New York Undercover - Soundtrack

Soundtrack

Each episode of the first three seasons of New York Undercover featured several hip hop and R&B songs for its soundtrack, with noted musician-producer James Mtume serving as musical director. Each episode during Seasons 1 through 3 began with a montage of scenes leading up to the crime to be investigated. These sequences were notable for the absence of any dialogue or sound effects and are accompanied instead by music, usually hip-hop or R&B. This method of introducing the plot was dropped in the fourth season.

At some point during each episode, one or more of the principal characters would end up at Natalie's, a popular New York R&B café owned by Gladys Knight's character Natalie, where a popular artist would perform a set. Among the artists featured on the show during its run were Teena Marie, 112, Aaliyah, Erykah Badu, George Benson, Mary J. Blige, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Boyz II Men, Brandy, Brownstone, Tevin Campbell, Chuck D, George Clinton & The P-Funk All-Stars, Celia Cruz, Johnny Gill, Groove Theory, Montell Jordan, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Amel Larrieux, Levert, Monifah, Aaron Neville, New Edition, The Notorious B.I.G., The O'Jays, Tito Puente, The Temptations, Xscape, and many others. The two exceptions were a first-season episode, wherein The Notorious B.I.G. performs at a rap concert, and the two-episode third-season premiere, wherein Kirk Franklin and the Family portray a church choir.

In the first-season episode "The Eyewitness Blues," actress Salli Richardson portrays a popular singer in need of police protection from a professional killer. This is the only episode from the first three seasons without a musical performance by a recording artist. In this episode, Richardson does her own singing.