Rufus & Chaka Khan, Sweet Thing | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 18^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Sweet Thing” by Rufus and Chaka Khan. 

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 18^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Sweet Thing”, performed by Rufus and Chaka Khan. 

“Oh-oh, sweet thing / Oh, you know you’re my everything.” Word! “Sweet Thing” appears as the sixth track on the gold-certified album, Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan, which was released in 1975. “Sweet Thing” marks one of four top-10 hits by Grammy-winning soul icon, Chaka Khan.  As for Rufus, “Sweet Thing” marks one of two top-10 hits, the first being “Tell Me Something Good”. Chaka penned this no. 5 Billboard Hot 100 hit alongside Tony Maiden, the lead guitarist of the band. Both Chaka and Maiden put in some serious work on this ultra-sweet, soulful gem.

“I think you are the one for me / Here is where you ought to be,” Chaka Khan asserts in the first verse of the song. She adds, “I just want to satisfy you / Though you’re not mine, I can’t deny it.” Woo! I smell infidelity 😈! Clearly, the desire is ‘turnt up’ to the nth degree for Chaka: “You are my heat, you are my fire / You make me weep with strong desire / To love you, child, my whole life long / Be it right or be it wrong.” The infatuation is loud and clear.  Equally loud and clear are those dynamic Chaka vocals. Khan is one of the greatest singers of all-time, PERIOD.  Helping to fuel her fire is, well, Rufus, who provides awesome accompaniment – smooth, groovy, and electrifying. How is the sweet “Sweet Thing” best experienced? Simply listening – its greatness speaks for itself!

🎙 Rufus & Chaka Khan • 💿 Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan • 🏷 MCA • 📅 1975

Rufus & Chaka Khan, Sweet Thing: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 18 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; MCA; OpenClipart-Vectors, Speedy McVroom via  Pixabay]