Wrecks-N-Effect - "New Jack Swing" discussion.

[Badger]

I have a (hopefully) fun set of questions for my fellow old-schoolers out there.

One of my favourite dance tracks from 1989 is Wrecks-N-Effect's "New Jack Swing." I've had the 12" single since back in '89, but I finally saw the video for the first time a few years back. Since then ,I've had a lot of questions about the song and the video.


Au0wjQoipLA

If anyone could help me answer these questions, I would really appreciate it:


Who are the men in the very beginning - the one standing at the grill and the one in front of the jukebox? They both look extremely familiar.
**UPDATE - This part is still unknown.**

Obviously, I know who Teddy Riley is... but who is the older, shaved-headed gentleman sitting with him at the craps table, who first appears at the two-minute mark? He almost looks a little like Quincy Jones... but I don't think it's him.
**UPDATE - This part is solved - It's Gene Griffin.**


Are any of the others shown at the craps table recognizable performers?
**UPDATE - This part is solved - Most likely Redhead Kingpin and Aaron Hall.**


At 2:05, it sounds like Riley asks, "Yes, GR is movin' it, right?" As he asks this, the camera pans back over to the shaved-headed fellow. Is he "GR?" Since the verse concentrates on the accomplishments of Teddy Riley, one would think that he would say "TR is movin' it right," especially since he calls himself "TR" at the beginning of the verse. However, in every copy of the song I've ever heard, no matter how clear the audio has been, it has sounded like he's said "GR is movin' it."
**UPDATE - This part is solved. "GR Productions" was the partnership of Teddy Riley and Gene Griffin.**



Right after that point, Riley goes through a roll call of performers that he's "got," some of whom are shown on camera, some of whom are not. I obviously know a number of them, but I'm confused about a few, which I've highlighted in red:
.

Keith Sweat
Heavy D (shown with the Boyz)
Today
"Moe Dee" (Kool Moe Dee)
"B. Sure" (Al B. Sure!)
Bobby Brown
"Zann the Man" (maybe "Cinnamon?")
**UPDATE: This is probably a reference to William "Zan" Aquart. See posts below.**
Redhead (Redhead Kingpin)
"Boy George" (certainly he's not talking about Culture Club's Boy George... is he?)
**UPDATE: That's the one! See posts below.**
"James and" (???)
**UPDATE: This is most likely "James Ing," short for "James Ingram." See posts below.**
"Deja"
**UPDATE: Déja was a group/duo formerly known as "Aurra." See posts below.**
Guy

.

I know this is an odd thread... but I've been wondering these things for quite some time and I'd really like to clear them up. Thank you in advance to everyone!

:badger:

[Mark_Spit]

Sorry I don't have too much to give you Badger, but I do agree the two at the beginning look familiar - from where, I don't know The guy at the BBQ's name is Frank though..... . Teddy IS refering to the bald guy at the craps table as "G.R."; I played it over a few times on my 12" and does not sound like "T.R.".. Once again I don't know who he is. Red Head Kingpin, and (I think) Aaron Hall of Guy are at the table too.
I'm pretty sure he is indeed talking about THE Boy George of Culture Club as he produced a track ("Don't Take My Mind On A Trip") on his "High Hat" album .
As for the others:

Zann the Man - :shrug:
Deja: :shrug:
James and: Not sure either, but I think he's really saying "James Ames" :shrug:

Sorry, I suck. :freak:

[akswun]

I have to say Badger... you going in deep on this one. deeeeeep!!!...

[c-hawk]

I think the bald guy (GR) at the 2 minute mark is Gene Griffin

[Badger]

First off, I want to apologize to everyone for not replying sooner. Even though I had subscribed to the thread, I wasn't seeing updates in my Settings whenever people responded to it. Thank you to all three of you for the posts.

