628 Goodbye The Gap Band - I'm Gonna Git Ya Sucka

Chart  entered : 18  February  1989

Chart  peak : 63

The   fraternal  funk  band from  the  US  bowed  out  after  a  decade  of  hits. None  of  the  subsequent  hits  had  the  same  impact  as  "Oops  Outside  Your  Head "   although  1986's  "Big  Fun "   actually  surpassed  it by  reaching  number  4 . The  last  couple  of  years  had  been  much  leaner  and  they  had  recently  been  dropped  by  their  label  Total  Experience. Their  difficulties  were  were  exacerbated  by   a  long-running  dispute  with  their  former  manager.

"I'm  Gonna  Git  Ya  Sucka "  was  a  one-off   single  for  Arista, a  song  partly  written  by  Norman  Whitfield  for  the  blaxploitation  spoof  film  of  the  same  name. It  sounds  like  a  vengeful  address  to  a  drug  pusher  although  in  the  film  the  villain  played  by  John  Vernon  is  actually  supplying  gold  chains. It  employs  the   minimalist  R  &  B  sound  of  Cameo  and  the  like  although  Robert  Wilson  gets  to  play  a  scorching  guitar  solo..It's  not  really  my  thing  but  it's  well  executed.

The  band  then  signed  to  Capitol  and  brought  out  their  twelfth  LP  "Round  Trip"  later  in  the  year. It's  a  solid  R &  B  set   ranging  from  the  brassy  electro-funk  of  "All  Of  My  Love"  to  the   Vandross-like  mellow  soul  of  "We  Can   Make  It  Alright". Both  of  those  tracks  were  failed  singles  apart  from  the  US  R &  B  charts  , emphasising  their  commercial  decline.

The  group  were  then  put on  hold  as  Charlie  Wilson  started  work  on  his first  solo  album. "You  Turn  My  Life  Around"  came  out  in  1992  on  MCA . It  was  trailed  by  the  single  "Sprung  On  Me"  which  co-opts  the  New  Jack  Swing  sound  to  the  extent  that  you  can  sing  Bobby  Brown's  My  Prerogative  over  the  top  of  it. The  mellower  title  track  was  also  released  as  a  single. It  got  a  lukewarm  reception  and  Charlie  retreated  back  to  the  group. By  this  time  he  was  in  the  grip  of  a  cocaine  addiction  and lost  his  home, living  rough  on  the  streets  of  Los  Angeles  for  a  couple  of  years

A  couple  of  the  tracks  from  the  solo  album  re-appeared  on  the  next  group  album  "Testimony"  in  1994  on  Latique  Records. It  was  released  under  the  name  "The  Gap  Band  featuring  Charlie  Wilson". It's  a  terribly  lacklustre  set  which  didn't  even  register  in  the  R &  B  charts . No  singles  were  released. 1995's  "Ain't  Nothin  But  A  Party"  fared  no  better.

However  ,Charlie's  fortunes  began  to  change ;  when  he  was  persuaded  to  enter  a  drug  rehabilitation  centre. He  met  his  future  wife  Mahin  who  was  a  social  worker  there  and  helped  him  get  clean. Shortly  afterwards , he  began  a  long  term  collaboration  with  Snoop  Dogg  which  became  his  musical  salvation. He  contributed  to  several  of  the  tracks  on  the  rapper's  1996   album  Tha  Doggfather   and   was  credited  on  the  single  "Snoop's  Upside  Ya  Head"  which  became  Dogg's  biggest  UK  hit  to  date  reaching  number  12.

Charlie  acquired  a  new  manager  Michael  Paran  in  1997  but  still  wanted  to  work  with  his  brothers. They  released  their  last  studio  album  in  1999  entitled  "Y2K  Funkin Till 2000  Comz". Snoop  guested  on  the  title  track  and  there  are  hip  hop  influences  elsewhere  but  it  didn't  revive  the  group's  fortunes.

Paran  persuaded  Charlie  that  his  next  move  should  be  a  solo  album , largely  written  by  R &  B  songwriting  team  Cal  Stewart  and  Traci  Hale. "Bridging  The  Gap"  came  out  in  2000  and  made  152  on  the  Billboard  chart  which  wasn't  fantastic  but  better  than  the  last  three  Gap  Band  albums  had  managed. The Gap  Band  continued  to  exist  as  a  live  act   ( and  had  a  last  UK  chart  entry  in  2004  when  DJ  Casper  reworked  "Oops  Upside  Your  Head " ) but  Charlie  was  on  to  something  better  as  a  solo  artist. In  2004 Patan  negotiated  a  multi-album  deal  with  Jive  and  was  almost  immediately  vindicated  when  the  2005  album  "Charlie, Last  Name  Wilson"  featuring  contributions  from  R  Kelly, will.i.am  and  Justin  Timberlake  made  number  10  in  the  US.  The  title  track  written  by  Kelly  returned  him  to  the  US  singles  charts  reaching  number  67. In  2008  he  had  a  bout  with  prostate  cancer  and  has  worked  with  a  related  charity  ever  since.  The  next  album  "Uncle  Charlie"  in  2009  did  even  better  reaching  number  2.

The  following  year  Robert  died  of  a  heart  attack  and  The  Gap Band  was  formally  put  to  bed. One  suspects  that  third  brother  Ronnie  Wilson  wasn't  entirely  happy  with  the  decision  and  in  2015  he  attempted  to  re-launch  a  new  line  up  with  a  couple  of  gigs  but  both  were  pulled. Ronnie  alleges  that  Charlie  was  responsible  and  filed  a  lawsuit. As  far  as  I'm  aware  the  dispute  is  ongoing.

Why  Charlie  should  care  when  his  latest  album  "In  It  To  Win  It", released  a  few  weeks  ago   became  his  sixth  in  a  row  to  go  Top  20  in  the  US, is  something  of  a  mystery. Also  mysterious  is  the  complete  failure  of  any  of  his  solo  material  to  register  over  here. The  credit  on  Snoop's  version  of  "Oops.. ."  remains  his  only  chart  entry  in  either the  singles  or  album  chart. Perhaps  that  song  is  all  we're  ever  going  to  want  from  him.