Word Up! (album)

Word Up! is an album by the funk/R&B group Cameo released in 1986. The record made Cameo one of the most successful bands of that decade.

Track listing

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 6 & 7 published by All Seeing Eye Music-Better Days Music.
Tracks 4 & 5 published by All Seeing Eye Music-Better Days Music-Better Nights Music.

Personnel

Word Up

Word Up or Word Up! may refer to:

Word Up! (magazine)

Word Up! was an American magazine focusing on teen entertainment and music. The magazine was part of Enoble Media Group. Its main focuses were African-American teen singers, rappers, models, and prodigies. The magazine came out monthly and usually had many posters and contests for fans of famous "To Die For" celebrities. It was very popular in the 1980s. The magazine mostly covered information concerning rap, Hip-hop and R&B music. The headquarters was in Paramus, New Jersey.

In Fall 2006, Run-D.M.C.'s Rev Run's daughter Angela Simmons had a mini mag with Word Up called Angela's Rundown. It was to generate interest and give Angela her own spin off magazine. In November 2007 Word Up printed Angela's own stand alone magazine that had Bow Wow, Omarion, and herself on the cover.

As of 2012, Word Up has ceased publication. The last dated issue was April 2012.

Trivia

Rapper The Notorious B.I.G. referenced the magazine in his song "Juicy". He opens with the line "It was all a dream, I used to read Word Up magazine". He then refers to a specific photo appearing in the magazine portraying Salt N Pepa in a limousine with Heavy D. The line also appears in Jay-Z's song, "Dream". This line was also used in the Tamar Braxton song "The One".

Word Up! (song)

"Word Up!" is an R&B and funk song written and originally recorded by Cameo in 1986. Due to its heavy play on American dance and R&B radio, as well as music video play on MTV (which has LeVar Burton as a police detective trying to arrest the band), the single became the band's most well-known hit.

From the album Word Up!, "Word Up!" was Cameo's first US Top 40 hit, peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and spending three weeks at number one on the US R&B chart and one week at number one on the US Hot Dance Singles chart. In the UK, it spent 10 weeks in the top 40, peaking at number three on September 21, 1986. The song was written by Lawrence Ernest Blackmon and Thomas Michael Jenkins.

Besides being a commercial success, the track also earned critical acclaim from several publications. "Word Up!" won Cameo the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single as well as the NME Award for Best Dance Record. Like the band's previous single "Single Life", "Word Up!" features a sample of the opening notes of Ennio Morricone's theme to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.