I'm going to start with c-hawk's post:

I think the bald guy (GR) at the 2 minute mark is Gene Griffin

Thank you very much - you're absolutely right! I looked up information about Griffin and found that he and Riley ran "GR Productions" (Gene-Riley Productions). So, that makes perfect sense. I found out quite a bit more about Griffin and his 2009 death here:

http://www.njs4ever.com/index.cfm/pageId/547


Sorry I don't have too much to give you Badger, but I do agree the two at the beginning look familiar - from where, I don't know The guy at the BBQ's name is Frank though..... . Teddy IS refering to the bald guy at the craps table as "G.R."; I played it over a few times on my 12" and does not sound like "T.R.".. Once again I don't know who he is. Red Head Kingpin, and (I think) Aaron Hall of Guy are at the table too.
I'm pretty sure he is indeed talking about THE Boy George of Culture Club as he produced a track ("Don't Take My Mind On A Trip") on his "High Hat" album .
As for the others:

Zann the Man - :shrug:
Deja: :shrug:
James and: Not sure either, but I think he's really saying "James Ames" :shrug:

Sorry, I suck. :freak:

There is no need for an apology whatsoever. I had a feeling that I'd be getting different pieces of the puzzle, and you definitely helped. I had no idea that Teddy Riley had ever done production for Boy George. In fact, I just listened to "Don't Take My Mind on a Trip" after reading your reply, and it's really amusing to hear Boy George singing a legitimate new jack swing song. (Yep, Gene Griffin worked on that song as well.)

I think you're right about Redhead Kingpin being at the craps table. That very well might be Aaron Hall behind him; I can't be sure either.

Now that I listen to the "James and," I think you might be right about that - it does sound like "James Ames." However, I can't find anyone musically famous named "James Ames." It's a good try, though!

So, you filled in some blanks and you really helped me out. Your information definitely did not "suck." Thank you!


I have to say Badger... you going in deep on this one. deeeeeep!!!...

Hahahaha... I've wanted to post a thread about this video for months, and finally got around to it. Normally, I don't decide to "examine" a song/video on such a granular level, but this was a special case. I'm really glad that I've had such a positive response to the thread. :)

:badger:

[moyo wilde]

i think that boy george is referring to cross dressing boy george. in the article you linked about griffin it says they worked with him, also they specifically did a song in 89, actually they did three or four songs on his 89 album, hi hat.

[Mrspyaman]

I believe that "James and" or "James Ames" being referred to is James Ing or James Ingram of which TR produced a song for in 1989. I got the Promo

[Mrspyaman]

Also Deja may be referring to TRs daughter that was born during the recording of this song.

[DJ Que Yi]

I have a (hopefully) fun set of questions for my fellow old-schoolers out there.

One of my favourite dance tracks from 1989 is Wrecks-N-Effect's "New Jack Swing." I've had the 12" single since back in '89, but I finally saw the video for the first time a few years back. Since then ,I've had a lot of questions about the song and the video.


Au0wjQoipLA

If anyone could help me answer these questions, I would really appreciate it:


Who are the men in the very beginning - the one standing at the grill and the one in front of the jukebox? They both look extremely familiar.


Obviously, I know who Teddy Riley is... but who is the older, shaved-headed gentleman sitting with him at the craps table, who first appears at the two-minute mark? He almost looks a little like Quincy Jones... but I don't think it's him.


Are any of the others shown at the craps table recognizable performers?

At 2:05, it sounds like Riley asks, "Yes, GR is movin' it, right?" As he asks this, the camera pans back over to the shaved-headed fellow. Is he "GR?" Since the verse concentrates on the accomplishments of Teddy Riley, one would think that he would say "TR is movin' it right," especially since he calls himself "TR" at the beginning of the verse. However, in every copy of the song I've ever heard, no matter how clear the audio has been, it has sounded like he's said "GR is movin' it."



Right after that point, Riley goes through a roll call of performers that he's "got," some of whom are shown on camera, some of whom are not. I obviously know a number of them, but I'm confused about a few, which I've highlighted in red:
.

Keith Sweat
Heavy D (shown with the Boyz)
Today
"Moe Dee" (Kool Moe Dee)
"B. Sure" (Al B. Sure!)
Bobby Brown
"Zann the Man" (maybe "Cinnamon?")
Redhead (Redhead Kingpin)
"Boy George" (certainly he's not talking about Culture Club's Boy George... is he?)
"James and" (???) -James "ING"gram "Deja" Guy

.

