When New Edition Went Solo

1990 hits different when you line the records up back-to-back and actually listen, as we did back then. We go deep on the New Edition solo universe and the three projects that defined a whole season of R&B and New Jack Swing: Bell Biv DeVoe’s Poison, Johnny Gill’s self-titled classic, and Ralph Tresvant’s debut with Sensitivity if you’ve ever wondered why “Poison” still jumps out of the speakers or why “My, My My" feels like a grown-up masterpiece, we’re putting names, dates, producers, and memories on it.

We talk about what made BBD so surprising, how the “background guys” became trendsetters, and why some remixes feel like they mess with perfection while others the WBBD-Bootcity! album ends up becoming the version you play the most. Then we switch gears to Johnny Gill’s run: the vocals, the tracklist, the Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis stamp, Babyface’s writing, and how a song an artist doesn’t even love at first can turn into his signature.

Ralph’s album brings up a different kind of conversation: the pressure of going last, the reality of waiting on busy producers, and why certain singles got overshadowed even when the work was strong. We also get real about how music carries grief, how it can pull you right back to a relationship or a loss, and why we think soul-forward 90s R&B still resonates more than a lot of today’s synthetic sound. If you’re rocking with this kind of deep-dive nostalgia and music history, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave us a rating and a comment so we can keep the conversation going.

Music used "Toe Clam".

Transcript

Welcome Back To The 90s

SPEAKER_06 0:26

Because here we believe in one thing, always be you, do your gift, and keep those classics going. This is the disco hicks show.

SPEAKER_04 0:40

There are so many girls on the ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to the disco hicks show with Sean P. Today we're going back to the 90s. Uh, we want to stay on that wave with that Bobby Brown and any lifer wave. So we're going to tackle today uh the the big projects for the so when they went, all these artists went solo. We talked in, we're talking BBD, we talked to Johnny Gill, and we talking Ralph Trasman. So before I even get on that, man, yeah, you gotta hear my boy's voice. What's up, though, Sean P. What up, though?

SPEAKER_08 1:14

What up, Doge? My brother back with another one.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

Yeah, man. Um man, this was this was this was um 1990 was uh a pivotal year for me. Uh uh I left uh I only did one year college, so left college, came back home. Yeah, I went to Grambling. And so the decision was trying to be, I was trying to come, I got homesick, so I was trying to go to Eastern, bro. Okay, and I which which was a huge mistake. And uh I tried to try and yeah, I should have I should have took my back butt back down there.

SPEAKER_08 1:57

Uh what I did. I saw a list where it is is ranked as the worst college in the state of Michigan. I don't know how true that is, but it's on TikTok. You know, you can't believe everything with TikTok.

SPEAKER_04 2:12

Yeah. Um, but yeah, I uh was trying to transfer and they man, they rejected a lot of my credits.

SPEAKER_07 2:20

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:22

Yeah, yeah. You know, because there were some there were some studies and some courses in Grambling that that were just African-American centric, you know. It's just about, you know, it was it's also about the culture and all that. So you had to take classes. Uh for instance, it's uh it was a c it was a course

College Transfers And Hard Pivots

SPEAKER_04 2:40

called, if I'm not mistaken, uh, I think it was organization.

SPEAKER_07 2:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

I hope that I hope that's what it is. So that would when what that entails is they were trying to prepare you to try to learn how to uh dress properly and go to functions properly. So they if they had like a if they had some type of function at the auditorium, you had to dress, you had to dress up.

SPEAKER_07 3:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 3:05

And they they they checked you out what you had on, and they you made sure you attended. And um so a class like that, uh you know, uh university like Eastern, just they didn't even recognize that.

SPEAKER_08 3:17

Like exactly. Yeah, I I had a reverse situation. I went to University of Detroit, I tried to transfer down to Morris Brown in Atlanta, and they were gonna take like less than half of the credits that I had there. So yeah, you could tell back then that if normally if you went to a college trying to transfer to another one, it was kind of tough.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

Yeah, yeah. So that that stalled my that stalled me and my life, and I ended up just not even going back to school after that, bro. Uh except when I when I went to the army, you know, and I did the course there, but other than that, okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

All right, man, let's get to some music. I'm dropping a needle in another episode.

Dedication And Music As Grief

SPEAKER_04 4:00

Okay, brother. Uh 1990. Do you remember my do you remember my um do you remember Adrian Thomas, man? My my daughter. Yes, I do. Yeah, okay. You know, you know, rest in peace. I'm dedicating this episode to her. Okay. Uh all three of these albums. Actually, I put four because I want to talk about the uh BBD remix album. But okay 1990, the music that came out that year was the soundtrack to our relationship. Oh wow, yeah, bro. So uh it was it was actually tough listening to the Johnny Gill album. Uh because uh it was yeah, you know, she passed away in '96.

SPEAKER_08 4:44

96. Man, that was a um we did 96. Um, but with with Pop. Um my homegirl love French, she passed away in 96. 96 was a tough year all the way around. We lost Tupac in 96.

SPEAKER_04 5:00

Yeah, yeah, and um, so yeah, and you and you know uh living, I mean losing a significant other, man, how that affects you. That just oh yeah, it hit it hits different, man. I and that I you know, uh, they say you know, you lose a parent friend, but when you have a relationship with someone and also have children with that person, yes, man, it just when you lose that, man. It just I it's hard to make describe and explain what I was going through. Actually, to this day, uh certain like this, like I said, it was hard for me to listen to some of that music. It took me right there, and it was a time where I would tear up. I'm not there anymore, but I definitely sit back and reflect.

SPEAKER_08 5:41

I brought I have those moments. Um, my my daughter's mom has been going uh this November to be seven years. I did not know you went through that, I didn't know it to that extent. So, yeah, you know exactly uh what it's like sitting in that world. That's uh it's almost like um there are times I have like great dreams sometimes of their mom. Nothing crazy, but it's like she'll come and uh we'll be talking about the kids, and then I just wake up with this feeling like, yeah, we're gonna do this, and then I have to remember things. She's she's not here, you know. Um yeah, yeah,

How “Poison” Hit So Hard

SPEAKER_08 6:20

yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

So yeah, so that's all it's yeah, so I got again on from um college, and this music just in our face, but I want to go back just a little bit back to 89. As we talked about the previous episode, Bobby Brown was just doing his thing. So from from the fall of 88 to the fall of 89, he was on top. And so that he was uh yeah, he was on fire. And the success of that album was starting to, you know, clear the smoke was starting to clear a little bit. And then all of a sudden, you know, and so all of a sudden, I'm in college and um we talking March. Uh we want to talk, I say, let's see, when did uh poison the song okay, March 6th. So yeah, the spring. Spring spring hit. I remember the video coming on because we would be downstairs at the uh at the union at the union hall, man, watching TV. And um and uh BBD came and hit what hit us with poison. Yes, and it was nothing like that on the radio.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

No, it was You mentioned the song Poison, uh, and again, you've had you've had a lot and you still do. As you were helping to construct that, uh crazy question, but did you think, did you feel it as you were trying to put it together?

SPEAKER_11 7:50

No, I didn't. And um, I heard it first. Our manager at the time, Hiram, he played us two records, record called She's Dope and Poison. I like that she's dope, but DeVoe, when he heard poison, he said, Mike, this is a hit. And he told a guy well, the road manager at the time, if you help us secure this record, you can become our group manager. So that was a deal breaker. And Ronnie DeVoe heard poison. He takes soul credit from the three of us, Bell Bib DeVoe, who heard it as a hit. And uh man, he had an ear for himself in the 90s. He he heard something I didn't even hear.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

It was funky and it was it was energetic, and at on the on at the end of everything, it was new edition, sort of speak. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, offspring of new edition. And on top of that, not only just the offspring of new edition, the the likely three that you even think would even have a music out, you know? Uh Ricky, Ronnie, and Mike.

SPEAKER_08 8:52

And no disrespect to them. That was the shocking part. You're right, because the voices were the three guys, Ralph, Bobby, and Johnny. So yeah, um, you're right, bro. And you said that was 1990, right? Yep, yeah. So yeah, I was a senior, and my birthday was March 3rd, and that dropped March 6th. My youngest daughter's birthday March 6th. Okay. Okay. Yeah, man. I remember the video and everything, bro. Like, it was again, it was just so much great music back then. And then for those guys to I I think, I think, I only can speak for myself, but I think it done everybody's heart really good. Because we were heartbroke that they broke up, but for them to still be cool and then uh lead off with this, or to come with this rather, it was, man, it was it was fire. It was just fire.

SPEAKER_04 9:48

And not only that, there were transsetters too, you know, straight transsetters. I mean, the way they dress.

SPEAKER_14 9:58

Oh yeah, oh yeah, I'd just like to say that BBD's music is mentally hip-hop. Moved out on the RB tip.

