>It makes you SMH @ what legacy could've taken place had
>madness didn't get into the picture. It never ceases to amaze
>me how much talent Da Bassment gave birth to, or aborted given
>how many of them weren't as fortunate as Missy, Tim, Tweet,
>Ginuwine and the likes.

one of the more shocking stories was in the Bazaar Royale interview where he mentioned one of the members committed suicide after it all fell apart. couldn't catch the name tho, not sure if he revealed who it was :/

DeVante's story sort of reminds of Sly
>Stone, both had many talents, but their most treasured asset
>was "the studio", both had a posse that broke out and made
>names for themselves, both had that civil war element among
>their friends, both were introduced to the wrong type of folks
>who ultimately helped to their career's demise.

ye it kills me this genius-level musician had to go out like that. and it sounded like he was a real good dude on top of that, pre-Suge. he basically went out of his way to bankroll the future stars of tomorrow. cept they all jumped ship before THE plan could be implemented. it's all one big bittersweet experience cos it never ended up happening, but at least we did get that superb run from Timbo when he debuted. we got a pretty good extension of the sound Da Bassment had developed collectively and with most of the original members involved too. so thats somethin.

>I would love to hear ALL of the Sugah song in full crisp
>condition. Hearing Charlene "Tweet" Keys singing in her fresh,
>young voice made my eyes lit up.
>
>And the stories gave me perspective on why her singing in
>"Southern Hummingbird" was very moody, dark and jaded.

and it was a beautiful thing how it was Missy n Tim who saved her from herself. i wish they woulda reached out to more Bassment folks n put em on. plus Sugah had stayed with DeVante probly the longest of the original crew, so she woulda been even more jaded once it all ended. Sue Weems seems like she did ok, haven't heard anything about Rolita.

>Best thing about your post though was how it maintained
>balance, most of the accounts I've heard about DeVante were
>demoralizing to say the least, and from what I read/watched
>from this blog, this is the first time were I felt sympathy
>for the man and for those who didn't break out of the Bassment
>crew.
>
>I thoroughly enjoyed this, bravo!

that is definitely the line i was trying to tow. i'm a big fan of the entire collective as a group and as individuals, always have been. they all got that 'it' factor that DeVante talks about, which to me means they can sing, rap, arrange vocals, cypher/freestyle, produce, write n do it all in a way that sound effortless (and most-importantly, weed-soaked lol). so i never fully believed all the anti-DeVante vibe the collective was on for a lil while post-Bassment. they seemed too tight for it to be all on him. all those interviews really set things straight and gives us that much-needed insider perspective, cos up til that it was whatever Tim, Missy n Ginuwine would talk about. and it's been demonstrated that they've lied at least twice about that time of their lives (Missy saying she was the first to leave, and Tim claiming Da Bassment sound as his own).

V.