"Keep On Rollin'"
King George: #1 Single!
September 1, 2024:
Originally published in Daddy B. Nice's Corner: Top 10 Singles.
Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles For. . .
-------SEPTEMBER 2024-------
1. "I Can't Judge Nobody"-----King George
King George has come down to earth. From "Keep On Rollin'" through last year's "Grown Man," George launched a series of other-worldly singles (including "Too Long," "Friday Night," "Leave & Party" and "Night-Time") like fireworks from the pearly gates of Southern Soul Heaven. And that blank, glassy stare you often see on George's face is simply the proof---the after-effects---of George being so near the Deity for a prolonged period. That all changed late last year with the down-to-earth "Lil' Weight," which, despite its charm and 12 million YouTube views and counting, brought King George back to terra firma and the more natural musical surroundings of his peers. This year's "It's Over" and, now "Can't Judge Nobody," merely extend this new, more mortal phase of George's career. And for George, like an astronaut finally returning to Earth, what a relief it must be!
Listen to King George singing "Can't Judge Nobody" on YouTube.
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March 31, 2024:King George's Greatest Hits
Buy the songs in the right-hand column of this page under "Recommended Tracks".
March 30, 2024:
1."Night-Time"-----King George
Best Album:
Best Chitlin' Circuit Blues Song:
Best Debut:
Best Male Vocalist:
Best Club Song:
See the chart.
Listen to King George singing "Keep On Rollin'" on YouTube.
April 1, 2022:
Once more, in the tradition of Big Pokey Bear, Tucka and Ronnie Bell, a recording artist and a "complete unknown" comes out of nowhere with a hit single containing so much swagger, honesty and downright emotion it eclipses everything else out there. On its various YouTube pages "Keep On Rollin'" by King George has amassed millions of page views in a little over a month.
Nine months ago (July 2021) a debut novelty single called "Chicken Wang" by a first-time artist named Klay Redd started out with a rousing introduction that went as follows:
"Girl there's a brand new king in town
And he came here to swing.
He's 'bout to take you by the hand
And take you back down memory lane..."
The emphasis was on "brand new king in town," and Redd's vocal was terrific, stressing the "brand new king" like a dawn rooster cock-a-doodling reveille. At first I assumed the singer was talking about himself, but as the months passed with no follow-up singles from Redd, I wondered if the announcement of the brand new king was a tip of the hat to King South, a Slacktraxx/Jeter Jones protege whose YouTube video for "Southern Soul Cowboy" had recently amassed an astounding 3 million-plus views and a thousand-plus, appreciative comments.
Little did I know that yet another "king" was about to blow up the southern soul scene---the real "king," let us say, the "king of kings"---and his name was King George. Like King South, King George's 2020-recorded music ("(Can't Stay) Too Long," "Friday Night," "Leave & Party") was quietly blowing up YouTube with millions of views, yet as far as the traditional chitlin' circuit was concerned, those songs could have been "gestating" since 2020.
Then King George released a single that dwarfed the considerable accomplishments of his prior singles: "Keep On Rollin'," an instantaneous #1 on Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Singles for March 2022.
Here's the capsule review:
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Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles For. . .
-------MARCH 2022-------
1. "Keep On Rollin'" ------- King George
Three million YouTube views in less than a month! I'm in awe of the power of southern soul music to connect with the fans. It doesn't matter if it's an "unknown". "Keep On Rollin" speaks to that unconscious "id" we all carry around, unaware we're blinkered by social norms until we encounter someone who upsets that apple cart of civility. That's why we're so tickled and pleased when Pokey Bear has the boldness to sing, "But I ain't coming home until three," or King George sings, (I need) "One woman just to hold me down / One woman just to lift me up / And I gotta at least have one woman on the side / That really don't give a fuck."
Listen to King George singing "Keep On Rollin'" on YouTube.
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And in the month since King George has reigned at the top of the singles charts the audience for "Keep On Rollin'" has doubled again to six million page views! Meanwhile, videos of King George performing live have proliferated on the Internet, adding to the demand to hear and see this recording artist up close.
From Daddy B. Nice's Mailbag:
"What is going on with King George he doesn't have a concert until JULY what the heck. He has five must have songs and he's the hottest in the Southern Soul and R&B chart they ticket sales looking for him." (sic)
So yes, King George is the "brand new king" Klay Redd was unknowingly proclaiming in "Chicken Wang". Everyone's talking about King George, and the most jaw-dropping evidence of his supersonic rise up the southern soul ranks came with the announcement that King George was replacing southern soul circuit star Calvin Richardson as headliner at the upcoming Evergreen Weekend Concert in Starkville, Mississippi.
