When you take a month off from one of your most popular series, things can change without fair warning. What was supposed to be the September edition was on the verge of being a "Late AF Post of the Week" anyway and, to be honest, I wasn't extremely pumped to write it in the first place. However, a family tragedy ended up being less of an obstacle and more of a blessing as skipping my birth month's edition made way for newer and disputably better music to surface and allowed me as a music lover to stay true to the spirit of this series. Long story short, only two of the original albums in my rotation for September remained on the list for October while the other three were pushed back for the last two posts for 2016. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the next two months give me even better albums to listen to and those other projects get bumped altogether. So since you didn't come here for lengthy backstories and stall tactics, I apologize to the most faithful supporters of "In Heavy Rotation" and bring you the long-awaited good part...
Although I'm not someone who vehemently resists change, my subconscious somehow didn't get that memo. Out of the ten songs from last month's countdown, five of them have returned for this month's list in their original form while another one has haunted me in an alternative form. Out of those six songs, the beginning of this month's cycle began with a three-horse race between Ralph Tresvant, Silk and Sherrick for pole position, but if Simone Manuel's historic accomplishment taught us nothing, the initial leaders or favorites don't always win in the end. (I know...hella dramatic.) Of course, we always have to talk about the losers. Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love" greeted me ferociously one morning as I reminisced about the summer of 1990, but she didn't make it past noon. Even with Jermaine Jackson's "Two Ships" hitting me at two different points of the month, perhaps the waves from the passing ships didn't make enough of a splash in my mind. "The Love I Lost" by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes harassed me at work for a day or two, but my brain may have lost love for it. Finally, discussing Babyface's brilliance on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack immediately brought Mary J. Blige's "Not Gon' Cry" to mind. However, her awkward rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "American Skin (41 Shots)" to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in a promo for her upcoming series on Apple TV, The 411, may have quickly unseated one of my faves from the Queen of Hip Hop Soul from the rotation. So enough of the rambling about nonentities and on with the cut makers...