SPEAKER_12 10:17

No more. No more. Alright, we know that um a lot of people know us from a new edition, but uh, we would just like to participate of our public too. Just looking at us as a new group right now. We are developing the vote. We want you to just take us as a new group and see what we can do with that.

SPEAKER_14 10:37

What's up, Ralph Johnny Bob? We know you're out there watching this fella.

SPEAKER_13 10:41

And I just like to say, even though we come like this, we're gonna wear some suits one day, we still got the ties and the handkerchiefs in the club. That's a new edition. That's definitely me. And BVD's in the house, and the house is packed.

SPEAKER_04 11:02

You know, it was like they would you could tell that they were finally happy to get underneath the umbrella, a new edition, and just express themselves, you know, they were more street, more hip-hop, uh, just a different identity. And the album dropped the the single dropped March 3rd, the album dropped the 20th. My birthday. And I remember it just okay. Your birthday on the 20th?

SPEAKER_08 11:23

My birthday was the third. You said it dropped on the 20th. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:26

Yeah, the sing, the sing, the single, the third, and the album the 20th. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 11:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:30

And um which is really cool. Was that a Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis? No, but I'm glad to say. No, uh, no, they the one that gave them the idea to do it so they told him, like, once they came to them, it's like, why don't y'all do an album? Like, really? Like, yeah, why not?

SPEAKER_07 11:52

Why not y'all?

SPEAKER_04 11:52

Why not, why not y'all three? Yeah, and that was a brainchild, and then that that you know, the fact that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis suggested that definitely gave them a uh a boost of confidence. Like, let's do this. Big time. So when you so far as producers, man, Hank Shockley, man.

SPEAKER_08 12:12

Oh, yeah, the bomb squad. Yeah, the bomb squad, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:18

Yeah, um, they did that for that. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_08 12:23

Yeah, Dr. Freeze and uh Carl uh Bor Borelli, I think that's how you say his name.

SPEAKER_04 12:29

Yeah,

Producers Who Built The Sound

SPEAKER_04 12:30

and Tim Gatlin from who was a the original member of Guy before Damien got in the group. Okay Gatling was in there as well. Uh so let's talk about this album. So, like I said, Poison was released March 6 uh 1990. Doomy was released June 10th.

SPEAKER_07 12:49

Doomy.

SPEAKER_04 12:52

Yeah, boy. Yeah, um BBD. Uh I thought it was me, September 18th. When will I see you? When will I see you smile again? Doesn't give a date, but it's it just says 1991, and also she's dope. Okay, is it the album peaked at number five on a Billboard 200 chart? By 1995, it was certified quadruple platinum.

SPEAKER_08 13:22

Say that, repeat that one more time because I think the listeners, the voters need to hear that one more time.

SPEAKER_04 13:28

Yes, thank you. By 1995, it was certified quadruple platinum.

SPEAKER_08 13:38

Yeah, salute to them, brothers, man.

SPEAKER_04 13:40

Salute to them, salute, man. It was just it was just man, it was just I was just so happy. Like you said, you know, they had took this hiatus and the fact that the um I don't want to, and like you said, no shade, nobody's saying they're the least talented, but you know, Ronnie and Mike aren't singers per se. Ricky was background guys, yeah, they were the background guys, yeah. And it's also gave Ricky the opportunity to get up front and sing lead, which he had been clamoring for for a long time, because you're not gonna, you're not gonna. I mean, Ralph was the voice of new editions, and Johnny Gill is he brought the maturity to the group, and so Ricky was always on the outside of that, man. Always, you know, trying to trying to find his way, but then he he got up in that mug and just knocked it out.

SPEAKER_08 14:32

Yes, he did, bro. Grandson. I was um, I was really, really like because they also they I could be wrong, but I think they kind of introduced like the when you were spray paint on the jeans, or like the I forget what they used to have. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_04 14:52

Yeah, they they made that famous.

SPEAKER_08 14:53

They made it famous, but yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_04 14:55

It made it famous because uh I remember seeing it before when I was in Grammar. Matter of fact, I was in Grammar dudes had this, they had they uh jackets spray painted and you know had the stud it, had the studs and rhinestones on that way was like dangerous.

SPEAKER_08 15:09

Yeah, because we got we kind of got into that like going into my senior year, wearing our jeans and stuff like that, yeah, and jackets as well.

SPEAKER_04 15:18

Yeah, let's just hit the track let track listings, man.

SPEAKER_08 15:22

And I I want to say this too, not to end it, I'm not to cut you off, but do want to say this to get on the billboards during that time to be that high, you had to come with some freaking heat, man. And they did that. So again, the listeners, voters, whatever, and we gotta make sure we get these guys in, man. Their body of work is just it's just too great to not be amongst the best.

SPEAKER_04 15:50

Yeah, I agree. I agree. Let's let's see the charts. Um we're talking about the album, it made number five in the U.S., and of course it was number one uh on RB charts. But uh, you know, if right now you see you on TikTok. If you notice on TikTok, there's a resurgence of New Jack Swing, yeah, and one of the songs that you hear the most is Poison, and which is crazy, man. When they get together, bro, and and and as big as Bobby was and is, and and his biggest prerogative is and was man, people love poison, bro. I think they end the show with poison, man.

SPEAKER_08 16:37

Yeah, and it won a um Soul Train Music Award. Uh they won uh best RB Urban Contemporary Album of the Year uh for poison. Uh that was in what 2000. No, that was yeah, early 1900s, 1992, I believe.

SPEAKER_04 16:56

Yeah, yeah, probably but not. Oh, was it one?

SPEAKER_08 16:58

919, yeah.

Poison Album Hits And Skips

SPEAKER_08 17:00

And then the uh American Music Awards, they won um uh AMA for a favorite uh soul RB band, uh Duo and Groove.

SPEAKER_04 17:10

All right, let's let's hit this album, man. Uh so I in my opinion, the songs that was released were the jams. The rest of the rest of the album, I think this album was top heavy.

SPEAKER_07 17:22

Yes, it was.

SPEAKER_04 17:23

Uh it's very top heavy, you know. So number one song, it's dope. She's dope. Which hey, it was crazy. We still use that word today.

SPEAKER_08 17:32

That's dope. That's dope now.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

That's dope. And uh, yep, and that was an okay song. It wasn't one of my favorites, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 17:41

But nice filler.

SPEAKER_04 17:42

When they yeah, it's a nice filler, and it was you know, they had a video for it, so it was nice seeing it. And I think it was, you know, like I said, it was the last song released on the album, but it was the it was uh listed number one on the um as the track listing. Then number two, BBD. I thought it was me. Oh my god, bro. I thought it was me.

SPEAKER_08 18:00

That's classic. One of my favorites. One of my favorites.

SPEAKER_04 18:06

Ricky definitely signed on that one.

SPEAKER_08 18:08

Oh, yes, he did.

SPEAKER_04 18:11

Man, he was oh man, and then oh, the raps, too, man. Yo, love being the bachelor, yeah. Yeah, they used to do their thing, man. Uh Mike and Mike and Ronnie actually, they man, they really did their thing and shine. Because they've been back in the background so much, and now they're in the front. You could just see they were just so happy. It was like all that weight was lifted off. Now I could just show people what we could do.

SPEAKER_08 18:40

Yeah, a lot of energy they came with as well. Like I said, they it was surprising, man, because again, they were we considered background singers. Um, we love the the work that they had did previously, but they like you said, they were really able to shine big time on uh on this first album right here.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

Uh track three, let me know something, and that is definitely a filler, man. I yeah, yeah. I listened to it the other day, and I was like, Yeah, it's it still hasn't grown on me because there's a lot of music that I go back and listen to. Like, maybe because uh you know uh the quality music has gone down so much. Yeah, you go back and listen to some old stuff, you're like, oh man, it's refreshing.

SPEAKER_08 19:25

Yep, absolutely, bring back a lot of memories, like you said.

SPEAKER_04 19:30

But this song didn't do it for me.

SPEAKER_08 19:32

No, I'm with you on that one. I agree with you on that one. Now, do me. Do me, baby, baby. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 19:44

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_08 19:45

I said this on a previous podcast. A lot of that music, and you said it in the beginning of this show. Um, a lot of babies was made off this music, man. A lot of babies, man.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

Give it to them fast, give it to him slow.

SPEAKER_04 20:08

Do me definitely was man, and then the remix. I'm gonna get to that though. We're gonna just hit this album. I'm gonna okay. Then we got word to the mother, Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike, Ralph, and Johnny. Word to the mother. The album version sucked. I do not like the album version.

SPEAKER_07 20:23

Uh I didn't either. I didn't either.

SPEAKER_04 20:26

Yeah. Didn't like it, so it's a skipper for me.

SPEAKER_07 20:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

I didn't even like, I didn't even like the poison remix on the album. Um, I still was with you.

SPEAKER_08 20:36

I'm with you on that. The the first one was was authentic, it was just perfect the way it was. That's kind of like to me when a painter is finished with a perfect picture, and then like, let me add just a little bit more, and it kind of takes away from um the original piece.

