Robbery

Editors’ Notes On 1983’s Robbery, one can hear R&B morphing from the warm dance floor disco of the '70s to the technology-driven pop music of the '80s. As usual, Teena Marie assumed full control of her music as writer, producer, and performer—a show of creative self-possession for which she never got enough credit, especially considering the heaps of praise given to likeminded auteurs like Rick James and Prince. Although some critics opined that soul music lost its soul in the '80s, no one could deny “Robbery,” “Playboy,” or “Ask Your Mama.” The rhythms are crispier and the choruses are touched by new wave, but Teena Marie’s voice remains a totally warm and human presence at the center of changing styles. Her voice had always been ahead of its time, so when trends started to change she sounded at home in the modern innovations. At the same time, Robbery contains one of her prettiest jazz-soul ballads, “Casanova Brown.” It's a roman à clef about Rick James: “But nobody knows when the lights go down/That the tears fall harder than the whole damn crowd.”