90s brehs. Why did new jack swing die off?

krazykid18

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Bobby disappeared for 3 years....and most of njs was copies anyway...

And back then music shifted very fast unlike today and really is because of the radio act of 95 that black music doesnt have the shift in sounds it use to have
 

OnlyInCalifornia

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My take?

shyt just slowed down. Most of the major songs were slower & mellow

The biggest uptempo songs then we’re
Real Love
Don’t Walk Away
Keep On Walking
If You Love Me (Say It)

That’s really it and even still those songs, with the acception Of Cece Peniston, didnt have the same rpm as some of the bigger NJS songs

It was one of the biggest shifts in black music history

Jodeci didn’t have ONE upbeat hit...not one lol

I actually think there is some validity to this as well.

Part of the 'sound' is also the tempo and you are right, it was very slow ballads. In hindsight they really needed the more uptempo new jack swing songs that Bobby Brown was so good at /was so popular leading up to the 90s.
 

DANJ!

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It is more than gangsta rap and I wonder if some of the people commenting are not old enough to truly remember what happened then.

One of the big contributing factors was the fact that it stopped getting a lot of spins on MTV as they shifted to more Rock and Hip Hop in general plus having shows that took up time away from just playing videos like MTV Beach House, MTV Sports, Liquid TV, Real World, and others.

Boyz II Men was still insanely popular through the 90s regardless though so I don't know if anything died as much as it just shifted to another sound.

I don't really remember much New Jack getting played on MTV, honestly. MTV wasn't particularly generous to R&B music (with the exception of like Janet, MJ, Whitney, Bobby, Jody Watley, Bell Biv Devoe) until the early-90s really. They had a show called 'Fade to Black' that was kinda their R&B version of Yo!, where they'd play videos you wouldn't see on the channel any other time. But even that show was never heavily pushed. Otherwise, I don't really recall seeing a lot of Keith Sweat, Guy, Troop, Al B. Sure, etc. vids on there. I wouldn't say MTV really started playing R&B vids until MTV Jams started in '92-'93, and of course it took off from there. But by then, the NJS style was dying down.
 
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I actually think there is some validity to this as well.

Part of the 'sound' is also the tempo and you are right, it was very slow ballads. In hindsight they really needed the more uptempo new jack swing songs that Bobby Brown was so good at /was so popular leading up to the 90s.

That’s another thing

Bobby took wayyyyyy too long between albums. He was the face of the sound and one of the biggest stars in the world. He should have been back out in 90 instead of 92.

Bobby went double platinum in 92 with a sound that was on its deathbed. If he took his career/himself more seriously it wouldn’t have been crazy to think they could have put together the material to hit 5-6 million with a follow up to Don’t Be Cruel’s 8 million in 90/91

If he comes back and does numbers it’s possible this extends the lifespan of New Jack Swing on a whole since the labels would still see it as a big pot of gold

When Bob faded so did the sound as a whole

Now that I’m thinking about it was Bobby’s two albums the only platinum albums NJS produced? (Sans Dangerous)
 

wizworld

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I don't really remember much New Jack getting played on MTV, honestly. MTV wasn't particularly generous to R&B music (with the exception of like Janet, MJ, Whitney, Bobby, Jody Watley, Bell Biv Devoe) until the early-90s really. They had a show called 'Fade to Black' that was kinda their R&B version of Yo!, where they'd play videos you wouldn't see on the channel any other time. But even that show was never heavily pushed. Otherwise, I don't really recall seeing a lot of Keith Sweat, Guy, Troop, Al B. Sure, etc. vids on there. I wouldn't say MTV really started playing R&B vids until MTV Jams started in '92-'93, and of course it took off from there. But by then, the NJS style was dying down.

Exactly. New Jack Swing ruled on shows like Video Soul & Video Vibrations. For those of us in NYC Video Music Box also had New Jack Swing in heavy rotation.
 

OnlyInCalifornia

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I don't really remember much New Jack getting played on MTV, honestly. MTV wasn't particularly generous to R&B music (with the exception of like Janet, MJ, Whitney, Bobby, Jody Watley, Bell Biv Devoe) until the early-90s really. They had a show called 'Fade to Black' that was kinda their R&B version of Yo!, where they'd play videos you wouldn't see on the channel any other time. But even that show was never heavily pushed. Otherwise, I don't really recall seeing a lot of Keith Sweat, Guy, Troop, etc. vids on there. I wouldn't say MTV really started playing R&B vids until MTV Jams started in '92-'93, and of course it took off from there. But by then, the NJS style was dying down.

