Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Looking for a mellow fellow like Devoe

Bell Biv Devoe.

Me and my brother loved these guys. When we first heard this song, it was on Mtv. I remember we stayed glued to the tv for like three days, waiting to record this video. On a freaking vcr.

When we finally captured this little gem, we watched the video over and over and over until we had their moves and lyrics down. We were like Bell Biv Devoe lite. Extremely lite.

The only thing was, there was just the two of us. We had to take turns being Devoe.

Then, it was like God answered our prayers. He must've wanted us to become 11 and 9 year old rappers.
Our cousin Jeremiah came to stay the summer with us. He became Devoe.


We all used to giggle at the line "Never trust a big butt and a smile".


The three of us practiced our routine so much that we needed a bigger venue. We needed appreciation. We needed an audience.

We'd performed for my mom several times, but after watching us two or three times every day (and somehow managing to hold in her laughter) she just wasn't blown away by our awesome moves and singing skills.

One day, Mom had to go run some errands for her husband. He stayed out in the garage, fixing something, and we decided to run through our routine one more time.
As soon as we started that haggard ass vcr tape, someone knocked on the door.
It was a friend of my mom's.

Like sharks that had just smelled blood, we told her mom would be back 'soon'.

And while she was waiting, why, we would just entertain her...

We entertained her several times.

She was a good sport about it, and somehow kept most of her laughter inside. When she did laugh, we just assumed she was laughing at that one line we always did.

When the Bell Biv Devoe tape finally got eaten by the vcr, my mom laughed as she was digging out the shiny spools of tape. By then, me and my brother had moved on to bigger and better things. Like, the air guitar.

11 comments:

The Peach Tart said...

what i want to know is can you bust a move like those guys?

Alyson said...

For me it was the NKOTB tapes. Ah, sweet youth.

Call me bitch!

Anna G said...

For me it was Britney Spears, Hit Me Baby One More Time. I was so only 8 when that came out. I knew most of her dance moves, it was so much fun.

p-huong said...

Those are some sick moves for a 9 and 11 year old to learn.

I grew up trying to imitate the Spice Girls. If you wanna be my lovveerrrr...

Lana said...

oh boy, you're stirring up some memories for me. that song was everywhere and so catchy, how could you not be obsessed. but the video story is hilarious!

jerrod said...

and what group did this trio come from???? that's right..... NEW EDITION. If you don't know the importance of that, you should read my blog. and sally's.

i like your style sally....

tennysoneehemingway said...

great post. never did anything like it myself but then again, I've never been much of a dancer.

Sally-Sal said...

Peach:
Back in the day, yes. Today? Hell to the no.

OWO:
I had a thing for Vanilla Ice. Shame... I texted you, B!

Anna G:
Me and my best gay friend learned the Christina Aguilera "come on over" dance.
I was 21-ish....

p.huong:
LOL! That would be awesome to see.

Lana:
I still know every single word.

Jerrod:
I know you have a lot of love for New Edition. And your blog is where it's at, yo.

Tennys:
I wish we recorded our 'moves'. That would be some funny shit to put on youtube.

Around My Kitchen Table said...

"Never trust a big butt and a smile"? Oh, f**k, that's all I've got going for me!

Sally-Sal said...

AMKT:
LOL! Hey, Devoe said it, but I'm sure that's enough :o)

Anonymous said...

I always inspired by you, your views and attitude, again, thanks for this nice post.

- Thomas