Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation: New Jack Swing

“Get the point? Good, let’s dance.” Such is the ethos of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814, a massive and eminently funky album which, along with Jackson’s Control, helped define and kick off New Jack Swing. Teddy Riley, who was instrumental to the New Jack Swing sound, describes the genre as “a new kid on the block who’s swinging it,” which Matt takes as a guiding star for how Karyn White’s self-titled album and Bell Biv DeVoe’s Poison come out swinging in more ways than one. We talk the actual music signifiers of New Jack Sing, an astounding Archer joke, the art socially conscious balladry, and try to wrest Janet Jackson from bad faith Super Bowl connotations.