‘Word Up!’: Cameo’s Funky Commercial Apex
Headlined by one of the catchiest and quirkiest crossover singles of the 1980s, the album remains an essential listen.
Cameo was remarkably prolific through the 1970s and ’80s, churning out a dozen albums within an initial nine-year run rife with R&B hits. Originally a sprawling funk ensemble before gradually downsizing, the New York City group’s sustained success under the leadership of vocalist/drummer/producer Larry Blackmon reflected an uncanny ability to pivot and evolve. Cameo made its name with consummate dance floor funk so aggressively syncopated (“I Just Want to Be,” “Shake Your Pants,” et al.) the records felt like they might fly off the turntable. But the group could also adroitly dabble in disco (“Find My Way”), take stylistic cues from electro (“Single Life”) and new wave (“Alligator Woman”), boast proto-broken beat jazz-funk chops (“The Sound Table”), and excel with gorgeous falsetto ballads (“Why Have I Lost You”) all while remaining faithful to a core template of Blackmon’s Clinton-esque frontman persona offset by Tomi Jenkins’ silky smooth vocals.
Listen to Cameo’s Word Up! now.
Featuring a Blackmon rap in praise of a peculiar femme fatale, 1984’s slinky “She Strange” even found the group assuredly harnessing hip-hop’s influence – a trick that confounded most of its longstanding Black music contemporaries. This willingness to embrace the burgeoning art form rather than deride it as trend (or worse, fumble in the face of its existential threat) wholly informs 1986’s “Word Up,” Cameo’s commercial apex. Its angular funk – in the form of chunky power chords and horn charts – selectively incorporates rap’s parlance (e.g. the title refrain; “wave your hands in the air like you don’t care”) and attitude (see disparaging references to “sucker DJs who think [they’re] fly”) into Blackmon and Jenkins’ own proven songwriting and arranging acumen, yielding one of the catchiest and quirkiest crossover singles of the decade.
That said, it wouldn’t necessarily surprise anyone if Word Up! was little more than a vehicle for its titular hit. Fortunately, its seven songs include some of the finest by the group (by this point officially a trio of Blackmon, Jenkins and vocalist Nathan Leftenant). “Word Up’s” immediate follow-up, “Candy,” is a rhythmically infectious, earworm-laden masterpiece that perfectly plays Blackmon’s exaggerated, nasal delivery against Jenkins and Leftenant’s sweeter vocal attack. Additional songs spotlighting Jenkins’ singing nearly match this standard. “Back and Forth,” the album’s third substantial hit, playfully laments relationship ups and downs over a buoyant track punctuated by classic period guitar shredding and drum machine claps. “Don’t Be Lonely” exhibits the trio’s knack for romantic material undiminished.
Thematically, the motivational “You Can Have the World” seemed an apropos album closer. Word Up! became Cameo’s highest charting LP, going number one R&B and top 10 pop. It was also essentially the group’s last hurrah in the face of a sea change. As the ’80s drew to a close, young hip-hop and New Jack Swing R&B artists supplanted Cameo and other veteran groups as the pacesetters within Black music. Yet Blackmon’s signature hi-top fade became the adopted look of this youth movement – symbolic of Cameo’s longevity even as the baton passed to the next generation.
