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Freak Like Me
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Date Aired
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May 8, 2017
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Running Time
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15:57
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Todd plays "Freak Like Me" on the piano.
ADINA HOWARD - FREAK LIKE ME
A one-hit wonder retrospective
Todd: Welcome back to One Hit Wonderland, where we take a look back into the bands and artists only known for one song. And now that I am finally, finally, finally, done with the requests, it's time to go back to the music that I want to review. And I want something... [Clip of Falco - "Rock Me Amadeus"] far away from the poncy New Wave stuff I've been covering.
Yeah. Yeah, I want something a little more raw. But what? Hmm... [Brief clips of The Only Ones - "Another Girl, Another Planet",...] punk? [...Craig Mack ft. The Notorious B.I.G., LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes & Rampage - "Flava in Ya Ear" (Remix),...] Gangsta rap? [...and Drowning Pool - "Bodies"] Nu-metal? Hmm... you know what actually? I think we're gonna take it in a bit of a different direction.
Clip of Adina Howard - "Freak Like Me"
Adina: Let me lay it on the line
I got a little freakiness inside
Montage clips of Montell Jordan - "This is How We Do It"; Whitney Houston - "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)"; and Mariah Carey - "Always Be My Baby"
Todd (VO): The year is 1995, and R&B is in the midst of a radical change in style, thanks to the increasing encroachment of gangsta rap into the genre. And to be sure - it wasn't a complete change; on the one hand, you still had your Whitney and your Mariah. But on the other end of the spectrum...
Todd: ...you had Adina.
Adina: 'Cause I will be a freak until the day until the dawn
And we can - pump, pump - all through the night till the early morn
Todd (VO): This is Adina Howard with her #2 single "Freak Like Me", seriously an underrated song that... I don't see anyone mention anymore. And if they do, it's because there was [Clip of Sugababes - "Freak Like Me"] this cover version by a British girl group that mashed it up with a grinding '80s techno song, and all the snobby music critics like Pitchfork loved it. And I did too; it's a great cover.
Todd: The original is better.
Adina: I want a freak in the morning
A freak in the evening just like me
Todd (VO): And more than anything else, what set "Freak Like Me" apart was just how racy it was. Adina Howard's entire persona screamed "sex". As you can tell by the cover of her album [Image of Adina's debut album Do You Wanna Ride?] which introduced her to America ass-first.
Adina: 'Cause we can - pump, pump - any time of day, it's all good for me
Todd (VO): Yet in reality, the lyrics of this song are not actually all that dirty. But it sure seemed like it compared to everything else from that year. No, seriously, check her out. [Clip of TLC - "Red Light Special"] TLC was more than capable of being sexual, but TLC...
Todd: ...looked like Girl Scouts compared to Adina.
Todd (VO): And just like every other brazenly sexual woman before or since, there was always a conversation around her. Is this empowering to women? Is it exploitative?
Todd: I-I dunno. It's kind of complicated. I'm certainly not comfortable with some of the things of the time that people were saying about her - like, [Excerpt from a newspaper column...] Washington Post columnist Donna Britt called her part of a "culture-wide sickness". And on the other hand, I found a review in [Screenshot of said review...] Vibe that describes her "acute, ho-like tendencies," and that's from a positive review. Goddamn! Let a girl be. Can't y'all just enjoy the song? It's a good song.
Adina: ...good for me!
Backup vocalist: One to the two to the two to the three
Adina, do ya wanna get freaky with me?
Before the hit
Picture of...
Todd (VO): Adina Howard was born in 1973 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Which means she was only 22 when she got famous.
Todd: That doesn't give me a lot to work with. So instead, I want to talk to y'all about the state of R&B in the '90s.
Montage clips of Shai - "Baby I'm Yours"; Soul Train performance of Kurtis Blow - "The Breaks"; New Edition - "If It Isn't Love"; and Nicki Minaj and Beyonce - "Feeling Myself"
Shai: Baby I'm yours....
Todd (VO): Now ever since hip-hop began, there has always been an overlap between it and R&B or soul, or disco or what have you, but even so, there was still a pretty clear divide, as opposed to now when it's just the same genre.
Todd: Let's look back at where we were at in 1992.
Clip of Boyz II Men - End of the Road
Boyz II Men: Although we've come to the end of the road
Still I can't...
