195. TQ - They Never Saw Me Coming (1998)

Remember TQ? What do you mean no? Well, I cant blame you I guess. While he has had three albums released (his second album 'Second Coming' was released in the UK only, his third 'Listen' found limited only minimal success) TQ is probably best known for his 1999 single 'Westside'. I remember being quite surprised when I heard this album as I had never really liked listening to singers who, for all intents and purposes, sang rap lyrics. It always sounded incongruous to me and ended up sounding like someone who couldn't decide whether they wanted to be a singer or rapper. If you are going to sing, sing. If you are going to rap, rap. Simple right? Well, TQ made me see the error of my ways and led me from ignorance. Well, almost anyway. What this album does is capture the feeling of what the artist wanted to convey at the same time as telling you exactly whats going on in TQ's world. Most R&B is generic. Lets face it, thats part of its appeal. The guys are singing to all women. The women are singing to all the fellas out there. This album sounds like someone is telling you a story about their life. I can only assume thats because of the balance between rap and r&b. Its quite possibly the only time i've come across it. DRS tried, but failed (IMO). So for its uniqueness, TQ's 'They Never Saw Me Coming' gets to set up shop at number 195 on the Top 200.

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Bonus: Like a lot of artists, TQ started out in a group before going solo. Coming of Age released two albums in the early nineties, 'Comin Correct' in 1995 and their debut self-titled album in 1993. Check out the latter at the link below.














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