Lisa Velez forms her own group Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam after auditioned for Full Force at 14 years old. The group is composed also by guitarist/bassist Alex "Spanador" Moseley, and drummer/keyboardist Mike Hughes. Initially, the group is produced by Full Force. Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam deal with Columbia Records and in 1984 releases the first single with Full Force "I Wonder If I Take You Home".
Looking for songs to include on his debut album with Personal Records (a subsidiary of CBS/Columbia), Kenny Beck finds this song and creates a whole compilation around it, including his own track "Drive Me Crazy" as Kid Savage and the Supreme Rockers and placing it along with "Buffalo Gals" by Malcolm McLaren & World's Famous Supreme Team, Run-DMC's "It's Like That", The Rock Steady Crew's "Hey You" and "White Lines (Don't Do It)" by Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five, among others.
The compilation is released by CBS for European market and is a success among dance club DJs, arriving in US trhough Columbia Records. In 1985, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam single becomes a hit in United States, certified gold by RIAA, topping Hot Dance Club Play chart in June, entering the top ten of rnb singles and stopping at the box number #34 on the Hot 100. "I Wonder If I Take You Home" is twelve in the UK chart, and soon became a favorite of critics as well, being named among the best singles released in 1985.
In the same year, the group releases the debut dance-pop album, certified platinum by RIAA some years later. In 1987, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam drops the second LP, leaded by two gold-certified #1 hits ("Head to Toe" and "Lost In Emotion"), the disk is among the best-selling rnb albums of the year and their first LP certified platinum by RIAA, gold even in Canada, charting in the top ten on Billboard 200.
The group began to lose the favor of critics and the public starting from their third release, a complete rnb effort, that produces a minor hit ("Little Jackie Wants to Be a Star") and fails to drive the album in sales. Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam tries to chase and find the way back to success with their fourth attempt, which will also prove to be the last of the group's career, with "Straight Outta Hell's Kitchen", with which the project must necessarily also be close to hip-hop in order not to totally deceive that type of audience by placing a title that pays clearly homage to NWA.
Lisa Veliz's fourth LP with Cult Jam, this effort brings together some second-hand hip house / new jack music and some verses sung by Veliz, who sometimes tries a lackluster rapping delivery. The album is musically divided in two, in the first part the production is entrusted to Clivillés & Cole, in the second one it's realized by Full Force. There aren't too many stylistic differences, Veliz performs accompanied by background choristers, soulful bridges and dance hooks: everything is livable enough until the face of the album is forcibly immersed in the ballads until drowning.
One of the most interesting traits comes when the radio station changes the songs by reviewing the previous hits of the singer ("Let It Go"), but ultimately, it's an honest record without pretensions, there are no particular highlights nor something to look for here, at contrary to what that random reference to the NWA could make you believe.
Released by Columbia, the record is launched by "Let the Beat Hit 'Em", the last hit by the group, certified gold by RIAA, it topped US rnb and dance single charts, being appreciated internationally.
Rating: 5/10.
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