Red Hot Lover Tone - #1 Player (1995)

Excuse the bad nineties album cover.  Excuse the parental advisory sticker.   Excuse the fact that the first post on this "folk" blog is a hip-hop album.  Excuse all the superficial flaws and get down to the music.

This is Red Hot Lover Tone, a.k.a. Tone, a.k.a. Samuel Barnes' second album for select records, #1 Player.  Released in 1995 and featuring tracks produced by Diamond D, Buckwild, and Tone's own production team The Trackmasters; this is a really excellent, fun, easy-on-the-ears example of east coast hip-hop before east coast hip-hop realized it was cool.  Highlights include the John Paxson reference on "Bust a Manueva", the party-rocking chorus of "Damian's Hook" and an absolutely killer verse from a young Notorious B.I.G. on "4 My Peeps"

Unfortunately this would be the last album from Tone, though he and his partner Poke would go on to produce a slew of late nineties-earl 2000's mainstream pop and hip-hop hits.  Including Will Smith's Miami and Men in Black, as well as tracks for Nas, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, even Michael Jackson.  You tube a vinyl version below, and check the comments if you are interested.