When Bell trades verses with SWV’s scene-stealing Coko on the ballad “Finally,” her full, trembling tone nourishes his lancing falsetto. While Bell Biv Devoe classics mostly eschewed harmony, a New Edition hallmark, in favor of skeletal thwack, the trio embraces the full-group approach on the back half of Three Stripes. It’s a pair of the least energetic moments, though, which turn out to be the richest on the record. This is exemplified by the lead single, “Run,” which redundantly interpolates Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize,” a song too molded to Biggie to provide a favorable look for anyone else. But the tracks are mostly either pedestrian and unmemorable, or memorable for the wrong reasons.
As they did in 1990, the trio calls on hip-hop producers for help: Erick Sermon of the famous New York hip-hop duo EPMD crafted “Run,” and other beat makers here include DJ Battlecat ( Snoop Dogg, Xzibit) and Doug E. “I’ll say a bunch of slick shit to get between your thighs,” Devoe promises in “I’m Betta,” a pushy, hurry-up-and-leave-him-number which reminds listeners that 49 year-olds have the right to be juvenile, too.īut despite these allusions, Three Stripes rarely crackles in the manner of early Bell Biv Devoe-the Poison album is resiliently pesky, like an especially pugnacious welterweight, but there's little of that scrappy spirit here. And since the majority of the group's early hits were smutty accounts of the group's interactions with the opposite sex, similar narratives guide several songs on Three Stripes. Despite their time away from the studio, Bivins and Devoe still rap in the end-rhyme-heavy style of the late ’80s. This is the first Bell Biv Devoe album in 16 years, and early on, it feels like the trio is stepping gingerly, with continuity in mind above all else. 1 R&B hit “This One’s For Me And You,” and a three-part New Edition biopic is slated to air on BET the same week that Three Stripes hits the shelves.
They're also likely to benefit from New Edition’s high level of visibility at the moment: the group returned to the radio for the first time in over a decade last year, credited as featured vocalists on Johnny Gill’s No.
That honor makes it a fine time for Bell Biv Devoe to reemerge with Three Stripes. Of the New Edition diaspora, Brown enjoyed the most sales and notoriety, Tresvant approached one-note perfection with “Sensitivity,” and Gill built an enviable collection of ballads, but it was the underdogs in Bell Biv Devoe who came up with that elusive thing, a crossover standard which everyone will know for eternity: “Poison.” President Obama recently invited the group to the White House to perform the track, confirming its designation as a piece of universal American pop culture. Until they didn't: heeding advice from the world-class production duo Jam & Lewis, Bell Biv Devoe formed a trio and released an album that was eventually certified quadruple platinum.
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