Todd (VO): Look at that! They're wearing suits! Suits! [picture of Boyz II Men at a red carpet event] How many times have you seen an Usher or Jason DeRulo wearing a suit? [Clips of Silk - Freak Me...] And it was not just squeaky clean Boyz II Men either - it was the freakier stuff too. But at the same time, [...Snoop Doggy Dogg - "What's My Name?"...] gangsta rap was starting to really take over. And I don't mean as just as a genre that a certain demographic listen to, like country or metal. No, it was going mainstream. And around '92, [...and Aaliyah - "Back & Forth"] it started creeping into R&B until, by the end of the decade...
Todd: ...there was basically no divide at all.
Montage clips of Jodeci - "Come & Talk To Me"; R. Kelly - "Bump n' Grind"; and Mary J. Blige - "Real Love"
Todd (VO): A big part of that was Jodeci and R. Kelly, and on the female side, there was Mary J. Blige.
Mary J. Blige: Real love...
Picture of Mary J. Blige biography, "The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul: Unauthorized"
Todd (VO): "The Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul", they called her. 'Cause the record executives shot down (picture of Mary and Puff Daddy in the studio) Puff Daddy's original idea for her, the [words shown at bottom of the picture] "Queen of the Ghetto".
Todd: Which always struck me kinda funny because nowadays, Mary J. Blige doesn't seem ghetto at all to me...
Todd (VO): ...especially compared to everything that came after her. Mary J. is like, pure sophistication - she might as well be an opera singer.
Todd: But at the time? Compared to the rest of the R&B world?
Clip of Shanice - "Saving Forever for You"
Shanice: I've never been so sure about anything before...
Todd (VO): Yeah, okay, yeah, Mary J. does seem more street than this. Nice hat, by the way. Oh and I would be remiss...
Todd: ...if I didn't mention the obvious predecessor as far as ladies in hip-hop talking about sex.
Clip of Salt-n-Pepa - "Let's Talk About Sex"
Salt-n-Pepa: Let's talk about sex, baby
Let's talk about you and me
Let's talk about all the good things
And the bad things that may be...
Todd (VO): The funny thing is, this song isn't really that sexual. It's a message song about wanting to be able to talk about sex. And then they succeeded, it seems like. They won the argument. And once they did that, it was time for someone to...
Todd: ...actually start talking about it.
The big hit
Todd: This song kills, just from its opening note.
The video for "Freak Like Me" kicks off with the smooth G-funk opening riff
Todd (VO): I mean, that is just some straight Dr. Dre G-funk right there.
Clip of Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg - "Nuthin' But a G Thang"
Background singer: You gotta feel it!
Todd (VO): It's got all the same influences. It's even sampled from a George Clinton song just like most of Dre's stuff was. And she even quotes another George Clinton song in the verses.
Adina: 'Cause it's all about the dog in me.
Clip of George Clinton performing "Atomic Dog"
George Clinton: Nothin' but the dog in me
P-Funk All-Stars: Nothin' but the dog in me, woof!
Todd (VO): She's the only woman I've ever heard call herself a "dog". Like usually, that's not a compliment, right? But she means it in a sense that it's usually applied to guys, you know; she-she gets around and she's not ashamed of that.
Adina: If you are that kind of man
'Cause I'm that kind of girl...
Todd (VO): As I already said, the main selling point here was how explicit she was, especially for a mainstream chart topper.
Todd: The only person I can think of who managed to do it and get that much success was...
Clips of Madonna - "Justify My Love" and Janet Jackson - "Anytime, Anyplace"
Todd (VO): ...Madonna and... I guess Janet afterwards. But even Janet wasn't this open about it - very few girls at the time were willing to be that blunt.
Adina: 'Cause I'm that kind of girl
I got a freaky secret
Everybody sing...
Todd: It's, uh, not that secret, lady.
Adina: I got a freaky secret
[Picture of a very sexually suggestive Adina licking her finger]
Todd (VO): This girl is a freak?
Todd: ...You don't say.
Adina: 'Cause I will be a freak until the day
Until the dawn
And we can - pump, pump - all through the night
'Til the early morn...
Todd (VO): Here's a question I have: what's that sound? We can...
Adina: And we can - pump, pump...
Now, I always assumed that it was, you know, "woof-woof" - like a dog barking.
Adina: But it's all about the dog in me...
But lyric sites tell me the lyrics are "pump, pump".
Adina: Pump, pump...
Todd (VO): I...I... I guess it does sound like a car going up and down on hydraulics. In any case, let this be a lesson - that sound is a...
Todd: ...billion times hotter than any actual words would be.
