Uptown Saturday Night is the debut album of Bronx, New York rap duo Camp Lo. It was released on January 28, 1997 through Profile Records with distribution from Arista Records. The album’s title is derived from the 1974 Bill Cosby/Sidney Poitier comedy Uptown Saturday Night and the cover is a re-creation of “The Sugar Shack” painting by Ernie Barnes, which was used on the cover of Marvin Gaye’s 1976 album I Want You and featured in the 1970s sitcom Good Times. The 1970s influence is present throughout the album, from their choice of samples to the cat daddy styles and tones of rappers Geechi Suede and Sonny Cheeba. The album’s smooth brand of jazzy hip-hop was highly acclaimed, with the production primarily handled by Ski Beatz, who had just gained recognition for his work on JAY-Z’s debut album Reasonable Doubt the previous year. The album peaked at #27 on the Billboard 200 with support from the singles “Black Nostaljack (Come On)” “Coolie High” and the group’s biggest hit “Luchini (This Is It)”. Producer Ski Beatz talked about how he connected with Camp Lo I met [Geechi] Suede from Camp Lo [when] I was living in the Bronx on Valentine Avenue and Suede was also living there. That was probably 1992-1993. When I was in the group Original Flavor, he used to come around all the time and he wanted to make music. So I started doing songs for him. I took him to Clark Kent’s house one day and we was doing songs. Back then, it was just Suede. But we lost touch with each other. Then maybe a year later he came back and he had Sonny Cheeba with him and they said they had a group. I heard them rhyme and I was like, ‘Yo, it’s kinda dope.’ They didn’t have any music but they had that flow, that sound, that kick. We just put it together and that’s how we came up with most of that Uptown Saturday Night stuff.