Grand Nutz Da Ladies Man

Our friends at PlusTapes sayeth:

"Here’s the story:

I was working at a record store on the south side of Chicago a few years back, and this kid walks in and asks if we sell local music. So I try to point him towards our local section, but he’s like “naw…I make music.” So I ask him “Oh are you a rapper? Do you make beats?” He replies…”No, I sing R&B.” And he hands me a 90 minute Maxell cassette tape with a photo of himself on the cover and the words Grand Nutz Da Ladies Man on the cassette label. With that, he walked out of the store. So, of course, I immediately put it on.

What happened next was something magical. All the crusty jazz dudes perked up their ears and came up by the counter and listened with me as we heard this cacophony of failed R&B acapellas sung by someone who is most obviously tone deaf. But the thing is….he’s 100% committed. There’s Boys II Men harmonies, ad-lib rubber duckie rip offs, scat sung TV theme song flubs (Flinstones, Scooby Doo) and even a few moments of Karaoke style bliss as he puts on a boombox in the background and attempts to sing along. It’s unbelievably precious."

The pressing is already sold out, but thanks to the generous folk at PlusTapes, we have a copy of it for y'all here:

Grand Nutz Da Ladies Man

It really is as wonderful as that description. Apart from serving as a peek into one bedroom superstar's dreams, the 40 minute collection also dredges up memories of half-forgotten '90s r'n'b stars like Guy, Adina Howard, Boyz II Men, and Luther Vandross. He also throws in oldies like "Money (That's What I Want)", and yes, cartoon themes.

PlusTapes is an awesome cassette label. Yep, some folks are still making tapes. You will definitely want to dig out that old boombox because their catalog is spectacular: early '70s Korean funk, '60 French groovy girls, Singapore surf, Chicago improv craziness, Chris Connelly from Ministry...