SPEAKER_04 20:55

Mm-hmm. And that's why you don't hear it on the radio, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, there's some there's some hit songs, and even some of the remixes are hits, but this is not one of those songs. I agree. Um Ain't Nothing Changes, another filler, another filler, just another filler, man. Just skipper, yeah. I just can't too much. It's really dated. Yeah, even poison. You can it has new jack sound, and but it's still hype. But when you hear like certain songs, yeah, but this song ain't nothing changed. Nah, I just couldn't even imagine. You know, you just went to your your class reunion, man, and had he did the 90s theme. Did y'all play any BBD?

SPEAKER_08 21:39

Oh, yeah, yeah. We uh you know, I I'm I'm let me take that back. I think I heard some uh BBD. We was heavy in to um MC Hammer, we was heavy into BBD too. So yeah, we had a little bit of everything. It was a little bit of everything, but we had such a good time, man, seeing each other with everybody being over. 50. Um, and everybody's still looking good and you know in a good place.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

So okay, yeah. Uh all right, man. Um, when will I see you smile again?

SPEAKER_08 22:15

Oh man, I I don't know, with the exception of Poison, it might be the best track on the album. I don't know what they play with the top 100, but definitely to this day, when I hear that come on, I sing along with that from beginning to end.

SPEAKER_04 22:34

Man, uh one of those songs, man, especially when I was young when it's out, you break a girl's heart, man. Yes, I lean heavy on that song. You know, like you, you know, you can't find the words to express how you really want to feel.

SPEAKER_08 22:49

So you just spoke my mind because that's exactly what I was thinking of.

SPEAKER_04 22:55

I'm baby, I'm sorry, but you know, I can't say it this, but Ricky can.

SPEAKER_08 23:00

Push play.

SPEAKER_04 23:07

Let's see, man. You got me um curious. I'm gonna look this up right now. So, where would I see you smile again? Made it to number three on the RB charts. Okay, I thought it'd be higher, but it's well deserved. Uh, only 63 on the U.S. billboard.

SPEAKER_08 23:25

So I'm I'm curious, what were the other two ahead of that? Do you know that it shows that?

SPEAKER_04 23:30

Uh what was that? Uh tell me, we know poison went number one. Um okay.

SPEAKER_08 23:34

We're talking about the uh You said it made R R B. I was wondering what were the other two ahead of uh of of those of that.

SPEAKER_04 23:43

Okay, so smile again.

SPEAKER_08 23:47

When would I see you smile again? You said that one made number three on the RB charts, right?

SPEAKER_04 23:52

Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, let's see. Thought it was me. Let's see what thought it was me did. Thought it was me. Made it man, made it number one, bro. Oh wow. Number one RB. 26, 26 pop.

SPEAKER_07 24:09

Okay. That's more like it.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

Yeah, yeah. I'm just surprised that when I see you smile again. But that goes to show how much how much good music was on the radio that would keep a song like that from being number one.

SPEAKER_08 24:24

Yeah, so facts. It was released a couple days after um in 1991 after New Year's on the fourth.

SPEAKER_04 24:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_10 24:40

Uh let's see.

SPEAKER_04 24:41

Uh then number nine, I do need you. That's a it's a it's a it's a cool ballad. Uh, sometimes I skip it, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I skip it, sometimes I don't. Yeah, but again, this album is top heavy. And then we're gonna close the album out with poison. Then they got another one, extended club version, which I never gave it any listen to too much either. So I will skip that.

SPEAKER_08 25:04

So yeah. I I think during the early 90s, the the remixes, a lot of them were like hit or miss, you know. Because again, the originals were were really so good that you didn't want anything, you didn't want them touching anything. But uh, I will add, since I've been doing my I've been reading this book, it's called A Big Payback, it's about the music industry and everything. It is when you think about like how many hands are involved with making an album, and as an artist, unless you are in total control, which is highly unlikely, you don't have a say-so on remixes, uh, who can get on the on the track, who could use it, or anything like that. So a lot of times the vision doesn't be the vision of the artist, and that's why you'll end up with a lot of remixes

Why Boot City Remixes Won

SPEAKER_08 26:00

that don't make any sense.

SPEAKER_04 26:03

Yeah. But this one, we're gonna have to go to the next the remix album. Uh, what was called WBBD Boot City, the remix album. Now, this album, now I once it came out, which was released August 27th, 1991. I ended up playing this more than the original album.

SPEAKER_08 26:24

Original album, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:25

Because Word to the Mother, man. That remix, would you see the video? You got Ralph and Bobby going back and forth with their raps, man.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

What?

SPEAKER_04 26:34

Yeah, man, uh, they went back to the projects and filmed that video. Man, I love that so much, man.

SPEAKER_03 26:43

Word to the mother, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:47

Oh, yeah. Uh man. Then uh, I thought it was re uh thought it was me remix. Yes, that's another one. Man, I would wore that out, yeah. And then and do me, bro. He said he said he said, he said, I got protection, not any detection. Spin the booty in my direction.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Hello, I was like, dang, man, in the video, man.

SPEAKER_08 27:19

Yeah, man, you could do and those guys, man, they did a great job with, like you say, with the uh incorporating um hip hop with RB. I mean, the best to do it, man. The best to do it.

SPEAKER_04 27:33

Yep, they were straight, new jack. Uh, then when will I see you smile again? Closed. That's the that's the version in here. Uh Ricky at beginning. Later, talk to you for a moment. Yeah, be show and tell. Come on, man. That's what I'm talking about. So, yeah, that right there. That I think that was hit. I mean, like I said, I know once that album came out, people tend to listen to the remixes over the original versions. That's definitely what's wonderful.

SPEAKER_08 28:04

I I did say that normally you didn't, but that I was reminded of that how good that remix album was.

SPEAKER_04 28:13

And um, yeah, you talking about we talking about trendsetters and you and and just their style, you know, because they had that thing they used to call, you know, they they say they dress mental, you know. They said mentally hip hop smoother on the RB tip with a pop feel appeal to it, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I definitely, you know, I was in my dance group surprised, and we definitely were like highly influenced by BBD, man. We had the uh cover off with the spray paint on there and all that, and uh uh different color shoes. We uh he had the LA Gear Boys, man. We had uh each we had one red LA gear and one blue LA gear.

SPEAKER_08 28:53

Oh wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:54

We did the Inksterfest, man, and tore that tore the stage down, man.

SPEAKER_08 28:59

Them was the first pair of shoes I had that had the lights in them. The LA Gears, the LA Gears, yeah. They they they lit up and had like the little lights on the bottom, uh on on the soul in the back.

SPEAKER_04 29:13

Man, BBD was such a big deal that they influenced the group TLC.

SPEAKER_05 29:20

I didn't know TLC first.

SPEAKER_04 29:22

Oh, yeah. Oh man, you didn't know when they first came out, they were they was trying to be a female BBD. I can see the way they dress.

SPEAKER_08 29:29

I can see it, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:31

Yeah, no, you know, left out rapping and all that. Uh they got two singers and one rapper, but you know, uh, but yeah, they was highly influenced by BBD.

SPEAKER_08 29:39

Okay, helped them out, and then you know, one of my favorite groups of all time, man. I back then I had a huge crush on T-Boz, huge crush, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

She had that that you know, that haircut, man, was just set apart, man. Yeah, definitely butter sky skin.

Johnny Gill’s Solo Lane Opens

SPEAKER_04 30:00

All right, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 30:05

All right, Johnny Gill.

SPEAKER_07 30:07

Yes, sir. My dog.

SPEAKER_04 30:10

So BBD hit us, hit us over the head. We know we're talking about all these offspring of this group called New Edition. Bobby Brown, BBD hit us over here. Then Johnny Gill just like we already know because he was solo before he got in the group. I mean, it wasn't huge, it was a huge success, but we knew of him because he had, you know, as a child prodigy, he had two solo albums, and then he had, I think he had two projects with Stacey Ladisau.

SPEAKER_08 30:39

Stacey Ladisau, yes, he did.

SPEAKER_09 30:40

I knew how to sing before I got with New Edition, but I didn't learn about showmanship until I got with New Edition and watched New Edition and uh Bobby Brown. I mean, these this is my family, and these people they I've watched them and I've learned so much.

SPEAKER_04 30:58

Perfect combination and um they had another song. That's one of my favorite songs. Absolutely. They had another song that came out in I think 90. I can't remember the song. Okay. But it was something you said in the previous uh podcast when you were talking about Bobby Brown, you was comparing like who had the more sales, Johnny Gill and Bobby Brown. I want you to know, brother, you was close, man. You was close. I didn't even think it would, I didn't think it was even close, but it was very close. Okay. Uh Bobby just Bobby just had more mainstream success. Uh, but Johnny, man, uh Bobby sold uh together 18, 18 million albums, right? Uh Johnny sold 13.

