I know the story of her and the city high dudes, but she is still in my all time top 3. Somebody dropped the ball. Maybe it's just me, but she makes today's crop seem faint. Y'all always playing what ifs, I have a hard time seeing Beyoncé superstar if Aaliyah lived and somebody really pushed Claudette. There wouldn't be any shine for her tree in that forest.

...gorgeous, yes...but there's nothing exciting about her.

I could say the same about B. She tried way too hard early on.

If the right machine had been behind Claudette from the beginning in terms or songwriting, artist development, label support, etc., she woulda been huge.

she was w/Wyclef's vanity label and he produced most of City High's album, right?

and this was when Wyclef was still churning out hot records on the regular.

than anyone else he might be grooming where AS beyonce's father had one focus...BEYONCE.

someone who could work miracles. and magic. and put spells on ppl.

He had a sure thing in Canibus, and bricked. Melky Sedek and all those dudes he got on soundtracks/Santana albums? All bricked. His non-Fugees track record is terrible.

Claudette could've had Joe Jackson, Phil Spector, Quincy Jones and Matthew Knowles managing and grooming her and she still wouldn't have been a megastar.

All the stuff you do
When you don a cape
I see the good
Even if you don't


And an uber lurker like myself always respects the pillars



But you can't see the "intangibles" objectively no matter how much you think you can because your preference has conditioned you away from the subtleties of the fairer race as they say

We dress them. We make them up. We teach them to walk and dance and all of that. It's mostly us.

Claudette doesn't have star power. She is good looking but it takes more than being good looking to be a megastar. The music industry is littered with beautiful women who didn't make it as stars.

Making my 98 mix made me realize how on top he was....Gone til November Remix, that Night Court Horse and Carriage remix, No no no, etc etc he was on fire.

But 2002, I think that's when folks had got tired of him.

she could've had Berry Gordy managing her in 1968 w/Cholly Atkins doing her choreography and Holland-Dozier-Holland writing her songs and she still wouldn't be a megastar.

she ain't got it.

But "Caramel" and "What would you do" were pretty garbage. I just liked looking at her

i don't think she could've made it even w/better material. but i dunno for sure, of course.

...granted, hindsight is 20/20, but Bey just seems like she had more intangibles than Claudette. She had that indescribable 'thing'. I never saw it in Claudette. Same with Keri Hilson, Christina Milian, etc. But who knows...round '03, if Claudette had been the one to pique Jay's interest, her and Bey's trajectories could have both been wholly different.

she was a Lauryn replacement.

and i agree she doesn't have star power. she can sing well enough but she doesn't have 'it'.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Made decisions like amateur lol also just wasn't the right time
____

TWITTER : Heinz21st

IG : H_N_Z

Claudette being just vocals, her ceiling was Ashanti


And Ashanti herself was more of a breakthrough
The rest of artists in that lane didn't get much farther than Claudette

Tweet
Keyshia cole
Cassie
Teirra Marie
LaChat
Amerie


And the other 25 women u could name

I know she mad as shit somewhere in the south humming away

What was her deal? she had Missy pushing her when Missy was MISSY

but people were like "....eh..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5sJc4MOxT0


She probably shouldn't have named her second album "It's me again"

sort of gave the impression Tweet and Missy were coming back with some half-baked stuff.


Her situation is sort of like the industry machine politics (whatever you want to call it). As in...


Did Missy and the record label have to pay more radio DJ's off to make them play the tracks from the second album? Is that what is really required for getting an artist airplay?

Or did the public just not want to hear any more from the second album besides the first single?

first album weren't representative of the sound of the whole project, and she suffered for that. It was really a Neo Soul album.

She had 1 amazing single that pierced public consciousness..

Then waited 3 years to drop another album in the thick of a sea change in music where competition was real as shit..

no "industry" anything.. just real easy explanation

Cut the bullshit, there's nothing "megastar" about her. You just enjoy looking at her.


Let my love slide in and never slip out

Yeah that's my point. Some careers in the auto tune bad bitch era aren't about vocals but creating a package from someone visually appealing. Wasn't there a shame post not too long ago about Jazzmin Sullivan? But yeah, Claudette seemed like a lottery pick so fail-safe in terms of looks, it's hard not to assume that it was because of poor development her career never thrived.

Damn! Completely forgot about her.

That "What would you do" was the chorus about 143 times and eight other words in the whole song.

Felt about as thick and filling as a Krystal burger

The dudes did.

I wouldn't claim it either


jokes

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson


"One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described as 'that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're

^^^^^

ummm...

You never seen Making The Band huh?

room freshman year. and by posters, i mean pages ripped out of King Magazine.

And Aaliyah people really need to come to grips with the fact that B was already a bigger star than Baby Girl when she passed.