Adina: I want a freak in the mornin'
And a freak in the evenin' (just for me)
I want a roughneck brother that can satisfy me
Todd (VO): As far as whether or not this is exploitative... Uh, eh, I mean she was very young and, I'm a guy, and...
Todd: ...I'm not gonna tell you I'm not enjoying this.
Todd (VO): Yeah, yeah... Yes, this gets the Todd seal of approval.
NOTE: The Todd Seal of Approval is worthless.
Todd (VO): But if you listen to her - it's confident, certainly, but it's not domineering like the hyper-sexual female rappers that came immediately after this.
Clip of Lil' Kim ft. Sisqo - "How Many Licks?"
Todd (VO): I mean, they were very sexual but they were also... in your face, in a challenging and even kind of unpleasant and gross kind of way. Like they were trying to weed out any scrubs who couldn't handle 'em.
Todd: And as a scrub myself, I never really enjoyed it.
Todd (VO): Meanwhile, this? This, I'm all into. I don't feel threatened by this at all. So like, it's not, not for dudes to appreciate, but...
Todd: ...even if you're not attracted to her, I think you can get a lot out of this song.
Adina: I need a roughneck brother who can satisfy me
Todd (VO): If it is empowering, I guess it's because she sounds like she's enjoying herself a lot!
Adina: ...it's all good for me!
Todd: Yeah I know that doesn't sound like a big deal. I mean, ain't that how you're supposed to feel when you're having sex? But a lot of the time, no! Sex doesn't sound enjoyable at all - it sounds like work!
Clip of Ciara ft. Ludacris - "Ride"
Ciara: He love the way I ride it
Todd (VO): Like, take Ciara. Most of the time, she sounds like she's trying way too hard.
Clips of Lil' Kim ft. Lil Cease - "Crush on You"; Foxy Brown ft. Total - "I Can't"; and Madonna - "Erotica"
Todd (VO): That's also true for Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown... from Madonna, honestly, during her way-too-sexy phase. I mean, they just never seem like they were having any fun.
Todd: With Adina, I don't know if it's the beat or the lyrics or what...
Todd (VO): ...but when she sings about sex, I believe that she's actually, like, having a good time. The song is upbeat, but it's just laid back enough that it doesn't sound exhausting.
Adina: 'Cause we don't give a damn about a thing
'Cause I will be a freak until the day, until the dawn...
Todd: Or maybe it's because she uses the word, "freak".
Adina: 'Cause I will be a freak until the day, until the dawn...
Todd (VO): I mean, you just can't take yourself too seriously when you're using "freak" as a verb. But when you've already turned the sexiness up to ten...
Todd: ...how do you not get diminishing returns?
The failed follow up
Clip of Adina Howard - "My Up and Down"
Adina: Haven't you heard, baby
About my up and down and round and round...
Todd (VO): The failed follow-up is called, "My Up and Down".
Todd: It is, of course, about...
Picture of stock numbers
Todd (VO): ...unstable stock prices. No, it's about sex, obviously.
Todd: Adina never, uh, demonstrated a whole lot of lyrical range in her career.
Adina: About my up and down and round and round
Haven't you heard, baby
You should've known by now
You should've known by now, my baby
About the merry-go-round...
Todd (VO): I mean, it's not terrible, but I think they accidentally hit the ceiling. It-it's kinda hard to promote a single when the video has you doing it in a sex swing. Like, this was too spicy even for BET at the time.
Todd: Also, it rhymes "round" with "round".
Adina: About the merry-go-round
Up and down, baby
Todd (VO): Yeah, rhyming words with themselves - that's like, a serious mojo killer. Don't ever do that. It's like, on Cosmo's list of bedroom don'ts.
Clip of Adina Howard - "It's All About You"
Todd (VO): She did release one other single, "It's All About You", which is kind of a serious switch from "Freak Like Me". "Freak Like Me" was about her; it wasn't about you at all.
Adina: And it's all about you...
Todd (VO): I mean, I'm not saying these are bad songs. I could see them easily becoming hits, but not as big as "Freak Like Me" obviously. But there's a lot of music that gets made out there; it's hard to break through. And Adina may have been too ahead of her time. A year later, [Cover art for Hard Core] Lil' Kim released her debut album which broke down all kinds of doors, but Adina was...
Todd: ...kind of a novelty at the time. If you listen to her album, this is the first song.
Audio clip of Adina Howard - "You Got Me Humpin'" over the cover of Do You Wanna Ride?
Adina: You got me humpin' day and night, oh baby...
