was a nice ride,’ they were like, ‘Can we squeeze some more blood out of this stone?’ ” According to Law, it was Wheeler who added the “Back to life / back to reality” hook. “I imagine Caron got super inspired [by the original] and just wrote the lyrics to the verse, out of necessity, which became almost the thing that it was known for,” Law laughs. “There are no rules to songwriting, man, no rules at all!” Wheeler received top billing on the single as a featured vocalist, her face appearing alongside Jazzie’s on the sleeve, now titled “Back to Life (However Do You Want Me).” “In America, people took ‘Keep On Movin’’ as a Black record, and they took ‘Back to Life’ as a crossover record,” says Jazzie. “So that makes sense when you think about Billboard and how they used to compartmentalize; but when we first came out, we were called a Black act, and then the Black act turned into an urban act, and the urban act’s now turned into fuck knows what! But the interesting thing is, we kept falling through the cracks. We weren’t your Teddy Riley, new- jack-swing-type of Black act, yeah? But at the same time, we weren’t a White rock-and-roll act…” Jazzie pauses. “And then we weren’t bloody Milli Vanilli either!” The video for “Back to Life” was shot in Epping Forest, Essex, on American film stock, giving the band a transatlantic gravitas not usually associated with the county. “Right up to the late ’90s, there were journalists in the English rock media, at NME and Melody Maker , who thought we were an American group,” Jazzie says with a laugh. “Like how the fuck do you listen to Club Classics Vol. One , with a fucking English accent, and think we’re American? It was a real representation of life for us at the time.” Law remembers the undercurrent of how his Black counterparts within Soul II Soul were treated differently than the White members of the collective. “Fairly early on, I did appreciate how it was like a different world for Black folks growing up in England; it was a different deal,” says Law. “Getting stopped on the street for no fucking reason—it was never dwelt on, only mentioned [by the Black members in the group]. I remember it coming up a lot, like a roll of the eyes and a ‘Here we go again’—almost like a shrug of the shoulders. ‘On we go, it’s not our fault—let’s just keep going.’ ” In the U.S., “Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)” surpassed the sales of its predecessor, just as it had in Britain. The second single in a row to go platinum and reach the top of the R&B charts, it also became a number four hit on Billboard ’s pop listing and achieved Top Ten entries in territories throughout the world. “When it was number one, it was like, ‘Jesus!’ I mean, I had always dreamt of being a professional musician,” says Law, “but I just felt so lucky that I had gotten the chance to hook up with all those guys, and then when it went nuts in America, I started
getting calls from record companies over there, like Louil Silas Jr. at MCA, who asked me to come work with their artists. I was just so happy, like a pig in shit.” At the height of Soul II Soul’s success, and as work began on the second album, Vol. II: 1990 – A New Decade , tensions began to arise between Wheeler and Jazzie B. Leaving under somewhat of a cloud, it was rumored that money and creative differences were at fault for her departure. As reported by NME at the time, Wheeler stated, ‘The trouble with the Soul II Soul setup is that too many people spent too much time sitting around chatting fart [talking rubbish].” A couple of years later, Wheeler elaborated further to the same publication: “I felt pissed at Jazzie; he didn’t seem to understand where I was coming from. He didn’t want me to leave, but he thought I was just on a gold rush. He wasn’t bad- mouthing me or nothing. But I didn’t want to stay. It wasn’t because I don’t like Jazzie. He’s so inspiring. I love him to death. I’ll always love him.” For Jazzie’s part, he was adamant that Soul II Soul was still a sound system first and foremost, and that the collective was a community, with members coming and going over time. (It’s worth mentioning that Wheeler would return to the fold years later, and she and Jazzie stayed good friends.) “It was very fluid,” Law agrees. “He even talks about that in his, err , well, ‘rap’ on ‘Jazzie’s Groove.’ ” To accentuate the versatility within their ranks, the next single, released swiftly the very same year in late November, was a hip-hop-orientated, Native Tongues–influenced track entitled “Get a Life.” Another huge hit in the U.K. and on the Billboard R&B charts (it had to settle for just missing out on the pop listing), it was produced once again by both Hooper and Jazzie B, beginning with a flowery, baroque string intro. The verses then feature Jazzie rapping in his English accent, with Daddae supporting and Marcia Lewis on the vocal. The nursery rhyme hook, “What’s the meaning of life?” was sung by Jazzie’s nieces and nephews. Says Law: “I remember that they called me out of the blue to add some piano and go down to the studio in Chalk Farm, and we just had a ball. Everyone was full of confidence, just jamming on the tune.” Intentional in his message, Jazzie ends the song with the line, “Be selective, be objective / Be an asset to the collective.” Going into more detail, Jazzie explains in layman’s terms what being an asset means: “What I meant was, ‘Be an asset, don’t be a dickhead,” he laughs. “Let’s say you get on the bus, yeah? Don’t put your feet on the chair opposite. You know, what the fuck is that all about? If you’re out with your dog and it takes a shit, pick it up. That’s what that is all about. Be an asset to the collective. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” Keeping Madonna off the top spot in the U.K., the new album, Vol. II: 1990 – A New Decade , was released in the midst of awards season. The Grammys honored the previous year’s
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