Key Takeaways
- This ranking celebrates Case’s best songs and the soundtrack-driven run that made him one of late-’90s R&B’s defining voices.
- Career-defining hits “Touch Me, Tease Me,” “Missing You,” and Joe duet “Faded Pictures” showcase his mix of hip-hop edge, romantic vulnerability, and chart power.
- The countdown spans 10 singles, collaborations, and deep cuts from Case’s 1996 debut through his early-2000s soundtrack appearances.
In the ’90s, the star-studded movie soundtrack was essential, and it worked for everyone. Film studios wanted the cachet that came with a soundtrack full of the hottest acts, and labels wanted a vehicle to showcase their rosters.
It’s hard to find an artist who benefited more than Case. He started out in a group, Future, and picked up songwriting gigs for Usher and Al B. Sure before becoming one of the most beloved R&B singers of the late ’90s.
His breakout was “Touch Me Tease Me,” an R&B-meets-rap classic that premiered on The Nutty Professor soundtrack. The album also served as a coming-out party for a young Foxy Brown, who appeared on both “Touch Me Tease Me” and Jay-Z’s “Ain’t No Nigga.”
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The song was a hit, peaking at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and launching Case’s career. His self-titled Def Jam debut arrived that summer. The debut underperformed commercially, and it took Personal Conversation and Open Letter for Case to find real success. Both albums went gold, and the soundtracks kept paying off: “Faded Pictures,” his duet with Joe, appeared on the Rush Hour soundtrack, and “Missing You” landed on the The Nutty Professor sequel.
These are eternal R&B songs, proof that Def Jam was also an important label for R&B—not just rap.
On Thursday Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. PT and 9 p.m. ET., Case will put that catalog to the test when he goes up against Carl Thomas in the latest VERZUZ. It’s two of the era’s best voices going at it—each with a classic album to lean on.
Before the show kicks off, let’s take a look at Case’s catalog.
Here are the 10 best Case songs of all time.
“More To Love” (1996)
Producers: Kenny Kornegay & Darryl Young
Album: Case
Mary J. Blige was an early and important advocate for the burgeoning singer, and she was a key contributor to his debut, writing multiple songs. Among the very best is “More to Love,” which, like the best Mary songs, has a rugged feel to it. It’s about a man watching a love he thought was secure slip away, and it proved somewhat prophetic: Case has said that he and Mary had a romance that ended because of his philandering.
Case feat. Ghostface Killah, “Shoulda Known Betta” (2004)
Producer: Liggio
Album: Johnson Family Vacation (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture)
There is a world where Pharrell listened and thought, “When did I produce this?” But no, “Shoulda Known Betta,” which first appeared on the Johnson Family Vacation soundtrack, is not a Neptunes beat. Still, that doesn’t stop this song—which includes an excellent verse from Ghostdini—from knocking.
“Another Minute” (1999)
Producers: Kevin "Big Kev" McDaniels & Sprague "Doogie" Williams
Album: Personal Conversation
A deep cut from his sophomore album, “Another Minute” finds Case in full lover mode. The song is about the anticipation that comes before an intimate moment, and it stands as maybe Case’s best and most emotive vocal performance. A true standout in his catalog.
Ginuwine, RL of Next, Tyrese and Case, “The Best Man I Can Be” (1999)
Producers: Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and Big Jim Wright
Album: The Best Man (soundtrack)
There aren’t many notable R&B posse cuts, but “The Best Man I Can Be” pulled together the Justice Leaguge of late ’90s R&B for an anthem about self-improvement. (The track starts with RL saying, “this is for my brothers in the hood.”) It’s a powerful collab, one that has more gospel tendencies than most of the songs in Case’s catalog.
“I Gotcha” (1996)
Producers: Kenny Kornegay and Darryl Young
Album: Case
Fans talk about 1996 hip-hop, but it was also an especially great year for R&B debuts, from Maxwell to Ginuwine to 702 to Dru Hill. That may be why Case’s self-titled album still gets somewhat slept on. But there were some real classics on there, including the last single, the super hard anthem “I Gotcha.”
Ja Rule feat. Case, “Livin’ It Up” (2001)
Producers: Irv Gotti and Lil’ Rob
Album: Pain Is Love
Most people associate Ja Rule’s run of R&B-assisted hits with Ashanti, but that pairing didn’t really take off until Pain Is Love. “Always on Time” was the smash, but people forget that the album’s first single was “Livin’ It Up,” a party anthem built on Stevie Wonder’s “Do I Do,” with Case on the hook. He isn’t a huge part of the song, but it’s still one of the most notable of catalogue.
“Happily Ever After” (1999)
Producer: Christopher “Deep” Henderson
Album: Personal Conversation
The video for this one has become famous, partly because it cast a young Beyoncé as Case’s love interest. But the song deserves its own spotlight: it’s a gorgeous ballad, with backing vocals from Kandi Burruss, and it became a real hit in 1999, peaking at No. 3 on Billboard’s R&B chart and No. 15 on the Hot 100.
Case feat. Joe, “Faded Pictures” (1998)
Producer: Joe
Album: Def Jam’s Rush Hour Soundtrack
“Faded Pictures” is the rare R&B duet where the two singers don’t try to out-alpha each other. It landed on the Rush Hour soundtrack (though how it relates to the movie is anyone’s guess), reached No. 3 on the R&B chart and No. 10 on the Hot 100, and was so impactful that Ghostface flipped it for “Love Session” with Ruff Endz just three years later
“Missing You” (2000)
Producers: Tim & Bob
Album: Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (soundtrack)
The years 1999 and 2000 were golden years for regret in R&B, with some of the era’s best songs centered on singers who’d lost love and were trying to win it back.
Few are as poignant as “Missing You,” a song about what happens when your ex goes no contact. It became Case’s only No. 1 on the R&B chart, reached No. 4 on the Hot 100, and earned him a Grammy nomination. And nothing captures the feeling of the song better than the video: Case alone in the middle of a desert, singing his heart out.
Case feat. Foxy Brown and Mary J. Blige, “Touch Me, Tease Me” (1996)
Producers: Kenny “K-Smoove” Kornegay and Darryl “88” Young
Album: The Nutty Professor (soundtrack)
The song that started it all.
Case and K-Smoove took one of the most sampled, toughest records in early gangsta rap, Schoolly D’s “P.S.K. What Does It Mean?,” and made it sound fresh, innovative, and surprisingly warm.
The song and video are iconic: a monster verse from Foxy Brown, charismatic, tender vocals from Mary, and a star-making introduction from Case.