There hasn't been a phenomenon like this---an artist shooting to prominence, past all the other veterans and aspiring newcomers who've been laboring in the vineyards for years---since Bishop Bullwinkle and Big Pokey Bear. In fact you'd have to go all the way back to Theodis Ealey and "Stand Up In It" to even relate to how much an artist's career has benefitted from just one super-influential single ("Keep On Rollin'").
Cynics might ask how an artist without even a long-play album to his credit could rank so highly on this New Generation of Southern Soul chart. But in truth, how could anyone rank King George any lower? No one can predict what the future holds for this recording artist. But one thing stands out: King George has achieved unheard-of brand recognition in just two or three months.
A fluke? Hardly. Here are some of the aspects of King George's success that may have gone unnoticed in the midst of all the hype and hoopla:
1/ Don't forget the sound of King George's records. The underlying music is rich in southern soul tradition, encompassing tempo, production, lyrics and vocalizing. The instrumental tracks work so well it's easy to overlook them---solid, humble, yet exquisitely executed---invariably starting out with a satisfying guitar lick but then, in hallowed southern soul fashion, surrendering all the prominence to the vocals. And what vocals!
2/ A handful of King George songs debuted in 2020, two years before the appearance of "Keep On Rollin'" in January '22. Those previously-released songs also gained adherents in the millions of page views on YouTube. Initially, I wasn't impressed by "Too Long," the most popular of these tunes, even wondering how it had gained so many fans. But in watching videos of King George's live appearances, "Too Long" was often showcased and began to take visible shape. I began to decipher the comely melody, the classic tempo, and above all the lyrics.
Lyrically, "Too Long" is the complete opposite of "Keep On Rollin'". Instead of the stubborn ne'er do well so vividly sketched in "Rollin'," "Too Long" chronicles the life of a good husband, the kind of responsible guy who would find it hard to articulate the attention and kindness he showers upon his mate, the "angel" who entered his life and showed him the meaning of true love.
"Can't stay too long," he sings. "I gotta keep moving." It's the perfect metaphor for a faithful lover, but how many artists have come up with this nugget illustrating the power of love? That's right. None. Until King George.
3/ And to return to "Keep On Rollin'," how many appreciative fans have picked up on the fact that King George doesn't say, "I'm gonna keep on rolling"? He says "This train" gonna keep rollin'". It's subtle things like that (using the "train" metaphor) that make it so much easier to sing along.
And how about the double-tracked vocals? Not synchronous. Call and response---the equivalent of a background singer---which deepens and enriches the overall sound. This is one sophisticated dude.
4/ Then there's the previously-released "Leave & Party," which begins with a devastatingly accurate (and typically unobtrusive) instrumental intro recycling the legendary style of Tyrone Davis. This song is actually the precursor to 2022's "Keep On Rollin'". It features a working-class guy who wants to transition into a weekend vagabond and "get his party on," and it even introduces some of the accomodating ladies who will take on prominence in "Keep On Rollin'".
5/ "Leave & Party" also breaks another barrier---indeed, smashes it to the smithereens. That would be the reluctance of southern soul artists to mention marijuana in their lyrics. Your Daddy B. Nice can remember rousing the ire of T.K. Soul two decades ago by mistakenly reporting that he'd used references to pot in his lyrics. And I do not blame young black men for distancing themselves from the subject. I've so often rhapsodized about the pleasures of visiting hamlets throughout the Delta over the years. What I haven't mentioned is the chagrin of entering a small town and seeing a chain-linked, razor-wired prison yard right in the town square where you'd expect to see a courthouse---testifying to the oppressiveness of the Deep South's incarcerations of young blacks in particular. But here is King George, singing, "Keisha don't care when I drink and smoke weed." Later in the tune it's "a big bag of reefer". No artist has been that explicit before.
6/ Last but not least, King George appeals to the white market, as shown by the countless Tik Tok videos of people of all ethnicities dancing to "Keep On Rollin'". This could be the beginning of the future for southern soul: the tipping point where the white audience catches on. It's only a matter of time before the genre crosses over and mutates into a new and vibrant rock and roll, and when that happens, all of the neglected southern soul artists of the last thirty years chronicled in these pages will be talked about as if people had known of them all their lives.
--Daddy B. Nice
About King George: #1 Single!
See Daddy B. Nice's Mailbag for fresh biographical information on King George as a rap artist! The letter is reproduced below.
April 9, 2022:
April 1, 2022: King George's songs began appearing on YouTube in 2020 and he has yet to publish a long-play album. Below are some notes chronicling King George's phenomenal emergence as a major southern soul artist.
