So… one day last week, I’m mindin’ my own business on Twitter, shootin’ the shit and whatnot. Suddenly, folk start talkin’ about the nominations for this year’s BET Awards. Now of course, I have no interest in seein’ the awards this year (especially after last year’s bullshit), but I go to check these nominees out anyway, right…
There’s three things I came away from it with: A) There’s no need for a Best Female Hip-Hop Artist category anymore, since there’s only one that’s been slightly relevant in the last year, B) Justin Bieber is the new face of blue-eyed soul (?), and C) R&B and Hip-Hop groups are at an all-time low. Any time The New Boyz (who have a total of one hit), Dirty Money (who haven’t dropped an album), and Young Money (who’s actually just a buncha solo artists who made an album together) are up for it… I guess all you gotta do is be a group to get into that category nowadays.
As I noted in my “Group Thang” post last summer, R&B and Hip-Hop actually once thrived off of groups just as much as they did solo artists. I guess employment is down across the board, because if you’re a nigga that can only sing background, you ain’t got a chance at bein’ a star in this day and age. There definitely ain’t nobody comin’ to see you, Otis- it’s all about the solo stars. That said, I’ve just had another one of my BRILLIANT ideas… another new series here on DLT90s, dedicated to some of the groups who popped during the decade. As short-lived as most of ‘em were, they did have their moments. Here’s three R&B teams that did their thing, and have an unfortunate thing in common:
Hi-Five was a teenage group from Waco, Texas, who debuted in ’90 with “Just Can’t Handle It”. For the next three years, they had a string of hits that went high on both the R&B and Pop charts, and even had their own Sprite commercial. In fact, yours truly liked that “Kissing Game” shit so much, I lip-synced and danced to it for a music class project… but that’s neither here nor there. By ’94, lead singer Tony Thompson (who was barely 15 when the group started) went solo. He had a minor buzz with “I Want A Love Like That”, but the album bricked. Years later, he claimed that the other Hi-Five members didn’t sing on any of the tracks, and that he actually did all the lead and background vocals. He reformed Hi-Five with all new members in ’06, but he died a year later after an overdose from huffing freon.
“She’s Playing Hard To Get” (1992)
Intro was one of the early groups of the Hip-Hop Soul era, dropping in ’93 with their debut self-titled album. The lead singer Kenny “G-Love” Greene also wrote all of their songs, in addition to writing some of Mary J. Blige‘s early hits. They had a few joints that went hard and got a lot of radio love, although they never had the same popularity of some as the others from that time. After their ’95 album New Life didn’t do as well as their debut, Intro was dropped from Atlantic Records. Kenny went on to work with artists ranging from 98 Degrees to AZ during the late-’90s, and also mentored his goddaughter, Ashanti. In 2001, he died of AIDS, just a few months after revealing that he had it.
H-Town was one of the very few R&B acts on Luther Campbell‘s Luke Records. True to the label they were on, their biggest hit was their first single (and one of my favorite GTD anthems) “Knockin’ Da Boots” in ’93. They didn’t stand out much from the crop of groups that were poppin’ up back then, but they managed to have a nice handful of hot singles before they dropped off the scene in the late-’90s. The next time their name made news, it was in 2003, when their lead singer Dino died in a car accident (which always had a small irony about it, considering that their single “Emotions” had a video that involved Dino getting into an accident). The remaining members recently linked up with Jodeci and dropped a “Knockin’ Da Boots” sequel of sorts called “Knockin’ Your Heels”, but uhh… eh, nevermind.
NEXT TIME: Group Therapy revisits three of the most influential (and often undercredited) hip-hop groups of the early-to-mid-’90s. Bum Stiggity Bum Stiggity Bum!
-D!
1st things 1st that damn “knockin ur heels off” is garbage!! When i saw the video i almost busted a blood vessel from laughing so hard & this is coming from a gurl who has a special place for jodeci in my heart. Neway hi-five did the damn thing “quality time” & “unconditional love” 2 of my faves! Huge intro fan had the 1st & second tapes
….h-town had a lotta singles that i was feeling specially “natural woman…” but the twinz always had that slurred mumble-mouth singing style…it was odd….
Ahhh, we got another R&B chick on the DLT90s comment team… Although I thought you were a dude at 1st from your name, LOL, but no harm done. Welcome again!
That 1st Intro album was heat… the 2nd one I didn’t hear, but the Funny How Time Flies was crazy.
