# Pronounced Jah-Nay

Pronounced Jah-Nay is the debut studio album by American R&B group Zhané. It was released on February 15, 1994, via Motown. The recording sessions took place at The Enterprise Studios and at Encore Studios in Burbank, at Marion Recording Studio in Fairview, New Jersey, and at Unique Recording Studios and at Soundtrack Studios in New York City. The album was produced by Naughty by Nature and Zhané. It peaked at number thirty-seven on the Billboard 200 and number eight on the Top R&B Albums chart. It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on October 4, 1996.
The album produced five singles: "Hey Mr. D.J.", "Groove Thang", "Sending My Love", "Vibe" and "You're Sorry Now". Its lead single, "Hey Mr. D.J.", became the group's most successful song, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and receiving gold certification by the RIAA.

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| The Baltimore Sun | (favorable) |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| Entertainment Weekly | A− |
| Gavin Report | (favorable) |
| People | (favorable) |
| Spin | (favorable) |
Music & Media wrote, "The concept this female duo–Renee Neufville and Jean Norris–practises is relatively new. Blending sweet soul music with hip hop rhythm tracks, the outcome is not unlike "Sons Of Soul" Tony! Toni! Tone!. Compared to their own streetwise rap records, producers Naughty By Nature were very smooth operators in the studio for this one. Apart from the two singles "Hey Mr. D.J." and "Groove Thang" the beat is rather slow. Pronounce "Ge-nius," we say sans gene."

## Track listing
### Sample credits

* Track 1 contains a sample from "Lookin' Up to You" performed by Michael Wycoff
* Track 3 contains a sample from "Love X Love" performed by George Benson

## Personnel

* Renée Neufville – vocals, lyrics (tracks: 1, 3-11, 13), piano (track 8), strings (track 12), producer (tracks: 6, 8, 9, 12), executive producer
* Jean Norris – vocals, lyrics & producer (tracks: 10, 12), keyboards (track 10), piano (track 12), executive producer
* Keir "Kay Gee" Gist – vocals (track 2), drum programming (tracks: 6–8, 10, 13), executive producer
* Wendell & Face – vocals (track 2)
* Les – additional vocals (track 3)
* Voe Harris – keyboards (track 3)
* Naheem "Pop Holiday" Bowens – keyboards (track 3)
* David Bellochio – keyboards (tracks: 4, 5, 7, 8), piano (track 9), additional producer (tracks: 4, 5), co-producer (track 7), recording (tracks: 1–8, 10–13)
* Alan Goldsher – bass (track 9)
* Steve Williams – drums (track 9)
* Frank Gravis – bass (track 10)
* Paul Levant – guitar (track 10)
* Kevin Batchelor – trumpet (track 10)
* Naughty by Nature – producers (tracks: 1–8, 10, 11, 13)
* Craig King – co-producer (track 6)
* Angela Piva – recording (tracks: 1–8, 10–14), mixing (tracks: 1–7, 9-14)
* John Van Nest – mixing (track 8)
* Frank Fagnano – recording (track 9)
* Quincy Jones III – remixing (track 13)
* Ed Miller – recording assistant
* Fred Kelly – recording assistant
* John Buttigieg – recording assistant
* Mufi – recording assistant
* Rob Polhemus – recording assistant
* Scott Blockland – recording assistant
* Scott Canto – recording assistant
* Steve McKeever – executive producer, liner notes
* Jonathan Clark – art direction
* Shauna Woods – design
* James Minchin III – photography

## Charts
### Singles

| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions |
| Year | Single | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | U.S. Dance Music/Club Play Singles | U.S. Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | U.S. Rhythmic Top 40 | U.S. Top 40 Mainstream |
| 1993 | "Hey Mr. D.J." | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 16 |
| 1994 | "Groove Thang" | 17 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 33 |
| 1994 | "Sending My Love" | 40 | — | 16 | 5 | 26 | — |
| 1994 | "Vibe" | 119 | — | 14 | 33 | — | — |
| 1995 | "You're Sorry Now" | — | — | — | 38 | — | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. ||||||||

## Certifications

| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| United States (RIAA) | Platinum | 1,000,000$^^$ |
| $^^$ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |||