Last night, Goodie Mob performed their new single “Fight to Win” before a packed audience on NBC’s “The Voice.” To say this was a different sound for the Dungeon Family veterans would be an understatement. The synth-heavy, power-ballad elements were dominated by Ceelo’s voice with the rest of the Mob being relegated to the ending call and response chants. The NBC crowd loved it, but the odds are original Goodie fans going back to the “Cell Therapy” and “Soul Food” days did not.
A few years back, Goodie had a much-publicized reunion. They kicked off a tour and even closed out the 2009 BET Hip-Hop Awards. And yet, the nostalgia wasn’t enough to power them into getting enough buzz for a new album or even some singles. And while group members such as Khujo are no strangers to experimenting with genre-bending sounds (check his 2009 Willie Isz project), Ceelo’s s crossover marketability represented their best shot at a successful reinvention.
There’s already derisive nicknames being thrown around online renaming the group “The Goodie Eyed Peas.” That moniker is a little premature considering this is still only one song and perhaps not indicative of what additional music or a full project will sound like. And you have to hope the group learned from the mistakes with their last commercial reach on 1999’s World Party, lead by the infamous single “Get Rich to This.”
So while “Fight to Win” will understandably be alarming to purists, let’s not act like Goodie Mob has pulled a Nicki Minaj on fans just yet.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 