I remember those guys being on top of the world. Every single was straight killing radio. They were all over the awards shows and they weren't new jacks. These were the guys from NE showing they could do something different. Their second album didn't come until three years later but I'm sure POISON lasted for at least 2 years with so many hits on it. Did the second album suck that bad? I never heard it outside of Above The Rim and the song they did on that Fresh Prince episode (which had a dope sound btw).

Were you there when Hootie Mack dropped? Did it get panned by critics? Did they not try a few singles before dropping the album? Where there some uptempo gems at least?

and Rap-based R&B, so that may have been my first time really paying them attention...then I forgot about em.

I wonder...how would they have lasted after 93? They were TOO trendy, and their lane had dissolved. Wrecks-n-efffexx (spelling way off) was basically like the 93 "evolved NJS" version of them to me, and their lane closed up right after. With the actual singing groups like Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Blackstreet, and then the TTT and Mint types being there, I feel like there was no audience for them anymore. That not-really-singing + rapping style was pretty much a wrap after NJS.

If anything, they might have had some "This is how we do it" type joints to be hits if they had lasted til 95.

From what I heard the over-indulgent weed references turned a lot of people off. Even though THE CHRONIC came out nobody seemed to wanna buy it from these guys


I like that BOOTS SNEAKERS song they performed on tv around that time. Wasn't on the album but I'm still waiting for that to get on youtube

>From what I heard the over-indulgent weed references turned a
>lot of people off. Even though THE CHRONIC came out nobody
>seemed to wanna buy it from these guys

I was a hardcore BBD fan and even I cringed at many of those songs for that reason. that wasn't them. With the POSION album they were able to be themselves while still maintaing an element of class that was NE circa Heartbreak. The second album KILLED that.


>I like that BOOTS SNEAKERS song they performed on tv around
>that time. Wasn't on the album but I'm still waiting for that
>to get on youtube

I think your talking about the "Ain't Nuthin' Changed" remix from the Boot City Remix album. Listen to the sample here, it starts RIGHT at the "Boot, Sneaker..." part.
http://www.amazon.com/WBBD-Bootcity-Remix-Album-Bell-Devoe/dp/B000002OHC

Ehhhh nooooooo not even close lol
I might gotta stop being lazy and upload it myself

the NBA actually used it for a couple of their VHS compilations for Guards or some kind of highlights.

went to YouTube and realized that there's two separate video for the song. Interesting.

The film starring Tupac and Duane Martin, and the subsequent Death Row soundtrack, are completely unrelated to the BBD song...

__________________________________________________________________________
Bitch, don't kill my vibe.

What I was talkin about was the song "Above the rim" which was on NBA Jam Session" video from 93, I got the titles mixed up smh

.

because I don't remember it in the movie or on the soundtrack, while the BBD joint felt like it was at least a year before that since Above The Rim was post-Doggystyle Death Row.

the NBA did back then, so it was connected.

was called "Above the rim" and it was on the NBA Jam Session video and soundtrack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxMfurIiwAQ Here's the version I'm talkin about

>They were TOO
>trendy,

What d'ya mean, "TOO TRENDY"?

Their music was mentally hip-hop, smoothed out on the R&B tip, with a pop feel appeal to it!

~Austin

http://austintayeshus.blogspot.com
http://www.last.fm/user/Austintayeshus
http://twitter.com/Austintayeshus

>>They were TOO
>>trendy,
>
>What d'ya mean, "TOO TRENDY"?
>
>Their music was mentally hip-hop, smoothed out on the R&B tip,
>with a pop feel appeal to it!
>
>~Austin
>
>http://austintayeshus.blogspot.com
>http://www.last.fm/user/Austintayeshus
>http://twitter.com/Austintayeshus

Mainly their image, but the sound itself was OF the time, like on the dot EXACTLY what was poppin at the time. Which means that once things change up, they either look silly changing their whole style, look, and sound up, or...they look extremely dated if they stay the same.

This "which way do we go" killed a LOOOOT of artists from 88 to like 94. The mid 80's rappers AND singers got stuck at NJS, like "do we do this, or...keep doin the same thing?" then when NJS ended, same thing happened, like "do we go gangsta? Or oversing?"

>Mainly their image, but the sound itself was OF the time, like
>on the dot EXACTLY what was poppin at the time. Which means
>that once things change up, they either look silly changing
>their whole style, look, and sound up, or...they look
>extremely dated if they stay the same.
>
>This "which way do we go" killed a LOOOOT of artists from 88
>to like 94. The mid 80's rappers AND singers got stuck at NJS,
>like "do we do this, or...keep doin the same thing?" then when
>NJS ended, same thing happened, like "do we go gangsta? Or
>oversing?"

