Album dossier / 1986

Word Up!

Cameo · Funk/R&B

Word Up! was Cameo's 13th studio album and the culmination of a decade-plus climb from the 14-piece New York City Players through a run of gold-certified funk LPs (Cameosis, Alligator Woman, She's Strange) that set up Larry Blackmon's biggest crossover. The title track built around a chanted 'Word Up!' catchphrase and a guttural ad-lib vocal Blackmon modeled directly on his hero Sly Stone, fusing the band's horn-driven funk with rap-era rhythm to reach number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 R&B. The album's blend of futuristic synth-funk production and Blackmon's red-codpiece stage persona made it Cameo's first platinum LP and NME's number 5 album of the year; the song has since been covered by Korn and Melanie Brown and mashed up with Gwen Stefani's 'Hollaback Girl.'