stirring as Boyz II Men at their best".[3] Robert Christgau was even less impressed and assigned it a "neither" symbol in his Consumer Guide book, indicating an album that "may impress once or twice with consistent craft or an arresting track or two. Then it won't."[4]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "My Heart Belongs to U" | Donald Earle DeGrate, Jr. | 5:02 |
2. | "Cry for You" | DeGrate | 5:01 |
3. | "Feenin'" | DeGrate | 5:10 |
4. | "What About Us" |
| 5:20 |
5. | "Ride & Slide" | DeGrate | 4:57 |
6. | "Alone" |
| 4:43 |
7. | "You Got It" (featuring Redman) |
| 5:56 |
8. | "Won't Waste You" (featuring Missy Elliott) | 4:55 | |
9. | "In the Meanwhile" (featuring Timbaland) |
| 4:22 |
10. | "Gimme All You Got" |
| 3:42 |
11. | "Sweaty" (featuring Missy Elliott) |
| 5:54 |
12. | "Jodecidal Hotline" | Dalvin DeGrate | 3:11 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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13. | "Success" |
| 7:41 |
Weekly charts edit
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Year-end charts edit
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Year | Single | Peak chart positions[13] | |||||
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U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | U.S. Rhythmic Top 40 | |||||
1993 | "Cry for You" | 15 | 1 | 5 | |||
1994 | "Feenin'" | 25 | 2 | 16 | |||
"What About Us" | — | 14 | — |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United States (RIAA)[14] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Information taken from Allmusic.[15]