SPEAKER_08 31:44

Oh wow, okay. I knew I would man, I knew it had to be, you know, it wasn't too far off. Um because again, with with with Bobby and and the Ghostbusters and then Whitney, it did bring him a lot more notoriety.

SPEAKER_04 32:02

Mm-hmm. Um, let's see. So yeah, this is Johnny's Gill's third album, which is self-titled Johnny Gill. And you know, he was with, he's uh, he was, he was still what you what I don't understand. Um, he was with New Edition, that's MC MCA Records, but he still had a deal as a solo artist with Motow.

SPEAKER_08 32:25

I I still to this day, even as an artist, and maybe because I never was signed to any label, it is still extremely confusing. Um, all of the branches that an artist could come under. You could be with Time Warner and then signed to Electra and release an album or MC. Like a lot of that is still confusing uh to me. I just know it'd be a lot of hands uh getting uh money off one artist. I do know that. So yep.

SPEAKER_04 32:59

Mm-hmm. The game, the gang, the game is definitely changed, bro. So you know, uh soldier boy, soldier boy, man. Yeah, he did it got ripped, yeah. So uh this album also went quadruple platinum, okay. And it was released April 17th. So a month later, bro, a month later after the BBD album was released. Johnny said, All right, all right, I'm coming next. Boy, did he, bro? Now, this album probably has no skippers on it for me. Uh, maybe one or two that uh it's an album. Oh my god, bro. I would put this album back in the day, and then it's like I said, remind me of my oldest daughter's mom, and we would put this thing on and just let it go. And um, and man, when it got the album, because back in the day, you know, we got the streaming. Back then, you had either cassettes or the CDs, and you had then or the uh or the album, so yeah, side A, side B, side B was just all slow tracks, bro. Just like hitting you over your head, and so whatever you was doing, you was just in the middle of it until it was over.

SPEAKER_07 34:18

For real.

SPEAKER_04 34:20

You did hopefully you got one of those those automatic reverse boys, so it just started back over again.

SPEAKER_08 34:26

Oh man, I'm just sitting here thinking about

“My, My” And A No-Skip Album

SPEAKER_08 34:30

hopefully your radio was clean to where it didn't pop your tape.

SPEAKER_04 34:34

Yeah, oh man, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 34:37

So another something you uh you you you younger gen the younger generation won't understand.

SPEAKER_04 34:45

All right, man. Let's hit this mug, man. Uh Reb you right away, another funky dance track, yeah. Stroke, yeah, man. He um he he killed us with those vocals, man. Um awfully compared to Luther and Teddy P. He just was just in that vein. He had the voice, and he just he let you know that I don't I don't only just sing slow music, I sing up, I sing up temple music. No, ain't that a new Jack Swing Temple up and just man, just was just ooh, I was like, look at Johnny, man.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

I remember watching the video, like, man, look at Johnny, he dancing, you know, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 35:34

One of my favorite tracks, Rub You the Right Way.

SPEAKER_04 35:37

That's another one that's a Terry Lewis.

SPEAKER_08 35:39

That's a uh Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis uh produced track, too.

SPEAKER_04 35:43

Yep. You know, he had that much talent, man. He had both of them. He had LA Baby Face, and he had Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. That brings us to the second song that was released May 16th, 1990.

SPEAKER_08 35:56

My my exact shit. Yeah, that's the jam right there.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

Did you know he didn't like that at first?

SPEAKER_08 36:07

No, I don't see why not. Well, I guess when you're in the studio, you probably like uh I've I've done that quite a few times too.

SPEAKER_04 36:18

He uh they was trying to figure out what would be the lead single, and I think he wanted Feel So Much Better. He is the song that he's like, I was thinking about Feel so much better. Okay, but uh LA Baby, uh LA Babyface, like, no, this is my mama.

SPEAKER_08 36:36

Yes. Now I see that uh I see that Pebbles was was Pebbles and Babyface married, ever married.

SPEAKER_04 36:45

Uh I think no, her in LA was married.

SPEAKER_08 36:48

LA, okay. She was heavy, because she I I believe she was in, she had her hand in TLC as well, but I see that she's a producer on uh that track, the um the Feel So Much Better track.

SPEAKER_04 37:02

Yeah. Uh wait a minute. What's man, I'm getting mistakes. So because I know Pebbles and Karen White, man, that may be something we can look up real quick. Uh I get to that, put a pen in that and come back to that. Um but yeah, he didn't like it. And so what he did was, you know, that what I like that the new edition, they got a relationship with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Regardless of whoever they other producers they work with, they would take that track and let Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis listen to it. And um Johnny sent my my to Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, let them listen to it. And he was like, Man, this is a song they want, they want me to release this. I don't I'm not feeling it. It's I think it's just okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:45

And they listen to that, like, man, what are you talking about? That's a jam. Man, what? Yeah, that's a hit.

SPEAKER_08 37:53

And you know what? What's deep is that those guys with the experience they had, because this was one thing I always wondered as a kid. The my favorite songs were the songs that didn't make the radio. And it made me realize as I became an artist that there are those songs that have to be um I'm gonna say mutually universal. Um and my my on that album is the song that would draw everybody in to listen to the entire album. So those guys were great at doing that.

SPEAKER_04 38:31

Yeah, I mean, just the lyrics, just what the song is about. And if you ever was, you know, with your significant girlfriend, wife, whatever, and y'all about to go out and you put and you getting dressed, and you like, man, put your red dress on, man. So, you know, we about to have fun tonight. It's anybody, everybody can relate to that, man. Yeah, and um, it's so relatable song, and and then just the fact that they just look man, they went in there after seven, the group after seven, doing the background vocals, right? Then you got Kenny G on the saxophone.

SPEAKER_08 39:11

What I know that was just uh making that making that track, it had to be exhilarating.

SPEAKER_04 39:20

Wow, and you got pebbles and you got Karen White in the background. Like, what all that star power on this one song, man?

SPEAKER_08 39:29

There you go. Oh there you go. Yeah, I wonder now, you know, this good trivia. I wonder was Kenny did Kenny G was he really? I wonder that that help him. I'm I'm quite sure it did. I'm just wondering what magnitude did that help him um after that particular song. Who Kenny or Johnny? Kenny, Kenny G.

SPEAKER_04 39:54

Oh, uh I don't know, man. I mean, Kenny was kind of established by that time, you know. Um uh because I had I had uh what is that dual tones? I think I had dual tones in '88.

SPEAKER_07 40:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 40:09

That's my favorite Kenny G album. So yeah, you got Songbird on there, man. That's true. Oh, yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_07 40:15

Ooh, yeah, it's right there. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 40:18

Yeah. Um so this song peaked at uh let's see. It peaked at number one on the RB charts.

SPEAKER_10 40:28

Let's see, what is that?

SPEAKER_04 40:30

Yeah, RB charts.

SPEAKER_08 40:32

What about Billboard?

SPEAKER_04 40:36

Billboard is a 10. It was number 10 on the Billboard pop charts, number one RB. And um it won Soul Train Music Award for Best RB Soul Single Male.

SPEAKER_08 40:49

Okay, that classic track, like it's still a cold track to this day.

SPEAKER_04 40:56

Yeah, oh man, just that saxophone, and then how his um just his vocal performance on there just is incredible, man.

SPEAKER_08 41:05

Outstanding, outstanding.

SPEAKER_04 41:08

And um, you know, think about it was funny because Johnny, you know, Johnny, you know, Johnny, he can go crazy, go with those crazy runs, one of those Johnny Gill runs. He has to always get held back in the studio, yeah. And so it's funny. I think um, I don't know, I can't remember what set of producers, but it was either Jimmy Jam, Terry Luce, or LA Babyface. So they they they uh they direct them and produce them the scene, the song a certain way, but then it's like all right, now do the Johnny Gill. I think like all right. On this part, right, do the Johnny Gill. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 41:47

Yeah, the boy got some pipes though. He he he man, he can he got it, he got it for sure.

SPEAKER_04 41:55

Yeah, you know what? Let's go back to the track listing. So we I was I was going by the songs that was released. I just want to go by the track listing so people can follow. Yeah, I got the CD or yeah, the stream or whatever. I I don't know what you know. I was on I want to I was on iTunes and I couldn't find the album, man. Oh wow, that's cool, and like I don't know, yeah. I couldn't find it, bro. Uh thank god I had it in my library, you know. Uh but yeah, I had to go to YouTube to look at the whole thing.

SPEAKER_07 42:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 42:27

Um uh Fairweather friend produced one of my favorite face one of my favorite tracks ever. Time and time again.

SPEAKER_08 42:46

Yeah, that's that's a smooth, that's one of my favorite tracks off that album.