Todd: Uh yeah, there was this weird conviction in the early '90s that the word "hump" was sexy.
Clip of Bobby Brown - "Humpin' Around"
Background singers: Ain't nobody humpin' around
Bobby Brown: Ain't nobody humpin' around
Todd (VO): I think the idea behind Adina's whole persona was that women could make music that was just as sexual as the guys - but the problem is a lot of the guys' songs also sucked. [Clip of Warren G ft. Adina Howard - "What's Love Got to Do With It"] Well anyway, she did manage to guest on a couple of minor hits. She was on a Warren G song.
Warren G: A brother that's down for mine's
Before I made beats, I was down for crime...
Adina: What's love got to do, got to do with it
What's love if you don't respect the game...
Todd (VO): Okay, actually... what does love got to do with it?
Todd: I mean, how is love relevant to this situation?
Todd (VO): Yeah, this was off the soundtrack of the Jackie Chan movie, Super Cop, and um... [clip of the video featuring...] [chuckling] He's right there! Dance Jackie, dance.
Todd: Jackie broke three bones filming this sequence.
Clip of Adina Howard - "(Freak) And U Know It"
Todd (VO): But the second album... that was the one that was gonna change everything. She had more control, she had better producers. Unfortunately, she also decided to smack talk one of her bosses at the label...
Todd: ...and um, that was the end of that.
Picture of Adina's second album Welcome to Fantasy Island with the word CANCELED flashed in red
Todd (VO): She got blackballed; the record was never released.
Todd: Weirdly though, one of the songs did manage to get some airplay anyway.
Picture of the back of the Woo soundtrack with the title of the song
Todd (VO): This is called "T-Shirt and Panties" written by... [Circling Jamie Foxx's name] What, really? Jamie Foxx? [Picture of Jamie in the Booty Call poster] The Booty Call guy, seriously?
Todd: [beat; shrugging] Okay. Let's hear it.
Audio clip of "T-Shirt & Panties" plays over the cover of Welcome to Fantasy Island
Adina: T-shirt and my panties on
T-shirt and my panties on...
Todd: Yeah, yeah, I definitely heard this, I don't know where, but I've definitely heard this.
Adina: T-shirt and my panties
Got my t-shirt and my panties on...
Todd (VO): Honestly, I don't get why this managed to survive.
Todd: Like, it's not very good.
Adina: T-shirt and my panties on (you can't deny it)
T-shirt and my panties on, got my t-shirt and my panties on...
Todd (VO): I just kinda imagine her standing there in her t-shirt and panties, just like...
Todd: ..."Yep, got my t-shirt and panties on".
Todd (VO): Nah, this song sucks. Who the hell let the... [pictures of Jamie in In Living Color as Wanda and in the poster of The Jamie Foxx Show] In Living Color guy think he should be involved in music? Stick to your stupid WB sitcom that nobody watches...
Todd: ...'cause you're never having a music career.
Did she ever do anything else?
Todd: Not... really?
Clip of Adina Howard - “Nasty Grind”
Adina: My nasty grind (yeah yeah yeah...)
Todd (VO): I mean, she has released a few albums, but they're all on independent labels. And you think, considering her bad experience with the major labels, she'd be happier independent - but no, she does not like them; she thinks they're all bogus rinky-dink operations; they got no connections; they can't promote you.
Todd: Which makes sense. I haven't heard from her - neither have you.
Clips of Adina Howard on YouTube demonstrating her cooking skills
Todd (VO): So what has she been doing instead? Umm... cooking. No seriously - she, uh, she went to culinary school, and now she has a restaurant in Austin. I like to think she has themed entries like, "Freak Like Meatloaf"...
Todd: ..."T-Shirt & Paninis".
Did she deserve better?
Todd: Uh, if she could find the songs to back it up? Sure.
Adina: 'Cause I will be a freak until the day...
Todd (VO): She didn't have the most interesting voice, but she had the poise and confidence of a much more seasoned performer. "Freak Like Me"; that was gonna be a hard one to top, but if she had more support, yeah yeah.
Todd: [rhyming like the guy in the song] One to the two, to the two to the three, Adina deserved better, according to me... [Makes B-boy pose before he walks up and leaves]
Adina: ...and we can pump-pump all through the day
'Til the early morn...
Video ends
Closing tag song: Tru Faith & Dub Conspiracy - "Freak Like Me"
THE END
"Freak Like Me" is owned by Elektra Records
This video is owned by me
THANK YOU TO THE LOYAL PATRONS!