March 1, 2022: Contemporaneous Notes
Here are just a few snippets from the admittedly giddy journey your Daddy B. Nice has traveled since first becoming aware of "Keep On Rollin'" just two weeks ago.
1/ On hearing the tune for the first time, Daddy B. Nice features "Keep On Rollin'" in the February 14th "News & Notes" in a story on four-letter expletives in recent southern soul singles:
....Which brings me to a new song in the vein of Arthur Young's "Funky Forty". It uses the word "fuck" in such an apt and conversational and seemingly ordinary fashion that it may sneak or even charm its way onto radio platforms. It's by a new artist named King George and it's entitled "Keep On Rollin'". The lyrics in question concern a man whose mate is leaving him. He retorts that she can "go ahead and leave" because "one monkey don't stop no show". King George needs not one or two but three(!) women at the same time, and it goes like this: (I need) "One woman just to hold me down / One woman just to lift me up / And I gotta have at least one woman on the side / That really don't give a fuck."
2/ Downloaded onto Daddy B. Nice's huge monthly playlist of new work (from which the monthly Top 10 Singles and Top 40 Singles are culled), "Keep On Rollin'" quickly rises like cream to the top, propelled by its distinctive melody, tempo and vocal performance. And of special mention, two lines from the lyrics immediately stand out as original and powerful additions to the southern soul lyrical canon:
"And I got to have at least one woman on the side,
That really don't give a fuck."
and....
"One thing you got to remember,
One monkey don't stop no show."
3/ In researching (or shall we just say "googling") King George, your Daddy B. Nice discovers he's been active on the touring circuit of late, including solo gigs and a supporting role in Coldrank's Birthday Bash last January 8th. But the performance that really stands out is a snippet from a well-attended outdoor gig in which a very ordinary-looking, bespectacled (no costume or dress-up) King George is wearing a backpack onstage. (See King George in concert wearing a backpack.) That's something I have never seen. And it speaks to the fact that George must not have had anyone with him to watch his stuff! And yet the big, night-time audience is totally into the song and familiar with the lyrics, at one point chanting them out without the performer.
4/ Further research indicates that "Keep On Rollin'" isn't King George's first time out. A December YouTube video posted the day before Christmas in 2020 has accrued almost four million page views. The song is "(Can't Stay) Too Long". And another song from 2020, "Friday Night," is even better: an update, if you will, of Sir Charles Jones' "Friday". These songs and others are available as singles, although no album is available yet. (Buy King George singles at Apple.)
5. In my initial write-up in February's "News & Notes" (Daddy B. Nice's Corner) I wondered if "Keep On Rollin'" could possibly "charm" its way onto radio in spite of the "fuck". Well, it has and it did. Listening to my favorite station and deejay (that would be WMPR Jackson, Mississippi and DJ Ragman) the other afternoon, I was astounded to hear the opening chords of the song and I listened raptly to see how they would deal with the "I really don't give a fuck." Very simple, they just blanked out the "fuck". It was great to hear it on radio. (And that's what is called a radio edit.)
Tidbits
March 12, 2022:
....On the other hand, Unkle Phunk recently put out a new remix of Carolyn Staten's "Nukie Pie". The new lyrics in the chorus are "This young buck / Say he want to fuck."....Which brings me to a new song in the vein of Arthur Young's "Funky Forty". It uses the word "fuck" in such an apt and conversational and seemingly ordinary fashion that it may sneak or even charm its way onto radio platforms. It's by a new artist named King George and it's entitled "Keep On Rollin". The lyrics in question concern a man who needs not one or two but three (!) women at the same time, and it goes like this: (I need) "One woman just to hold me down / One woman just to lift me up / And I gotta at least have one woman on the side / That really don't give a fuck."
---Daddy B. Nice
1. "Keep On Rollin'" ------- King George
1. "Too Long" ------- King George
July 1, 2022:
Yes, it's official. Not only has King George released his first single ("Girl You Got It") since making the jump to southern soul stardom. He's got a new CD! But before you do backflips temper your expectations. The CD is NOT the long-awaited solo debut gathering KG's hit singles ("Too Long," "Friday Night," "Keep On Rolling," "Leave And Party" etc.) together in one blockbuster and posterity-friendly package. It's a compilation.....
..........There are just two songs by King George on the set, the aforementioned "Girl You Got It" and another song titled "Good Day," unless you also count two selections by George's previous rapper incarnation, Yung Holliday. In a nod to Sir Charles Jones' seminal sampler ("Sir Charles & Friends") from two decades ago, the name of the CD is "King George & Friends".....