H-Town lasted way longer than I thought they would… I dunno, I figured they weren’t comin’ back after Knockin Da Boots but they had some joints after that.
-D!
That “Knockin your heels off” joint almost made me lose the respect for all of those dudes early classics. It mos def was trash. LOL
Man…I LMAO when you said that you lip-synched and danced to “Kissing Game” b/c I did that same joint w/4 other cats in a middle-school talent show. Hilarious. I was a fan of those dude’s music, and Intro definitely had some nice joints. Their version of “Ribbon In the Sky” actually did Stevie’s version some justice. They even had him in the video. I didn’t know G-Love was Ashanti’s mentor and godfather, and I was a bit saddened by Tony Thompson’s passing as well b/c I loved Hi-5′s music. I just noticed that the lead from all 3 of these groups have died, which is a little saddening b/c all 3 of these groups are engrained in my memories of my teen-age years. Thanks for doing this post, DANJ!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA… we was some ol’ Hi-Five ass niggas. I had the fade game proper and some fluorescent orange shit on- I remember it clearly, but I’d NEVERRRR wanna see it again, even if the school still had it, which I imagine they might.
Intro was doin’ their thing- I def. remember when ‘Ribbon In The Sky’ dropped, I was workin’ my first summer job and that was one of the joints on the radio at the time, rotating HEAVY.
-D!
I always felt that Hi-Five were your “run of the mill/garden variety” early ’90s R&B group. Anybody could have gotten a hit off of the songs on that album.
Intro was one of those groups that came out during the tail-end of New Jack Swing and the beginning of Hip Hop Soul. Classic album. Great production by Eddie F, Neville, and the rest of the Untouchables camp.
H-Town had the city of Houston on lock for a minute. You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing that Knockin Da Boots song on 97.9 The Box every five minutes.
That Intro album, definitely one that doesn’t get mentioned for whatever reason, but one of the best from that genre/era of R&B for sure. It took me a min. to hear it, but all the stuff from it was quality… by the time I heard the whole thing, def. wasn’t mad at it. That Untouchables team was doin’ it for a minute there, esp. when Pete Rock was part of that during the early 90s
Far as Hi-Five… I think certain joints (esp. the Kissing Game) woulda had to be sung by a kid or a teen w/ the young-ish voice like he had… I dunno if any group in that time coulda made that work. It woulda come off too juvenile for somebody like say, Shai. Now the slower ones like ‘Quality Time’ or ‘Can’t Wait Another Minute’, yeah. Those coulda been anyone.
-D!
A)yeah but nicki gotta get somethin…
B)i like the kid but hell no…
C)cosign
hi-five, i remember their songs…huffin freon tho?
intro, never heard those songs, aids tho?
dino was fine as hail, and i loved his voice rip knockin the boots is classic to me…
Yeah… you know that award is pretty much solely hers for the taking, lol.
The freon shit w/ Tony Thompson was wild. Somethin’ about that seems crazier than if he woulda died from actual drugs- that’s not as unusual as that one is. I didn’t even know people did that.
-D!
freon is like the stuff in air coolants and tings… thats a serious high. something called “freon” sounds like it causes death or some sort of cancer. Damn!
Right! That’s some other-other shit right there… I didn’t know people even did that. Next it’s gonna be some shit like huffing carbon monoxide… dudes must have death wishes dealin’ with stuff like that.
-D!
..carbon m…lmao…..yes niggaz will be doing it..? right up there with “goose” poured into ur eye..wats good dev..?
H-Town I remember, mostly due to their song being on the soundtrack for “A Thin Line Between Love & Hate”, and the video showing Lynn Whitfield’s ass going apeshit. LOL I also remember “Knockin Da Boots” (I’d be damn if you couldn’t get away from it…even still!) And then they faded into existence, never to be heard from again…..or so I thought.
I vaguely remember Hi-Five’s “Kissing Game”, and I just can’t imagine you singing and dancing around to it like you were the second coming of Tony Thompson or something. Just wrong, on so many levels….But I would pay good money to see a tape of it!
I bet you would… I might even pay right along with you if they still had it. Whoa.
-D!
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Great Stuff. H-Town is my favortie r&b group ever & hi-five is right up there with them. and yes, intro is criminally slept-on.
As for the BET Awards, i was thinking the same exact thing about the female hip-hop & group categories. complete jokes. And as I
And as i always say, rap was alot better off when we had groups. the same goes for r&b. everybody isnt meant to be a solo artist.