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Try Me

Another Like My Lover

Don't Want Money

Johnny Come Lately (Full Force Remix)

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Don’t come for my girl Jasmine Guy.
She been around and performing longer than most of y’all been alive.

I’ve seen the recent criticism about the way she looks today, and I’m not here for it.
Apparently, a woman aging naturally is now breaking news. 🙄
People are so busy discussing her face that they’ve forgotten to discuss her talent.

Before most of us knew the full range of Jasmine Guy, Whitley Gilbert had already made her impossible to ignore.

A Different World premiered in September 1987, and Jasmine appeared during that first season.
Whitley wasn’t the center of the show yet, but Jasmine gave that Southern belle so much personality that you couldn’t help but watch her.

And let’s be clear.
Whitley wasn’t Jasmine.

That was a character created by a woman talented enough to make us believe every dramatic syllable, every look and every perfectly timed hair toss. 😂

Jasmine was a professionally trained dancer who began her career with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Then came School Daze in February 1988, during the first season of A Different World.
She appeared in Harlem Nights the following year, in November 1989. 🎭

Then, in 1990, right in the middle of Whitley becoming a cultural icon, Jasmine Guy released her self-titled album, Jasmine Guy.

I loved the first two tracks.
Try Me opens the album with that Full Force sound all over it.
They wrote, produced and arranged it, giving Jasmine the perfect introduction as a recording artist.
The song is confident, energetic and carrying that New Jack Swing attitude. 🔥

Then came Another Like My Lover.
I always thought Full Force produced that one too, but it was actually written and produced by Timmy Gatling, an original member of Guy, along with co-writer Alton Wokie Stewart.
Once you know that, you can hear it.
That beat.
That swing.
That late 80s sliding into the 90s R&B flavor.

Those first two songs showed off Jasmine the performer.
She sold them with movement, personality and presence.
You could see the dancer in everything she did.
She knew where the beat lived and exactly how to make you watch her. 💃🏽🎤

But my favorite favorite was always Just Want to Hold You. 💜
That’s my slow jam classic.
Produced by Rex Salas and written by Melanie Andrews, Tony Andrews and Cal Harris Jr.
The song gave us a softer Jasmine.
Chuckii Booker played keyboards, and James Ingram added guest vocals.

It’s tender without becoming weak.
She wants closeness, connection and the reassurance that what they have can last.
Sometimes holding somebody says everything. 🎶

Just Want to Hold You became her biggest pop hit, reaching number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Another Like My Lover reached number six on the R&B chart and number 66 on the Hot 100, while Try Me reached number 14 on the R&B chart.

People were listening.
This wasn’t an actress releasing an album simply because she was famous.
Jasmine Guy could sing, dance, act and command a stage.

Honestly, her music career should’ve been bigger.

Maybe Whitley became so iconic that people couldn’t completely separate Jasmine from the character. Maybe television demanded too much of her time.
Maybe the industry just wasn’t ready for her.
Whatever happened, this album deserved a follow-up.

And Jasmine never stopped working.
She starred in Dead Like Me, played Sheila Grams Bennett on The Vampire Diaries. I loved her in this series. She was a witch that didn’t play!
Later appeared in Grey’s Anatomy and Harlem.
In 2023, she won her first Emmy for Chronicles of Jessica Wu. 🏆

Now she’s Whitley again in Netflix’s new A Different World, which premiered September 24, 2026.
Nearly four decades after we first met her at Hillman, Jasmine is connecting that original world to a new generation. 👏🏽

Whitley Gilbert introduced Jasmine Guy to millions of people, but Whitley was only the doorway.
Behind her was a woman who could act, dance, sing, direct and command any stage she stepped onto.

Jasmine Guy was never just Whitley.
Whitley was simply one more thing she did exceptionally well.
#Facts!👏

I included her 3 music videos after the album.
I don’t like the quality but it was the 90s.💽

DJZ7

P.S. Every year just adds another chapter to this classy lady’s story.
Still beautiful.
Still timeless.
And still Jasmine Guy.

#TheSoundtrackOfWhoIBecame, #JasmineGuy, #JustWantToHoldYou, #TryMe, #AnotherLikeMyLover, #ADifferentWorld, #WhitleyGilbert, #NewJackSwing, #90sRnB, #ClassicRnB, #SlowJams, #BlackMusicHistory