SPEAKER_04 42:51

Yeah, nice song, man. You know, like whatever we I ain't gonna be no fair weather friend, I'm gonna be here with you all the time. All the time. Um like can you stand the rain? You know what I'm saying? All right, can you stand the rain? Fareweather friends, yeah. Uh then it brings us to number three, wrap my body tight, man. Dude, man, so many songs on here. Classic.

SPEAKER_02 43:18

Yeah, wrap my body tight.

SPEAKER_04 43:21

Nice little oh, that bass name. Doom doom doom doom doom doom. Oh, it's focused.

SPEAKER_08 43:28

This is pretty much a non-skip album right here. Yeah, we ain't even got to my favorite song on the album.

SPEAKER_04 43:34

Yeah, uh, so wrap my body tight. Oh, so yeah, go back. So you said poison. Uh, so uh my favorite song, two songs on a poison album is Poison and Will I See You Smile Again.

SPEAKER_08 43:46

Yep, mine too.

SPEAKER_04 43:48

Uh okay. Uh we said Wrap My Body Tight, uh Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis again. Then you went back to Baby Face on Feel So Much Better.

SPEAKER_08 44:00

So much better. Yeah. And Babyface was writing some. Yeah, this yeah, some hands on some good, great writing.

SPEAKER_04 44:08

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Uh never the next song, track five, never no love. Uh, babyface again.

SPEAKER_07 44:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:18

It's it's not one of my favorite cuts, but it's not necessarily skippable either. Uh, but I listen to it if I let it roll, but it's not one I go to. Yeah. I'm gonna go to this song. I don't okay. We talked about my my, which is my favorite song on the album. Uh yeah. All right. Uh number seven, Lady J. Your my lady.

SPEAKER_08 44:45

Man, when I was in uh when I was a senior, shout out to Rico and Rico Sanders and Taquan Abne. Man, we would be in my house, man. We had a video recorder, and bro, like we would like dress up. I'm talking about like suits, ties, or like leather jackets, and we would perform the songs and we would record them, like not vocal record, but like video record. Yeah, to this day I cannot find those videos, but uh Lady Desoure was one of the ones that we just absolutely love. So we did a little recording with the RB, and of course, we were silly as all get out, so we had to do the tip. So yeah, that that's my favorite track on the album, is Lady DeJour.

SPEAKER_04 45:31

Yeah, yeah, with a nice little ballad. It's simple, it's simplistic, it's not too many instruments. It just it just yeah, it just sets the tone, man. Um yeah, especially at the nighttime. Yeah, I um I could just when I hear that song, I think about just this like we talked about uh my matter of fact, all right. We talked about my mama getting ready to go out, hit the town, do your thing. I'm on the way back home, get in the car, you put a lady this journey, yeah. You know, you laid back, you might still be feeling the facts for this. Oh yeah, we about to get home and just whatever. Set that smooth, that smooth ride home. It really puts you in the mood. Yeah, yes, that's the tone. Absolutely. Man, what an album. Okay, number eight, just another lonely night is another one. Uh it's sad, man. The lyrics are sad, so that's why I skip it. Yep, but it's a good song. It's a good song. It is, it's a good song. Yes, sir. Uh now this is my song, Giving My All to You.

Why Old R&B Still Resonates

SPEAKER_04 46:40

And that that reminds me of my daughter's mom, man. Oh boy, it's it took me years to listen to this song. I listened to it yesterday for the first time in its entirety, and and I didn't really have any emotion that I would, you know, display before. Yeah, and so I guess I'm I'm able, I'm I'm I'm starting to be able to cope with it, man. I mean, like I said, she died in 96, man, and we're talking 2026, and yeah, and I had to sit there and like, all right, I'm gonna try to listen to it now. And I listened to it, and it was, you know, and I was able to listen to it, and I was able to remain listen to it and reflect back on it without being sad.

SPEAKER_08 47:23

Soul music, the type of music that that song right there, like you said, especially in a situation like that, it makes you pause and live in the moment. Um and definitely, if you've been through a tragedy like that, um yeah, that I don't know how long that song is, but I'm guessing four minutes plus, uh, you're definitely gonna reflect. Yeah.

unknown 47:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:49

519.

SPEAKER_08 47:50

519, there you go. Um, I I love it. Uh, like I said, it it is it is a very deep, deep song. That uh it touches the soul, man. Touches the soul. And I just want to add, man, again, we we doing all these podcasts. All of the music that we're doing is, and this is no knocking, man. Uh, we'll talk later because I definitely still want to get your opinion on the AI stuff. Uh, but this stuff is like from the heart, man. Um, even with the writers, even though you got like, you know, you got baby facing different writers, you could tell the soul in all of these songs. And then you got a guy as great as Johnny Gill with his vocals, um, doing these songs. Um, here we are. We we're 30 years later, we're still talking about this type of music.

SPEAKER_04 48:43

You know, yeah, yeah, uh, it makes it timeless, man.

SPEAKER_08 48:48

There you go. Timeless music. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 48:50

And uh and you know, when if you're going through something, especially if it's like you said, it's from the soul, your will, mind, and emotions. You write this music from that space, put it out there, you could always relate to it, you know, whatever you were going through. And think about it, man. We're talking about 1990. I was what man, like 19 at the time. Oh 19. Listen to these deep, these deep, uh, the deep subject, subject matter, man. And this right looking at my girlfriend and and singing these songs to her. We and I talked about Johnny, we talked about Kenny G.

SPEAKER_02 49:27

I'm looking, I'm I'm in, I'm in 11th grade listening to Kenny G, bro.

SPEAKER_08 49:32

It would it matured us in a sense, when you think about it. Yeah, yeah, music definitely has a power, um, and in what it does to your mind. And again, it it matured us because uh this was some mature music we were listening to.

SPEAKER_04 49:47

Yeah, and and it shaped your palate for a good music, you know, and so that's why, you know, like oh man, you know, uh I we I ain't no gatekeeper, I'm not on your porch, so I'll get off my lawn. But I can I can I can honestly tell you that the music I hear today doesn't resonate, it doesn't touch my soul, it just it's just so synthetic.

SPEAKER_08 50:09

It's like say it again, it's synthetic.

SPEAKER_04 50:11

It's synthetic music, man. So it don't touch the soul, and so that's why a lot of this music, 20 years from now, you probably gonna forget about it because it's like you know, unless unless you're going through something, it reminds you know, music always soundtrack your life, yeah, but it's not gonna resonate to a lot of people like this, like we're talking now. And the fact that we're having the resurgence of New Jack Swing and all those songs, and I'm hearing troop. Uh I can't wait to get to school each day. And I'm seeing people rein reenact these videos, people are like in their teens singing troop and doing these songs and all that, and especially uh, and I and I appreciate Asian people, Asian culture, man. They love hip hop, they love New Jack Swing, yeah, and they they really putting it out there and um they're doing it some justice.

SPEAKER_08 51:07

So I'm gonna throw a nugget to the young generation. This because my daughter, one thing I love about my daughter, my middle child, is she's a huge music connoisseur. And when I uh go like we just had our her open house last uh last Saturday, and man, to see the range of music that she had on her playlist was incredible, and a lot of it was from music from our era and before. Uh, but here's a nugget to the younger generation. Uh, and this is no knock, no slight. But if I was them, I would dive into trying to bring to life back the old music, whether it's recreating some of the music, which may not be good, but depending on the voices of who's ever doing it. But also like uh like the new edition movie and the Bobby Brown movie, like acting, because since we didn't have um, we didn't do a lot of recording back then, so a lot of stuff is word of mouth and things that you know that weren't captured on um on video. Uh, but reenacting music from that time, whether it's in movies or in videos, uh, because the guys that did the new edition uh movie, that was tremendous. The guy that did the Bobby Brown movie, tremendous. So I I think that the young gener this generation right here, I think that going back into the archives, because you're gonna have a great time, it's gonna touch your soul and give you a different outlook on life and music. Um, so I think it's a great thing. I think it would be a great thing for this generation to do.

SPEAKER_04 52:51

Yep, um, absolutely, man. I uh um I co-signed that, and I see some artists trying to do it a little bit. Uh, definitely Bruno Mars, man. His his music, he's done a tribute to New Jag and even like the old one he did with um Innocent Pac, man. He did some of that old 70s stuff, man. Yeah, um, but yeah, big ups to that. But yeah, all right, let's finish this album out. Let's Spend the Night. That's another good song. Another good song. Man, I compare this album, man. Um do you remember uh Luther Van Dross' first album, man? Uh Never Too Much.

SPEAKER_08 53:34

It's never too much, never too much.

SPEAKER_04 53:36

Yeah, yeah. That album, oh, that album is so fire, yes, sir. Um I kind of read I kind of compare the two. I uh Luther Van Dross album is is better, but I compare it. But he don't have any songs like Robbie the right way on there, though.

