The Run That Back series is a deep dive into some of music’s most popular or underrated projects. Whether it’s been 5 years or 50, there’s never a wrong time to ‘run that back.’
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It's twenty years since Hip-Hop/R&B trio, City High, rose to stardom... which means it's been twenty years since the question of "what would you do if your son was at home, crying all alone on the bedroom floor 'cause he's hungry?" was first posed to the masses. Yeah, we know the lightbulb just went off in your head and a memory was unlocked.
City High was initially comprised of Ryan Toby and Robbie Pardlo, who attended high school together. Claudette Ortiz was featured on some hooks of their songs, but Wyclef Jean and Jerry Wonda (founders of Booga Basement Records) knew they had to sign her and turned the duo into a trio. According to a 2020 interview from Toby, he revealed, "it went from being the new K-Ci and JoJo to [us] being like the new Fugees."
Each of the New Jersey-bred artists had a role to play. Toby and Pardlo wrote and arranged most of the songs while Ortiz was the face and the voice. Their debut single, "What Would You Do" was featured on the soundtrack to the 1999 film, Life— starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. However, it wasn't formally released until 2001.
The undisputed classic from the Booga Basement signees broke the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaked No. 1 on the Hot Rap Singles chart and was GRAMMY-nominated for Best R&B Performance by a Duo/Group. Riding the heels of that success came "Caramel" featuring Ruff Ryders' First Lady, Eve.
"Caramel," which recently got some shine during Eve's VERZUZ battle, was an ode to 5' 5", brown skin women with brown eyes, "a smile like the sunrise and a body like heaven." The jam even samples The Roots' "Silent Treatment." It spent 26 weeks on the charts and peaked at No. 3. The album as a whole was solid. "You Don't Know Me" had such a rich, neo-soul vibe. Their third single, "City High Anthem" could easily stand among other tracks that tell our story, specifically one about inner-city youth. They even covered Donny Hathaway's "A Song For You."
Despite their success, City High disbanded in 2003. Ortiz dated Pardlo when she was 16 years old, but years later, she married Toby and had three children. During her stint on R&B Divas: Los Angeles in 2014, Ortiz opened up about the group and stated, "I hate reliving this." She admitted that her days in City High were "a really challenging time in [her] life." Since then, Ortiz and Pardlo have been laying low and Toby has been a successful songwriter. Yet, we will always have the wild (allegedly true) story behind one of history's greatest questions— "what would you do?"
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