Make It Last Forever is the debut album of American R&B recording artist Keith Sweat. It was recorded at INS Recording and Power Play Studios in New York City. Released on November 24, 1987, the album went to #1 on the Top R&B Albums chart for three weeks (and topped the Billboard Year-End R&B chart for 1988), and #5 on the Billboard 200. Make It Last Forever was one of the earliest R&B albums to showcase the up-and-coming new jack swing sound, as it was mostly produced by Sweat himself and music producer Teddy Riley.

The album's biggest hit was "I Want Her", a #5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and the first #1 R&B hit for Sweat. The title track (a duet with Jacci McGhee) followed "I Want Her", making the #2 R&B spot, while "Don't Stop Your Love" and "Something Just Ain't Right" were also major top ten hits on the Billboard R&B charts. In addition, album tracks such as "Right and a Wrong Way" and "How Deep is Your Love" received substantial radio airplay and can still be heard on quiet storm format stations. On April 6, 1994, Make It Last Forever was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of three million copies in the United States. The single "I Want Her" was certified gold by the RIAA on June 13, 1989, for shipments of 500,000 copies in the US.

Sweat and Riley originally met each other while performing in different bands. Riley was the keyboard player in a band called Total Climax, while Sweat was the lead singer of Jamilah. The two acts were competing against each other in the Big Apple band tournament where Total Climax defeated Jamilah. From that day on, the two spoke to each other in passing, although neither of them knew each other. Sweat later came to Riley's block looking for him to work on music together. When Sweat approached him, he found Riley on the street playing dice with a few of his friends. Sweat then proceeded to get in on the game to gamble and won everyone's money except for Riley. Sweat then asked Riley to work with him due to his past work with acts like Kool Moe Dee and The Classical Two. However, Riley declined the offer because he didn't do R&B music. Sweat then persuaded Riley to work together on some songs to see what will become of them. At the time that Sweat had summoned his talents, Riley had originally been asked by Al B. Sure! to oversee the sessions for Sure!'s debut album In Effect Mode.

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