Poison

Debuting as the No. 1 r&b Album, "Poison" spun off FOUR hit singles, with two topping the charts, and was basically all the rage throughout 1990 and an early part of 1991. From the urgency of "Do Me!" to the pleading of "When Will I See You Smile Again" to the rawness of "She's Dope!" to the lighter convey of "I Do Need You", B.B.D. successfully departed from the bubblegum sound of New Edition that claimed there name to fame and was the one of the first new jack outfits to acquire a harder-edge. Many other urban and pop acts were to follow in their footsteps, but harder-edged "new jack swing" began on this monumental release. They single-handedly transformed new jack, and would domino-effect the genre's dominance of the urban audience for a couple of more years.

To add more prudence to their signficance, there is not a dud track. From the booty-shaking, be-boping, get-on-the-floor-and-dance new jack cuts to the slow-burning, convincing ballads, B.B.D. put together a hell of an album! Even the club version of "Poison" is distinguished from the original! Unfortunately, this would be the pinnacle of B.B.D.'s career, save for the babyface smash "Something In Your Eyes" on their sophomore release, and is essential for casual or die-hard new jack fans.

The overall arrangement would payoff. Poison hit No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 5 on the Billboard 200, unleashing five hits, two top five hits on the Billboard Hot 100 ("Poison" No. 3 and "Do Me" No. 3), and three top ten on the R&B charts ("B.B.D. (I Thought It Was Me)?" No. 1, "She's Dope!" No. 9, "When Will I See You Smile Again?" No. 3). "Poison" was slingshoted by a driving skipping hip-hop beat. The song mixed their sweet, well-honed harmony singing with tough, aggressive R&B funk with even a blend of Rap. "Do Me!" "B.B.D. (Thought It Was Me)?" and "She's Dope!" followed the same route. B.B.D. returns close to the New Edition sound, with the excellent new jack ballads (two of the finest the genre has to offer) "When Will I See You Smile Again?" and "I Do Need You."

Along with Guy, Bobby Brown, and Keith Sweat, Bell Biv DeVoe delivered some of new jack swing's greatest material. While most "New Jacks" waisted their time trying to be Guy clones, Bell Biv DeVoe took a daring risk to distinguish their own sound and style and the results were un-describable. Unfortunately, the sounds of new jack swing wouldn't survive the '90s, but for the brief run new jack swing had (late-'80s-early-'90s) it was the finest music we had seen in the last twenty years, timeless. Poison is arguably the greatest new jack swing release, only to be rivaled by Bobby Brown's Don't Be Cruel, Guy's self-titled debut, Keith Sweat's Make it Last Forever, and to a lesser-degree Boyz II Men's Cooleyhighharmony, Troop's Attitude, and Tony Toni Tone's The Revival.