And, sad to say, the same is going to happen to many artists today. But, what seems to be the biggest difference between now and that time period is that most trendy artists today are only able to generate a somewhat successful single without ever getting a major label release. Back then, you might drop two albums before you fell off.

You bring light to something I've always wondered about: As an artist, if you base your entire oeuvre on another artist's blueprint, what do you do when that artist changes their sound or they fall of? Do you just follow along (if the former happens) or do you just give up (if the latter is the case)?

with Johnny Gill & Keith Sweat which I caught from $10 seats at the very top of the Philadelphia Spectrum at like 13 or 14.

Monie Love did a short opening set before that, pregnant in a sweatshirt & complaining about the sound in a cockney accent til she was eventually booed off the stage.

BBD was the main reason I was there, that first album was everywhere you went & those singles were *loved* at that time.

That being said to your point, I remember virtually nothing about the second album at all & definitely never bought it or knew anyone that did.

Guess we were just sorta passed it by the time that dropped, they waited too long & then tried to come almost like a real-rap-group with the lead single which sorta killed their uniqueness.

Nobody was checking for Ricky Bell sixteens in the Summer of 1993 when that thing dropped, I woulda never even been able to give you the name of that album if you hadn't said it & I'm usually good with that shit.

The climate had changed, this wasn't the Kid N Play House Party era anymore it was the post-Chronic & LA Riots one.

That fall was bringing Return Of The Boom-Bap, Enta Da Stage, Midnight Marauders, Doggystyle & 36 Chambers all within like a month of the other.

It was no longer just cool to be a group with 'hip-hop elements', the 'real hip-hop' had broken through commercially & that was not a lane BBD was ever going to excel in.

Not to mention for me personally I had gone from seeing some older people in the crowd smoke for the first time around me at that BBD show to smoking weed out behind the bleachers during high school between classes by the time that follow-up rolled around.

Onward & Upward.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

All this right up here..


Except I was like 17 when that tour hit.. and it was at Arco Arena.

Bought a bootsy ass BBD bootleg tshirt in the parking lot.

with 'BBD' written into it?

I came into school the next morning rocking that thing like it was the shit, shirt was so thin you could damn near see through it.

>with 'BBD' written into it?
>
>I came into school the next morning rocking that thing like it
>was the shit, shirt was so thin you could damn near see
>through it.


I don't think so..

It had their individual faces placed in a collage like randomness
with BBD in some generic graffiti letters..

black shirt with various neon colors (orange, lime, maybe even some hot pink)

ugly as fuck

>>with 'BBD' written into it?
>>
>>I came into school the next morning rocking that thing like
>it
>>was the shit, shirt was so thin you could damn near see
>>through it.
>
>
>I don't think so..
>
>It had their individual faces placed in a collage like
>randomness
>with BBD in some generic graffiti letters..
>
>black shirt with various neon colors (orange, lime, maybe even
>some hot pink)
>
>ugly as fuck

haha, I can kinda picture it, I had a black David Robinson shirt around the same time with the same picture/graphic scheme (definitely had some hot-pink in it).

the early 90s were a colorful time.

all of that.

"Show Me the Way" was a sleeper for me, kinda corny rapping, wanna be "concious" song, but the music was smooth and Ricky sounded nice on the chorus.

but the video almost makes me think maybe I saw it on The Box back then http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl7b6KlgvzI

>but the video almost makes me think maybe I saw it on The Box
>back then http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl7b6KlgvzI

But I'm pretty sure I saw it back in the day and didn't feel the same way.

Here's some moments to look out for, for those willing to endure it...

0:23 - Random white guy getting chucked off by random black girl standing on random street corner. Has NOTHING to do with the song or the rest of the video.

0:45 - Bivins doing some kind of swirly clown dance while dressed as one of those huge multicolored lollipops you get at the circus or the fair.

1:05 - Jada Pinkett appearance

1:24 - Random white street thug getting shoved for no apparent reason.

1:39 - Unrealistic, totally random (notice a recurring theme) kissing of female walkerby by Ricky.

I remember that album being delayed too, and it wasn't worth the wait

I also remember the terrible title track, the Something in Your Eyes song written and produced (?) by Babyface, and there was another song I remember called The Dilemma or something like that, about a woman who shows up in Bell's life with a kid after being away for a minute. The chorus was some shit like, "I haven't seen you for a while / Now you say you got my child / Even though it's been a year / I still want to have you near..."

Horrible, horrible album.

__________________________________________________________________________
Bitch, don't kill my vibe.

This is what I'm talking about right here. I really always wondered why they seemed to fall off the map. You know who else this happened to? Ralph Tresvant. His first album came last from the crew even though he was the lead singer and it still did well. He had hits and could show his face in public. He was still Ralph from NE with his album, he didn't go into a different zone. Now on his second album...I didn't hear it BUT I LOVE the first single Who's The Mack. I mean I really love that song. However that album bricked as far as I can remember. I think this is the reason why http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Guzjfcz7f4g

Ya man went full gangsta on the wardrobe but kept the vocals NE. While this may work for BBD (or it did before 93) Ralph was Mr Sensitivity. I guess I should be happy that they were able to get that first run of albums like the first string of Wu Tang solos.