Those exceptions you listed had videos that were spun multiple times per day though. There are only so many hours in a day on top of it. In context R&B was 3rd fiddle because it was a cable tv station that was marketed towards affluent white people (at least outside of NYC) so yeah you are right they didn't play them as much as say a Hall and Oates or Nirvana but they did get spins. The songs were too good for them to be ignored.

Boyz II Men, Janet, Bobby Brown, and Bel Biv Devoe received a lot of playing time (in context). Bobby Brown and Janet specifically benefited greatly from the videos getting so much play as far as mainstream success went.

Keith Sweat didn't come out until Hip Hop fully took over MTV after Kurt Cobain/Grunge died out. By then Bobby Brown was way in the deep end and I guess in part let the sound fade.
 
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Otherwise, I don't really recall seeing a lot of Keith Sweat, Guy, Troop, Al B. Sure

This, among other reasons, is why we have a plethora of white people who have clout within black music who have no true foundation or palate as it relates to black music. We grew up on all that shyt as well stuff from early in the 80s & 70s that was hidden from them because that music was reinforced through black living

Frankie Beverly, Keith Sweat, SOS was mandatory Aunty music at the cookout gatherings
 

wizworld

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One thing I remember happening was that a bunch of mediocre new groups abused the sound, so it died down. If you had BET in the early 90's you know what I'm talking about. The streets embraced New Jack Swing more than traditional R&B, so eventually it became a hustle for young hood nyggas who couldn't really sing that well. These songs would always have a cringey extra hype rap verse too. Here are a few examples from back then, I still enjoy these songs to an extent but let's be real




Also there is the unfortunate matter of New Jack Swing being associated with a particular style of clothing. Those clothes are cringeworthy, and contributed to the sound losing popularity. Once all the popular hip-hop dancers started wearing Polo, Hilfiger, Girbaud & Guess those New Jack Swing inspired fits looked basura
 

Big Mark

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What did Phife Dawg say? "Strictly hardcore tracks, not a new jack swing". Q-Tip caught one for that but Phife made the point. Funny that nobody tried to snake Cube after he said his shyt.
 

IllmaticDelta

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HipHop Soul came along which had more varied tempos than New Jack Swing. Most New Jack Swing was made for dancing like

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DANJ!

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Keith Sweat didn't come out until Hip Hop fully took over MTV after Kurt Cobain/Grunge died out. By then Bobby Brown was way in the deep end and I guess in part let the sound fade.

Keith's 1st album was in '87 and has been considered the first NJS album... TR's first big R&B hits 'I Want Her', 'Make It Last Forever' are off that album.

Far as MTV (and by extension, pop radio, and Billboard) Most R&B for a good part of the 80s/early-90s was put far behind pop and rock music, and I'd say they even put rap in front of it at a point as it was the "new cool thing" for a minute... it was everything to US... but most R&B acts had to go super-pop to get play during those days. It even reflects in the charts- there are songs that were #1 hits on the Billboard R&B charts that weren't #100 on the Billboard Hot 100- because they weren't getting played in those other markets (a direct result of that 'Disco Sucks' movement in '79 which made Black music a pariah... but that's a whole 'nother story). That's why there's a whole world of R&B songs from that era that we love and they don't even know shyt about.

thedevilyouknow said:
Now that I’m thinking about it was Bobby’s two albums the only platinum albums NJS produced? (Sans Dangerous)

Guy's albums went plat, Keith Sweat went plat, Al B. Sure's first went plat, BBD went plat, a gang of singles went plat, etc... some even consider Janet's Rhythm Nation to be a NJS-esque album, that went multi. It was a pretty big thing between '88-'92.
 

Big Mark

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Cac alert

LMAO bytch please! Southside of Chicago homie. The real hood, Joe! You ain't never been in no 10 floor project building playa. Straight up! No cracker in me. I'm a real nikka saying that New jack swing shyt was weak!! What suburb you from??? LOL
 

Born2BKing

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LMAO bytch please! Southside of Chicago homie. The real hood, Joe! You ain't never been in no 10 floor project building playa. Straight up! No cracker in me. I'm a real nikka saying that New jack swing shyt was weak!! What suburb you from??? LOL
Riiiiight :sas2:
 
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