Word Up! (song)
"Word Up!" is a funk and R&B song recorded by Cameo in 1986. Its frequent airing, on American dance and R&B radio, as well as its MTV music video (in which LeVar Burton appears as a police detective trying to arrest the band), helped the single become the band's best known hit.
From the album Word Up!, "Word Up!" was Cameo's first US Top 40 hit, peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spending three weeks at number 1 on the US R&B chart and one week at number 1 on the US Hot Dance Singles chart. In the UK, it spent 10 weeks in the top 40, peaking at number 3 on September 21, 1986. The song was written by band members Larry Blackmon and Tomi Jenkins.
Besides being a commercial success, the track also earned critical acclaim from several publications. "Word Up!" won Cameo the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single as well as the NME Award for Best Dance Record. Like the band's previous single "Single Life", "Word Up!" features a reference to the opening notes of Ennio Morricone's theme to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
"Word Up" was a colloquialism, popular in New York City and other US urban areas, that acted as an affirmation of what was said - a kind of a hipper "You Bet."
Blackmon said of the song: "It just sounded good, and it was before its time. You can play “Word Up” anyplace anywhere, and someone is going to be grooving and bobbing their head. Our sound was unique, as well. I haven’t heard another one like it, and we probably won’t hear another one like it in the future. It was that significant for us."
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