II was released on August 30, 1994 by Motown Records. After selling over 9 million copies of their debut album, Cooleyhighharmony, Boyz II Men recorded the epic record, “End of the Road,” for the Boomerang movie soundtrack, which propelled their careers to the next level by setting records on the Pop and R&B charts.
They returned to the studio in 1993 to record a Christmas album,
Christmas Interpretations with fellow R&B stalwart,
Brian Mcknight to build on the success of their debut and appearance on the movie soundtrack.
All of these elements provided the group with a blueprint to achieve greater success. A year later, Boyz II Men would find themselves on the cusp of musical greatness once their second studio album would be released to the masses of music aficionados.
This album would see Boyz II Men taking it up a notch in terms of their overall musical production and vocal abilities. The 14 song offering contained the trademark melisma-style singing of
Wanya Morris, the tenor harmonies of
Shawn Stockman and
Nathan Morris and the smooth, deep bass notes of
Michael McCary. The album introduced a young, up and coming production duo named
Tim & Bob, welcomed back the production talents of
Dallas Austin and showcased the legendary production of
Babyface and duo
Jimmy Jam and
Terry Lewis. The inclusion of these greats musicians and vocalists became the springboard for the best selling album by an R&B group in the history of recorded music.
Boyz II Men formed as a group in 1988 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania while attending the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts. They were originally a quartet and their group name was Unique Attraction. Co-founders
Nathan Morris and
Marc Nelson recruited Nathan's brother, Wanya as well as Shawn Stockman and Micheal McCary to become part of the group. It wouldn't be until a year later where they would begin their journey down the road of unparalleled success.
As the story goes, the group was able to get backstage at a
Bell Biv DeVoe concert in 1989. They performed an a capella version of
New Edition's hit record, “Can You Stand The Rain” for
Michael Bivins. A year later, the group would be signed to a production deal by Bivins to his Biv Ten Records company, a subsidiary of Motown Records. Due to mounting frustrations, Marc Nelson left the group to pursue a solo career leaving the group as a quartet. Four years later, the quartet would establish themselves as the best R&B group on the planet.
Between the months of December 1993-May 1994 II was recorded at DARP Studios and Doppler Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, Babyface's home studio in Los Angeles, California, and studios in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Reno, Nevada.
SoulCulture recently sat down with Bob Robinson, one half of the legendary production duo, Tim & Bob and co-writer for five of the songs on the album to gain a deeper perspective on how the iconic record came to fruition.
Before there was Hype Williams, Little X and Benny Boom, there was Lionel C. Martin.
From 1987 to present, Martin’s videography reads like a scroll of all of the great talents of the past 25 years in urban and popular music. Martin is responsible for giving urban music videos life and authenticity at a time where Hip Hop and R&B desperately needed a pioneer to deliver a quality product for the world to see. Martin has produced videos for TLC, Stevie Wonder, R. Kelly, Public Enemy, Bell Biv Devoe, Big Daddy Kane, Jay-Z, Keith Sweat, Toni Braxton, Boyz II Men, SWV, En Vogue, MC Shan, Jodeci, Mariah Carey, Jill Scott, Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Notorious B.I.G., Father MC, Hi-Five, Tupac, N’Sync, Backstreet Boys and many more.
Martin, a native of Queens, NY, was a trailblazing force in the 1980s when he helped launch the Video Music Box channel with his childhood friend, Ralph McDaniels in 1984. The Video Music Box channel was only seen in the Tri-State area at the time. The Tri-State area consists of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Martin was one of the first hosts on the show and his moniker was (The VidKid). The channel would play every Hip Hop video from the popular artists of the time period.
After its inaugural year, Martin devised an idea to expand the channel’s brand and this move helped to make the channel achieve legendary status. Martin alongside McDaniels made the decision to travel extensively through the emerging hip-hop scene to cover parties and shows to illustrate the influence that Hip Hop culture was having on New York City and the surrounding areas. It would prove to be pivotal in shaping the career path of Martin.
During this time, the Video Music Box channel was the only Hip Hop program in syndication on public television in the United States. It gave a voice and face to a culture that would begin to dominate the mainstream in the forthcoming years. Whilst working on the Video Music Box channel, Martin would see the types of videos that would come in from the artists and thought that the Hip Hop culture needed to have better representation for the art form. This is where his voyage of directing music videos begins.
Recently, SoulCulture sat down to talk with Martin about his contributions to urban music videos, behind the scene stories and the importance of maintaining pride in urban culture.