SPEAKER_07 53:55

I can tell you that now, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:58

But House is not a home and my my house is home, House is not a home may be better, but my my is still up there, and and I just like man, I was looking at those both of those albums. I was going track by track, I was like, Yeah, it's comparable, man. Yeah, and I know that um I know my man Johnny, man, he you know, he's very big influenced by uh Luther and Teddy P. And uh, but yeah, just you know, people go back and get go listen to Luther Van Dross Never Too Much album.

SPEAKER_08 54:30

I'm telling you right now, when when I get married again, there will be songs from that album that will be played at my wedding.

SPEAKER_04 54:40

Man, man. Ooh, yes, I all I can say just listen again. Just listen, just listen to it. If you have never listened to it, absolutely, and then number 11 is the reprise, my my, which is you know, uh, they let you know that this is part of this as a matter of fact, my my is his signature song.

SPEAKER_07 55:02

Yeah, think about that, man.

SPEAKER_03 55:03

You know, yeah, he he didn't like it, and it became his signature song, man.

SPEAKER_08 55:12

And I you know, I think probably I'm not gonna say it was challenging for him, but when you do listen to it, like that is a song for somebody who has a voice that you couldn't have pulled that that song off if you really needed a lot of help from the studio to make it happen. Um, and he had a great voice to pull that track off.

SPEAKER_04 55:34

Yeah. Maybe it would go up, go down, go up, go down, and then it would just go, and then you hear Kenny G in the background, that's saxophone. What a beautiful song, man. What a beautiful song, man.

SPEAKER_08 55:50

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 55:51

Um I enjoyed listening to that album again. I really did. I was I listened to it yesterday, going back and forth. All right,

Ralph’s Pressure After Everyone Wins

SPEAKER_04 56:00

we're to the last album. Ralph Trezvant's first solo album. Man, man, just think about the pressure that was put on this brother, man.

SPEAKER_08 56:12

I was just about to say it. Just about to say it. He said it himself that he was looking at the guys before him, and he was like, Man, this is what I gotta. This what I gotta do.

SPEAKER_02 56:22

All the members of the new edition, Johnny Gill, Bobby Brown, BBD, they all released albums, and you waited a long time.

SPEAKER_01 56:30

Why did you wait so long? Well, I think the main reason I waited is because Johnny Bobby and all those guys were doing so well. It's like a new edition clutter. And for me to try to put it out there and their stuff was hot. I said, Well, I don't want to get lost in the middle of all that stuff. So I said, let me give them time. Everybody adjust to all the stuff we've already done as a you know, offspring of new editions, did not come with my stuff. Besides that, um, I was I chose to work with guys like Jimmy Jamie, Terry Lewis, playing babyface, you know, guys like that. They had a busy schedule, so I had to wait around until I was able to get scheduled into the studio with them, and so that took a little while also. Besides that, man, I just was nervous and wanted to make sure it was good when I did come.

SPEAKER_09 57:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:14

Um, Bobby.

SPEAKER_04 57:23

And Johnny. Yeah. Now you got then you got Ralph.

SPEAKER_08 57:27

It's like BBD. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:31

Uh this album was released November 20th, 1990.

SPEAKER_08 57:37

Oh, dang, I'm tripping, bro. All those guys, everybody was released in 1990.

SPEAKER_04 57:44

Mm-hmm. Yep, yeah. And before this was released, all the brothers, all six of them, even with Bobby, they all got together with a reunion or the MTV awards. Uh, back I remember 1990, they uh all together and they hit it, they hinted to the public, or they said they were gonna release an album. So that was just a um that was a step stool to that situation. But they all got together and and so all that so all of that uh just was mounted on Ralph, man. He got the everybody successful, then they get together, and he hadn't even dropped his album yet, and he was just feeling the pressure. Yeah, and he just and he said he just had to he said he had to lean on his his acumen, his knowledge of being in the industry for his whole entire life, and you know, he's a you the lead singer and one of the best scripts of all time, so he had to just put that in perspective and just let it go. And then, you know, he had to wait on certain producers because as we talked about, babyface was just sought out everywhere, bro. He just everybody wanted him, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He had his own solos, he had his own solo stuff that he was uh babyface was doing, so that's what took Ralph a little bit of time to bring his out because he had to wait for because he was like, I ain't doing this album without without Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, man. Right. And so let's let's go and do this, and LA Babyface. So that's what he did. Now what is guys?

SPEAKER_08 59:22

What is unique about um about him having the most pressure? Uh his album did go double platinum, and um, I'm seeing that uh yeah on the U.S. Top RB Hip Hop Albums chart. Uh did it it went number one? Reach number one, yeah. Reach number one on the top RB hip hop album chart. Uh and it peaked at uh number 17 on Billboard. And

Hall Of Fame Snub And Fan Votes

SPEAKER_08 59:50

this is why I'm see, this is making me mad, man. Again, we're talking about 1990. We're talking about not just the new edition stuff, but here these guys follow up with great work afterwards, and here it is 2026, and they're still not in the hall of fame. Shame on the hall of fame.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:11

I'm I'm just gonna keep punching that that in crazy, yeah, yeah, and bro, dude, Wu Tang got over get in over them, and no slight to Wu Tang. But you know, come on now, these groups this group came out in '83, '82.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:39

Got together, had offspring, and they all doing millions of sales.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:45

Yes. Millions. Not, I mean, plat double platinum, quadruple platinum.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:50

Yeah. Because even with the Wu-Tang, when you think about solo careers, I'm going to say that Ghostface was the most, he had the most success solo. Um, even Method Man, who they thought was going to be the best solo artist. Yeah. I think outside his first album, his second album didn't really do too well. And then ODB, he did great with singles. The albums didn't really do well. But we're talking about not only did Nude Edition do great together as a group, but their solo projects were extremely awesome as well. So I I'm not, I'm still unclear on why they're not in there. Um they were up against. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:39

Nah, man. Dude, they as we said, you know, we did the fan voting, they they had more votes than Phil Collins.

unknown 1:01:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:52

Let's let's think about that.

SPEAKER_08 1:01:53

They have more votes than we have to do with the content. Uh we might have to do a protest podcast, bro.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:00

Man, yeah, let's do that. And and man, more than Phil Collins. And so I'm looking at that, I'm like, oh, they they shoe in. They should. I mean, we I think they got it was over, I can't remember. It was it was a crazy number, man. I don't know if it was it was over a million or two million. It was something crazy. And I know that they uh had a significant number over Phil Collins. So yeah, man. And when they saw that feat, they were celebrating it, not knowing that that they still wasn't gonna get in. And uh we know that the talking about Wu-Tang, we we know that the Knicks won the championship, and met the man was met the man was in the interview saying they had performed in front of a crowd, and the crowd didn't even know their music, bro. He's like, Oh, he said, man, he said I was cracking up, they even know the words.

SPEAKER_08 1:02:52

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, uh, because you know, like uh again, all our music it came from the heart, it came from the soul. And like you said, this stuff nowadays is just super synthetic, and it's no um, it's no soul to it. So uh uh when I listen to music like with my my son, he's he's my oldest, he's 27. Love you, boy. But when I listen to music with him, everything he listened to, they listen to maybe 40 seconds a minute, and then they're skipping to the next song. And I remind them all of the time. That's not how we our music was much better than that. Matter of fact, a lot of the stuff that we listened to, you actually put it on repeat. And and I'm gonna double down on that. That when we were recording music back in the day off of the radio, I would record it more than once, just because that's how good it was. So we waste recording the same song over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:55

Yeah. Man, okay.

Sensitivity And Ralph’s Deep Cuts

SPEAKER_04 1:04:00

Let's the singles. I'm gonna talk about I'm gonna list the singles that was released, and then I'm gonna go into the track listing. So Sensitivity, which is Ralph's signature song, was released October 9th, 90. Then Stoke Gentleman, released March 8th, featuring Bobby Brown, March, March 8th, 1991. And then Do What I Gotta Do, released May 13th, 1991. Okay, let's get onto the track listings, man, and then we'll be up out of here. That's my so rated. That was your senior year, Rance.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:35

Yeah, so was you bouncing this, man? What was you doing, man?

SPEAKER_08 1:04:39

Man, listen, I was I was a sucker for love. So, of course, all of this was in heavy rotation, my brother. Okay, yeah. I was trying to find my wife in high school, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:54

Like I said, this is my daughter's mother, my uh oldest daughter's mind. We we played this out, so yeah, rated R, man. He Ralph starts off the album with a with a new jack hip hop song, man. And he's got that, and he's flowing too, and it got that it got that Hank Shockley sound to it, but it's Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. But you know, it got that bomb squad, uh, whatever that, yeah, that bomb squad feel to it, but that horns and that, but Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. And it's a good song. Uh and you know, nice song that he would play in in um concert and stuff like that. But I I I don't recall hearing it too much on the on the on the radio or anything like that.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:39

No, you're right.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:43

Uh then we got sensitivity, which we know, man. You know, he he's known for that. It's a signature song.

