Oh Where Has All the Musical Talent Gone?

There is an odd trend in the music industry that has been bugging me a lot. I know I have touched on this before but the whole younger sibling stepping into the limelight as the older brother or sister ages is the worst trend ever. This trend is rather disturbing; in the last few years we have all seen the younger brother or sister Britney Spears, Nick Carter, and Jessica Simpson all jump into the teeny bopper limelight. All of these off spring have considerably less talent then their older brother or sister but because large companies can market them they get shoved down the public’s throat. (The only person to break from this trend is the older sister of Hillary Duff, it’s the first time on record that the older sibling all of a sudden appears in the limelight. Do you think that she was maybe a fluffer working on set in Sherman Oaks when her sister threw her a bone and asked her to work with her?)

It used to not be like this. Back in the day groups used to have proteges, people that they would bring along and expose to the masses. You had the stable of artists that Prince brought into the world, and other various groups that were produced by random celebrities like Rick James. But in the world of teeny bopper music few knew how to bring along a stable of artists like the musical genius that was Michael Bivins. I know some of you are like who the fuck is Michael Bivins? ?He was a member of New Edition then later a member of Bell Biv Devoe, you know the group that brought us musical treasures like “Poison”, strip club staple “Do Me!”, and “BBD (I thought it was me)”. Bivins also produced the likes of Boyz II Men as part of his East Coast Family, a group of young guys that he brought along unlike the current trend in the music industry. But his greatest contribution to the musical world was…. Another Bad Creation.

Now I know a lot of people that read my blog might have been too young when ABC came out, or maybe you have blocked it from your memory. But they were the ultimate young group for Michael Bivins to work with. Chris Sellers, Dave Shelton, Romell Chapman, and brothers Marliss and Demetrius Pugh made up this preteen quintet (yahoo had them listed as a quartet) that brought us the single greatest debut by a pre-teen group, “Coolin’ at the Playground Ya’ Know”. This masterpiece brought us two of the greatest boy band singles of all times “Playground” and “Iesha”. Not only did Bivins produce this legendary band he also did random drop ins to their songs, making him the Dr. Dre of his era. To show you the talent that these guys had, here are the lyrics to “Iesha”:

RoRo:
Iesha, [tag]Iesha[/tag] so glad to meetcha
See you in the schoolyard strollin’ wit your techa
The lil skirt you played was realy fly
She turned around and she winked her eye so I
Stepped to her like I knew her the Biv is cool but Romell is cooler
The bell rang cuz I started to talk yet the class is not there no more

(Yo Red, where’d you meet her?)

Red:
At the playground, ya know
That’s where I saw this cutie
This girl was swingin’ and she looked so fly
On the monkey bars, we climbed up to the top and
She touched my hand that’s when I fell in love

Chris:

2 – Iesha..
You are the girl that I neva had
And I want to get to know you bettah
Iesha..
You know I want you so bad
And there’s nothing anyone can do
To keep me away from you

Mike Bivins:
Yo Dallas man these five young boys out of Atlanta GA are a real adventure
They kinda like remind me of me and my boys New Edition, know what I’m sayin
So all you people out there ridin’ in your cars listenin to the radio station
Or coolin’ back in the living room watchin this here video, ay yo peep the 2nd verse

We played Nintendo This was her very first date
I didn’t wanna make it seem to fly
We ate cereal
She couldn’t stay out at late
Her mother told her to be home at nine

[Repeat 2]

Break

(Ronnie Bobby Ricky and Mike)
Chris, Mark, Red, Da, Ro x2

Yo Ro u might sound to sure so wutcha gonna do?
I dunno Da, I only got one more rap and I’m gonna see what happens

Threw down my books went up to the door
Pressed the bell what was in store?
Iesha came out with a smile (oh no)
She aint worth the while
So I passed her a lolli pop and a letter
Told her so let’s keep this a secret
No remember Iesha, only u can keep this, peace

Just a couple of random thoughts on the lyrics: Who would have ever thought a 12 year old could “look so fly”, not me… And what was the deal with her being able to stay out until nine on a date what type of whore were her parents raising?

Sadly this group only made one more album, “It Ain’t What You Wear, But How You Play It” and disbanded in 1993… Giving them a career spanning from 1991-1993… Longer then most relationships I have had.

It’s unfortunate that we will never see talent like this again… Instead of musical genius we are left with [tag]Aaron Carter[/tag]. My how times have changed, and not for the better.