.....Other luminaries on the sampler include Coldrank with three selections (including the great "Three"), P2K DaDiddy with two spots (including the duet "When You Work It" with T.K. Soul) and tunes by King South, Toni Brown and Shay. Rounding out the roster are three tracks by an artist called Hoptown, another by Lee Ray, and a selection by vintage rapper Too Short, a principal in King George's label Ace Visionz..........
Buy King George's "Girl You Got It" at Apple.
Listen to King George singing "Girl You Got It" on YouTube.
August 22, 2022: The dust has finally settled since King George hit us like a ton of bricks. This is a guy who's a shoo-in for Best Debut of the year. What a laugh! That doesn't begin to convey the impact he's had on the southern soul audience. King George is way beyond best debut---he's catapulted to southern soul stardom. And what he's accomplished in the space of a few months isn't easy. If it was, hundreds if not thousands of aspiring southern soul artists would have already done it.
I say "a few months," but the work that went into this year of meteoric success and this greatly-anticipated collection surely took many years. It's evident in the weight and heft of the songs, their melodic richness, their traditional-sounding yet original guitar riffs, and of course the lyrics and the ability of King George's vocals to make the messages instantly believable.
Juke Joint Music brings together the four great songs that made King George a legend: "Keep On Rolling," "(Can't Stay) Too Long," "Leave And Party" and "Friday Night," supplementing them with three more songs that King George already had recorded---"Love Song," "Be With You" and "Don't Let Me Be Blind"---and adding three more fantastic tracks: the radio-edit of "Keep On Rolling," the duet with Tucka on "Jukebox Lover" and George's new single "Girl You Got It".
In other words, this is exactly what the fans have been clamoring for---with one caveat. Distribution is still dicey. The big sellers---Apple, Amazon, etc.---don't have it (yet). This link takes you to King George's own website, where I just pushed the BUY button (hard copy CD only) and came up with $12.99. Very reasonable for such a once-in-a-lifetime collection, especially compared to E-Bay (below), where a constantly revolving set of buyers and sellers has been maintaining an average sales price between $25 to $30 in a modern-day version of bootlegging out of car trunks in days of old. George could increase the supply by distributing through the major retailers.
Once in a lifetime? Yes, that's how I view this album. A unique, early-career triumph that will probably never again be matched. A fleeting moment---a magical moment---when youth and inspiration fuse into a genuine artistic voice and an artist's identity is sealed forever in a pocketful of seminal songs. Fans never forget that. Ask Sir Charles Jones.
I chronicled my own introduction to King George step by step earlier this year, and most of it concentrated on "Keep On Rollin'" and the crowds of women pumping their fists to "one monkey don't stop no show" at his concerts, although many of the other songs made the Top 10 Singles in the first half of '22. Meanwhile letters poured in. Where can I buy King George? Sales were lost. There was unprecedented demand. Gradually, the King George hoopla subsided somewhat. Music turned to other things...Tucka with "Jukebox Lover," Pokey Bear with "Here Comes Pokey"...
The pause was good for me, and I've come back to King George's music with fresh ears and a renewed appreciation for "Too Long," or "Can't Stay Too Long," which depicts a man who isn't about to get distracted from getting back to the woman waiting for him at home. My own trajectory with "Too Long" went from a kind of apathy---at first I couldn't understand why it had a million views---to a growing fascination with the lyrics---the angelic side of King George as portrayed in "Too Long" as opposed to the devilish side portrayed in "Keep On Rollin'".
Once I got hooked on the lyrics, it brought me back to the music. The chords materialized. I was swept up in the song's current, and I reveled in its instrumental track and vocal. So now, after a half-dozen months of King George, it's "Can't stay too long..." I keep hearing in my head, not "Gon' keep on rollin'..." These two spectacular songs have each garnered around twenty million views on YouTube---about seventeen million more than they had just a few months ago, when three million seemed astounding.
King George is just the latest in a line of hip-hoppers who've crossed over into southern soul music bringing an enhanced mastery of production techniques. Even in an easily-overlooked song like "Friday Night," the production and arrangements, both instrumental and vocal, make you gasp with the care lavished upon them. "Leave And Party," with its marvelous gospel background choruses, aptly captures the muted frustration and impatience of an otherwise hard-working man intent on "getting his party on". Add the sparkling fizz of "Girl You Got It" and you have a set of songs for the ages.
---Daddy B. Nice
Buy hard-copy CD only of King George's new Juke Joint Music at 803KingGeorge.com.
Buy King George's new Juke Joint Music album at E-Bay.
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Honorary "B" Side
"Too Long"
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