SPEAKER_08 1:05:52

Yeah, man. That's my that's the that's another. I mean, the the classic is is uh that keeps. Coming out of my mouth for most of these podcasts we doing, because again, these songs are are still and um these guys are still getting paid off of this music for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:09

So yeah. And um and um salute to Jimmy Jamie Terry Lewis because they you know they got that ear, and they said they when they would work with Ralph, well one thing they do, they they get together with the artists, hang out with them, get to know them, have conversations with them, and then they take the conversation and write songs out of them. And um Terry Lewis is great at that. He's the he's he's the better songwriter of the two.

SPEAKER_09 1:06:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:39

Um Jimmy Jammer. He he admits that. He's like, nah, he's I get he said I get mental block and a writer's block, and then he's like Terry Lewis is just coming there and just like, oh man, blah blah blah blah blah blah and just walk out the room. So what a what a gift, man, you know, they to do that. And so they say when they listen to Ralph, they think of Marvin Gay. So if you listen to Ralph's music, they try to capture that Marvin Gay sound, so sensitivity, and you can hear the music, it has that Marvin Gay sound to it, I feel, and so that's what they were doing. They were going for that Marvin Gay too.

SPEAKER_08 1:07:19

No, what a what a great guy to to you know have in mind while you're brainstorming for a track.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:28

Yeah, uh track three, she's my love thing, is a nice little she's uh thing. Yeah, nice little that's a nice little mid-temple song. Yeah, nice o to your girlfriend, you know, nice, it has a kind of new edition feel to it. Definitely. Uh I you know, I like the song a lot. Uh yeah, it's a filler song, but it's not skippable. I love it. I listen to it.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:55

I agree. I agree.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:56

Um Stoke Gentleman, man, featuring Bobby Brown. That performance they did on RC in the Oh, what? Iconic. Iconic. Ralph come out there, and then Bob come out there still. He's still you know, feeling smelling the smoke of that the success of Bobby's career or the Don't Be Crue album. He still had the gummy at that time, and they hung out a lot. He was in this video, the Stokco Gentleman video. Uh, they were like partners in crime, you know, and like private investigators and stuff like that. And those are my two favorite, you know, members of the group, man.

SPEAKER_08 1:08:40

Um yeah. I I agree. I'm just sitting here thinking like that whole, and I'm so glad we're doing this, man, because we're kind of resurrecting that time of life, because that's missing now. That whole everything about that era is is is gone now, far as it being, even though we got YouTube and you know uh different things like that, but it's it's not in heavy rotation for uh our generation to understand it. So uh definitely great times, great times, great music, great memories.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:19

She's a whip to step that I had. Yeah, beating I ain't trying to go out like that.

SPEAKER_10 1:09:24

Oh stone code, baby I'm stone code.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:32

All of this stuff is working on rotation, man. I gotta do Spotify list now.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:41

Okay, oh then brings us to the next song, man. Do what I gotta do. Uh, the ultimate breakup song. That woo man. He was like, and Ralph's like, I was trying to find a way to uh learn how to break up, you know, break up smooth, you know what with respect and exactly what this was, man. Yeah, you know, and he talked about that. Trying to, you know, like uh he said, you know, some people use this on like a Hallmark card. You know, you uh you can't find the right words to use or say, you know, you get it, you get the uh Hallmark card. And so you were trying to break up with somebody, hey, let Ralph can say this for me, you know, put Ralph on.

SPEAKER_08 1:10:31

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:34

What a what a breakup song, though, man. Yeah, bro. You know, it ain't you, it's me. You know, they say, Yeah, it's it's not you, it's me.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:45

Man, nobody wants to hear that.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:52

You when he says like I just want to be single, or he's say lately. I'm just a feeling I want to be single, or just dang, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:01

That's how it is. All of a sudden, you feel on the now you're about to drop me.

SPEAKER_08 1:11:06

Dang, heartbreaking, which leads into the next song. Yeah, love hurts.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:13

Yep, nice sequence, man. Nice sequence, man. How did that then come that down? Yeah, man. Another good song, it's a fella song, but sequence behind that song, yeah, man. You know, because you be you feeling some kind of way listening to that. Then you hear love hurts, and um, yeah, it just it makes it more palatable, but love hurts. It does, it does. Uh oh, dog that brings us to the next track, number seven, girl. I can't control it. Yeah, uh Casey from um Joe D was a he's a songwriter on this month. Okay, uh good song, too. I used to listen to that. I don't listen to it much anymore, but it's it's a song that I do like. Um can't control it.

SPEAKER_08 1:12:03

Unfortunately, with Bobby having his run, with BBD having the run that they had, and Johnny Gill, uh, even though this album did really well, um, it got overshadowed. So a lot of these songs didn't have the time or the light to shine. Um, I don't know, maybe because I think even he was saying how when he was waiting his turn and with the producers and everybody being so busy, um but it still got released in the same year, it just kind of got overshadowed by the the previous albums we just talked about.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:44

Yeah, yeah, it did, man. Um and he feels some kind of way because you know he was working on the other album, Living in the Dream, before uh Any Heartbreak came out. He was working on that. Remember, even in the movie, he talked about it, he talked about it in the interview that he had all this material and it was a new Jack album. Yeah, you know, he was he you know he had a new Jack album and he was saying that Don't Be Cruel sounded like the album that he had he was gonna put out. And unfortunately, MCA went to Ralph and said, Um, you know, they went to him like, you know, because like the the other other members were doing, you know, financially were in in bad shape.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:27

And Ralph wanted this going and just do his album, he wanted to go solo, but they told him to wait. And we could see we still could put your album out, but we want to do this uh any heartbreak. So he put his he put his uh thing on the shelf so the so the uh group can eat. Yeah, and and it and it hurt him a little bit, just slightly, you know.

SPEAKER_08 1:13:50

Got to, yeah, heck yeah. Because you gotta think, like, in all honesty, when new editions started, with the exception of Bobby Brown emerging, it was to me, it was Ralph and the other guys in the beginning, yeah. You know, uh, I mean, it still were a group, but he kind of took the leadership role. He had, you know, he kind of had the the uh he was the focal point, I think, um, in a lot of the their their beginning music. So yeah, to have to take a back seat again, like we were saying with BBD, they were the background singers. You know, Bobby was like the outcast, Johnny was like the elder statesman that came in and put like some maturity to the group. Um, so yeah, uh salute to him though, because I I get it. When you when you're sitting in other people's sessions, man, it's so easy to steal something. And you could still you could take something from somebody else and not even really know that you're doing that, if that makes sense. Um so uh again, I I'm I can understand him feeling some type of way with Bobby's album and everybody else's, and then them telling him, Well, you know, we're gonna have to hold off on yours for a minute. Uh so salute to him, man. And it's it's cool that all of them brothers are still tight, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:08

Yeah, yeah. He he also talked about uh in the interview, he talked about uh uh when he was when he recorded a new edition, he was like the main one in the uh studio. He said, I would be there from almost almost 20 hours, just recording his vow vocals and layering the vocals and help writing stuff. And then he said the boys would come in and just do their raps or whatever and and do some background and then be gone. But he would be the main one in the studio. So when you listen to a new edition album, it's primarily Ralph, yeah. And you know, so now he wanted to go solo and then they tell him he gotta wait. Well, he should wait.

SPEAKER_08 1:15:46

Yeah, and he's just like my point exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:50

Yeah, hey man. All right, brings it to track eight Love Takes Time. I like this one too. It's another new, it has a it's a heavy new jack song, uh feel to it. Uh I see Kyle West is on in these songs. You know, Kyle West is behind the uh uh I'll be sure sound. Oh wow, okay. Yeah, so you can hear that and girl, I can I can't control it. Love takes time. It has a I'll be sure feel to it if you think about it. If you uh sure does, yeah, okay, and then um uh nine is is probably the skippable song for me, public figure, ordinary guy. I don't really listen to this too much.

