Return Of The Mack: How Mark Morrison Got In The Game

Though dealing with sexual betrayal, the song exemplifies how a break-up can help you get back to your true self. In this case, Morrison summoned an alter ego inspired by the 1973 blaxploitation film The Mack, which follows the story of Goldie, a character who strives to become the biggest pimp in Oakland, California. Tapping into the retro aesthetic of the tilted hat, oversized sunglasses and flared trousers, Return Of The Mack’s video found Morrison dressing the part in a long leather coat, leather trousers, snakeskin shoes and a statement necklace. Opening with shots of London, a private jet and a fancy car, it casts the singer in a gangsta-lite image, “back up in the game/Running things to keep my swing.”

Dopamine hits

Elsewhere on the album, “The Mack” gets more explicitly sexual on songs such as Let’s Get Down, Moan And Groan and Horny. But while they all cover the same topic, each one approaches it in a different way. Featuring Lady Juice, whose rap adds an extra edge to the song, Let’s Get Down has the perfect club vibe and a brass section that shows off Morrison’s soul sensibilities. Moan And Groan, meanwhile, uses suggestive sound effects to create a more sensual setting as Morrison tackles intricate vocal runs. Built on a piano motif sampled from Cheryl Lynn’s 1983 R&B hit Encore, with drums and synths that add to the sexually-charged atmosphere, Horny lands as a classic house anthem and one of the most memorable tracks on the record.

Taking inspiration from a more recent source, the overlooked Get High With Me incorporates a Space Age-sounding keyboard line reminiscent of Dr Dre’s 1992 album The Chronic – though its dizzy, hallucinogenic opening finds Morrison likening his sexual prowess to a dopamine hit (“Supersonic natural satisfaction/Love’s taking action/Not chemical reaction”), before Morrison makes a bid for supremacy over Dre’s hip-hop game-changer, singing, “Ooh, I’m the chronic.”

A staple of pop culture

Released on 22 April 1996, the Return Of The Mack album gave the world a bona fide staple of pop culture, its title track going on to feature in everything from movies and TV shows to food adverts. Leaving a unique legacy that straddles both branding and sentimentality, the song also made Morrison the first black male solo artist to top the UK charts in the 90s, while the album’s remaining singles helped him become one of the first British artists in history to score five UK Top 10s from a debut record.

Marking a specific time in music history – one of the first moments when a UK artist became a global player in hip-hop and R&B – Return Of The Mack also summons the timelessly carefree nature of youth, ensuring that it continues to resonate with listeners decades after its release.