Lost And Found: Yummy Bingham

In 2005, I got an e-mail from an anonymous Universal PR drone telling me that I could download a track from former Tha’ Rayne member Yummy Bingham for free on iTunes. (This was a surprise; in 2005 major labels didn’t give away free anything, and even though the track was locked up with DRM, a download was a marked improvement from e-cards and streams.) The song, “Come Get It,” turned out to be one of my favorites of the year, but I don’t think anybody else ever liked it as much as I did. Heck, I’m pretty sure that’s the case because this song went nowhere, chart-wise. Giving it away for free must have been a sign of desperation or not knowing what to do with it—which is too bad, because it’s held up pretty well.

Structure-wise, there ain’t much to it: It’s just intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-feature-chorus. Jadakiss’ guest-spot is overlong, but at least it’s germane, keeping with the song’s sexual call-to-arms theme. There is nothing I hate more than an unnecessary middle eight or bridge (see: every Foo Fighters song). If you’ve got a hot chorus and verse than you’re doing better than most—just roll with it! And, God, is the chorus hot. It sits on this great snare-driven syncopated beat that culminates in a serious bass drum turnaround at the end of each phrase. It’s almost a little too jittery to be danceable, but I played it once at a dance party just to test it out, and everybody danced as if they’d known the track for years.

“Come Get It” and Bingham’s album, The First Seed, were produced by Rockwilder, who also co-produced the Christina Aguilera/Pink/Lil Kim “Lady Marmalade” remake. The album arrived in late 2006, almost a year after “Come Get It” was released in the US as a digital download. Sounds like another major-label casualty, though Universal Motown cleaned up its act right around this time. As far as what Bingham’s up to, all I have to go on is outdated MySpace and Wikipedia information. Other singles failed to take root, and follow-up albums were promised but not delivered. She had a kid, and besides some mixtape appearances, she’s been laying low.

Yummy Bingham – Come Get It [Dailymotion] Yummy Bingham [MySpace]