SPEAKER_08 1:16:33

Yeah, that's that's a skipper for me.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:37

That's a skipper for me, and then um brings us to last night. Uh I like that snow. Ooh, last night, yeah, and that's that song there, that one.

unknown 1:16:54

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:55

That's what man, yeah. That's that's a love making song. I ain't gonna lie to you. There you go. Another one that that's definitely a baby making song. And Ralph really, Ralph's voice really don't say baby fake a baby making music. No, that song does. That song does. And we we talked about, and then what we talked about was the C uh was like the cassette version, bonus C D. There were bonus tracks, and bonus tracks are my favorite songs, man. Uh I Love You Just For You. Man, that song reminded me of my daughter's mother so much. That was our favorite song. I was one of our songs when we got together. I Love You Just For You. Just for Say it time and time, little girl. Oh any food with no ain't no changing this commitment uh with you to the end. I love man, Ralph. How old are y'all when y'all when you when you had your daughter? Uh my daughter's 92, so I was uh dang, I'm tripping, man. Um 20. Yeah, that's 21. 21. Yeah, okay. 21. Uh brings us to the next number track 12. All right now. All right now. Written by written written by Michael Jackson and John Barnes. So this song You don't want to grow up.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:38

No, I am Peter. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:41

And given to yeah, give it to Ralph, Michael Jackson. He got the demo with Michael Jackson's vocals on there. And if you listen to the song, Michael Jackson's voice is on there, but what he did, what Ralph did, which a lot of um singers can't do, he he can do it also like Michael Jackson. He can sing his own background, he can layer his own vocals, yeah, and like he didn't have to necessarily have people in the uh in the uh studio with him, he layered his own vocals, yeah. So he decided to put his vocal on layer on top of Michael's, yeah. And so it kind of drowned it out. I kind of wish he would have like not did that. Let Michael's voice come out, man. I think it would have been like dang. Yeah, could you imagine that? I don't know if Mike asked him that or the rec, I don't know what made him what gave him the decision to do so. Uh, I'm not saying it was a mistake, but I just wish maybe there was a remix version where you could just hear Michael vocal. Because I think you know, we know we all compare Ralph to Michael, you know, especially when he was in Candy Girl days and all that. So it'd be nice to just hear like the they got similar type of soft voices, but it would have been cool just to hear them singing together somewhat. I would man, I would have loved to um hear that. But yeah, he decided to record over that.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:09

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:11

That's one of and that's definitely another song that reminds me of my daughter Mother Man. And okay, I would always you know sing that to her. Um, it's definitely a love song. I can hear it's a this is a wedding song. If um, yeah, it's definitely a wedding song, bro. Okay, definitely a wedding song.

SPEAKER_08 1:20:29

I can see that.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:30

Yeah. And 13 was the sensitivity remix. The Ralph raps, and I love this. I listened to it too. Yeah, he he's man. I just like how you know the girl calling him over. She's she got into a fight with her boyfriend. She calls Ralph, Ralph, go over there, man. Well, no, he no, he he he talks about coming over there, and then uh he'll talk about he'll cook for her and all that other stuff. And but he just wanted to be a gentleman going over there, yeah. Knowing that she's an hour, but he ain't you know, like he ain't trying to, you know, what's the what they call that? Um he ain't trying to be a rebound. He just wanna go over there, you know. I'm I'll be here for you. Yeah, and by her being hurt, she like made a move and he's like, oops, I ain't here for that. You know, I just want to just you know, Ralph, like, let me just hold you all night.

SPEAKER_08 1:21:30

That's deep, man. That's deep.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:32

That is deep, man.

SPEAKER_08 1:21:33

Can you think about it? Yeah, being a rebound is that's uh I've been a rebound before in my lifetime. That's a terrible situation to be in. Uh, but to recognize that uh that that song definitely makes that apparent. Um, I'm just here to support you, sweetheart. You know, I'm just here to be that shoulder to lean on, you know. So that's another Jimmy Jam, the Terry Lewis track again. Love you, bro.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:03

Yeah, yeah, man. So my favorite songs on this album, I I told you the are the All Right Now and I Love You Just For You. Those are two my favorite songs.

SPEAKER_08 1:22:16

Mine is uh I Love You and uh and sensitivity, the the beat, yeah, the concept of it. Um just awesome track, man. It's still to this day, it's another track to come on no matter what time of day, early in the morning, late at night. It's just it's a great classic track.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:38

And I and I love Stoke Cold Gentleman, and I I kind of wish that Bobby and Ralph would have done an album together, man. That would have just would have been like so nice. I think so too. Yeah, I think the NELifers was clamoring for it because every time they get together and do something like this Stoke Cold Gentleman, and on the album uh Home Again, um what's that song? Something about you. It's just they those songs just shine. Um, they just you could their friendship, their relationship comes through the vocals or or the song. You could just like you could tell them tooth two those two are tight.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:15

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_10 1:23:18

But yeah, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:19

There

Listener Love And Global Shoutouts

SPEAKER_04 1:23:20

you have it, people. Another episode down there. Anything you want to say about this, man? Um, but you said a lot, man, about the rock and roll hall of fame and all that, man.

SPEAKER_08 1:23:37

I just want to say, I just want to say uh again, man, um, another great show. Um uh celebrating great artists. I really hope that uh these shows uh cross their path, man, because we're showing them uh brothers just a lot of respect, a lot of love that they deserve. I hope that they get their just due. Um because they deserve to be amongst the best, because they are amongst the best, regardless of if they're in there or not. But also, man, shout out to everybody that listens and supports, uh, especially uh everybody abroad. We love the fact you guys are supporting us. Um, you know, keep sharing, like and subscribe, leave them comments. We need comments, you know. Comment on you know how we're doing, what you think. Um and much love, man. Much love and peace to everybody.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:32

Oh, speaking of that, man. Uh shout out to Singapore. We got some we got some listeners in Singapore, man.

SPEAKER_08 1:24:38

Love and shout out to Singapore, baby. Yeah, Singapore. What?

SPEAKER_02 1:24:42

Yeah, I looked at that, like, where y'all come from? But thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:46

I appreciate y'all. Um yeah, I mean, you know, we just two brothers from Inkster, you know, Insta, Michigan, and you got people from Singapore. Like, I want to hear what they gotta say about music, and you know, and people love and people love nostalgia, and you know, we got we got a we got a group of people that's like to reflect. I get a lot of feedback, man. Thanks for you know, let me reflect. And I just end up listening to the music y'all talked about and put it back on, put me back in the good headspace, and then you then you got the younger people who who are being introduced to it, and then they're getting a deep dive and understanding what we were experiencing at the time that this music was released, and it's just

Sobriety, Cannabis, And Facing Pain

SPEAKER_04 1:25:30

man, it's awesome, man. And uh thank y'all, man, and yeah, man. And the big ups to you, man. And also I want to say to you, man, and congratulations. I I meant to say this, I was listening to one of the episodes and I didn't speak on the time, but you know, uh, congratulations you congratulate you on your sobriety, uh and uh, you know, and keep keep up the good work, man. And um, I had to like say something about that, you know. Thank you because that's not that's not a that's not an easy thing to do. Uh I myself stopped drinking. Um I still I still got issues with the cannabis right now.

SPEAKER_08 1:26:03

Um you know God has delivered me from it a couple of times, but everything in moderation is my grandma would tell me, you know, my my uh sobriety run um has a lot to do with uh I was just masking pain. And now that I would that I've hit that pain head on and been able to, you know, stare it in the face and deal with it and look at it, you know, not like last night, man, at the open house, uh at not at the open house, but at the the Insta Hot thing, it was a table full of liquor. And I I had no uh desire to indulge. Uh so you know, to each his own. Um and now, like, you know, I I'm not gonna say that I would never drink again, uh, but I knew that it was something that I had to uh get control of. Because at the same time, I do believe in life. You are supposed to have fun, you know, just don't let it control you. So yeah, I appreciate that, my brother.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:02

Yeah, and like I was saying, the cannabis first me, I was delivered from it a few times, but like I was always told, um you gotta, in order for really to get help from which to get delivered from something, you gotta learn it to dislike it. And if you don't dislike it, you're gonna have issues with it. So I I I got to the point where I didn't like alcohol. I didn't like the way I felt in the morning. I didn't like having a headache. I hate the recovery day. Yeah. And right now, uh, yeah, I'm dealing with the cannabis. Um, like you said, the moderation, trying to get to that spot. I I did experience some stuff uh because I was delivered, but I was experiencing some, you know, some when they say life be life, and I hit some some stuff hit me. And yeah, uh uh yeah, started doing the edibles for a little bit, and so I gotta I'm find my way to get back off of that.

SPEAKER_08 1:27:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:56

But uh big ups anybody for me.

SPEAKER_08 1:28:00

For me for um the cannabis. But like nah, if I was to do that now, man, Lord have mercy. I'd be paranoid. I'll be like I put like this. Leaving something somewhere. The chances of me finding it if I'm in that state is slim today.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:20

And also, too, man, put you have to put your armor on, hey, because what what we about to experience today at the picnic?

SPEAKER_08 1:28:27

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:28

It's all out, all is out there. I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. Oh yeah, oh yeah. I'm looking like uh carrying my water jug, you know what I'm saying? Looking at me like man, what is that looking at? If you follow me, you know I'm a healthy night.

SPEAKER_08 1:28:55

I'll be chiming in, bro. I've been going to all these a lot of you

Final Motto And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_08 1:29:00

in the line.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:02

Alright, people! There you have it. Like I always say, man. Always be you. Share your gift and keep those classics current. Peace out. Thanks for tuning in to the Disco Hicks Show.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:16

Where the stories live on. And the music never fades. If you enjoyed today's episode, please like, share, subscribe, comment, and rate me and keep the conversation going. Remember, always be you. Share your gift and keep those classics current. Until next time, keep the needle dropping and the good vibes rolling. This is your host signing off.