Mike Bivins happened. The other element is that he became quite the mini-mogul at that time. So it stands to reason that decided to flex his influence and push them in a more hip-hop approach. Which was a bad, bad move. There were also the aborted singles that didn't make the album. The waaay dumb "Boot/Sneaker" that I think was only performed once on Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve. (Seriously, I watched it live.) and "Gangsta" which was the closest to the Poison album but it was so long between records that it got forgotten and dropped.

If it wasn't for "Something In Your Eyes" that record would have gone double plastic. And that single was a late desperation movie since "Above The Rim" tanked so hard.

And how bad is that record? I got it for a dollar in '95 and I'm STILL pissed off.

I forgot about Mike Bivins (aka Beanie Siegel). He was winning in the game with ABC and Boys II Men and his whole Biv 10 thing. I wonder how much money he got from Boys II Men. I never understood why they stopped messing with dude after their first album. I mean it was a good decision because they broke records with that second release, I'm just saying the first one was fire too.

The "boot/sneaker" song is the ain't nuthin changed remix. It's on the wbbd boot city remix album. That album also has the word to the mutha remix with all 6 members of be. One of the better njs songs IMO.

>That album also has the word to the mutha remix with all 6 members of
>be. One of the better njs songs IMO.

If it wasn't for Howie Tee that first BBD album wouldn't be shit and you wouldn't be asking these questions. Howie Tee's "additional production" saved that first album and also gave Boys to Men a lifelong career.

Yeah, Howie Tee was their old sound.

Whatever happened to Spiderman and Freeze tho?

Coz at one point it was clear he was the leader aka business brains aka music mogul of the group.

To see him have to fall back and let Puffy take direction in that failed NE come back bid was a little sad.

************************

...their hip hop fans moved on to actual Hip Hop

The song they did on fresh prince didnt make the album, and it would've been the best song on there by far.

See they just didn't want to win, that was a lil heat rock right there.

The remix album was the fuckin shit tho

BBD were not knee deep into it, but by saying they were down backstage with "underage" girls, OOOH THAT'S HARDCORE. By the time they came out with their second album, it was a bit like between being 11 and 13. You're no longer a pre-teen, and now at 13, you want to do teenage things. BBD got caught up with everyone being "Gangsta Lean" and doing songs about homies and whatnot, and at that point, you either came off harder than hard or you were left behind. With their second album, it seemed like they were second rate. Sure, you can have dancers rocking in flannels and Dickies but outside of instant gratification, there wasn't much to it.

Ralph Tresvant's failure as THE solo artist, on the level of Bobby Brown's second album, is still... it blows my mind. "Sensitivity" was and still remains a great song but he got caught in that "I'm smooth but I have friends and former band members who are hardcore", or hardcore in a mainstream sense. A few years later, we'd have D'Angelo and Maxwell showing how it's done and Tresvant lost out. In truth, amongst his fans, he wasn't a loser but then again, Tresvant is still called a singer. Bobby Brown, because of his bad boy ways, is still called a rapper in some circles.


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I guess he saw Bobby killing it solo and wanted a piece of the action before it was too late.

Poison and WBBD were on constant replay in the tape deck.

I remember I recorded Fresh Prince because they were gonna be on there. I was mad as hell that it was only for a minute.

I bought the cassette single for Gangsta and was shocked that it never made it onto the second album.

I JUST saw that they released a self-titled album in 2001. Did anyone hear it? How bad was it?

Think about it. All of the individual members of NE in 1990 (Booby in '88) and had massive solo success outside of NE. On that note, they should've did it "Avengers-style" and took that energy they were so high on from the solo success and put it into an NE album in '93 (makes sense?). Ralph dropped another solo album in '93 it was wack like the Hootie Mack lp. They all were too busy trying to keep the momentum going with their solo success instead of going back to what made them great in the first place (New Edition). People were extremly high off of what they did with their solo albums and all of the groups that they influenced around that period like Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Color ME Badd, Hi-Five, Shai, and Silk only made the hunger for a NE album more potent.

Anyone with half of a brain will tell you that the NE Home Again was a severely dated album that came out way too late in the game. A group as powerful and influential as NE shouldn't have waited 8 years to drop another album. If NE would have came back together in 1993 and dropped that reunion lp with this joint as their lead single (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlcuXNn_Ju4&feature=share&list=PL209E8EB379CB257A), they would've blew up bigger than ever. This song should've been a New Edition song instead being of a Ralph single.

NE should've reunited in 1993, for sure.