I know this is an odd thread... but I've been wondering these things for quite some time and I'd really like to clear them up. Thank you in advance to everyone!

:badger:

Aaron Hall from Guy - Teddy's main band is also at the craps table

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFLPdQjBzNU

[DJWhiteChoco]

Love this song and love this thread!!
NEW JACK molded my youth!

[Badger]

WOW! Lots more responses... Thank you, everyone! I've updated the main thread to indicate which parts have been solved so far.


i think that boy george is referring to cross dressing boy george. in the article you linked about griffin it says they worked with him, also they specifically did a song in 89, actually they did three or four songs on his 89 album, hi hat.

Indeed, I believe you're right! Thanks!


I believe that "James and" or "James Ames" being referred to is James Ing or James Ingram of which TR produced a song for in 1989. I got the Promo

DANG! I wouldn't have even thought about that, but it makes sense. Thank you!


Also Deja may be referring to TRs daughter that was born during the recording of this song.

Possibly... but when doing some research to confirm this, I stumbled onto something on Wikipedia (which I realize is not always 100% correct, but mighty helpful most of the time) regarding a group called "Aurra:"



Aurra was a 1980s soul group, who at the time of their biggest success was composed of Curt Jones and Starleana Young. The band started off in 1980, signing to Dream Records and then Salsoul Records. However it was a deal with Virgin offshoot 10 Records that gave them the biggest success with songs such as the 1986 UK Singles Chart hit, "You and Me Tonight", which hit #12, their best showing.[1] Three of Aurra's other tracks were "Like I Like It" (UK #43),[1] "Are You Single?" and "Make Up Your Mind".

Legal issues with a former member over the name Aurra made the duo change their name to Déja, and with this name they cracked the bottom half of the US Billboard R&B chart, with the Teddy Riley produced hit, "Made To Be Together" in 1989. Starleana Young left the group to go solo, and was replaced by Mysti Day.


The daughter thing was a great theory, though... and without it I wouldn't have started searching for "Deja Riley," which ultimately led me to that article. Thank you!


Aaron Hall from Guy - Teddy's main band is also at the craps table

That was theorized earlier... glad to get confirmation on that. Thank you!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFLPdQjBzNU

Holy cow! I just clicked on that link and realized that it was the video to the Déja track referenced in that Wikipedia article above. Thank you very much!!!


Love this song and love this thread!!
NEW JACK molded my youth!

I'm glad you've enjoyed it. I loved a lot of the big New Jack Swing tracks, and the actual "New Jack Swing" song had a special impact on me, right there in those beautiful early days of my DJ career. :)



Again, I'm thrilled that so many people have contributed to this thread, and hopefully, we can find out the remaining pieces of the puzzle:

Who are the guys at the jukebox and the grill?

Who was "Zann-the-Mann" (or "Cinnamon")?



Thanks again, everybody!

:badger:

[shocase241]

Who was "Zann-the-Mann" (or "Cinnamon")?
:badger:

Zan could be William "Zan" Aquart
produced by TR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CPJWjMWtaE

hope this helps or gives you a next lead.

[Mark_Spit]

Still no word on the two guys at the beginning yet? They're the one that are driving me nuts. Damn they look familiar. :freak:

[Badger]

Zan could be William "Zan" Aquart
produced by TR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CPJWjMWtaE

hope this helps or gives you a next lead.

That's IT! :) At least, it makes perfect sense. I hadn't been familiar with Aquart, but considering the timeframe... yeah, this seems to fit perfectly. Thanks very much for the info!


Still no word on the two guys at the beginning yet? They're the one that are driving me nuts. Damn they look familiar. :freak:

Same here. I'm absolutely stunned that I've been able to get every piece of the puzzle solved related to the musicians (a MAJOR thank you to everyone once again)... but we still can't determine who the two dudes at the beginning were.

If anyone can help with that info, this thread will have solved every little mystery I had about the video... and that would be pretty awesome.

Thanks!

:badger:

[Mark_Spit]

I still can't find much on them. I even tried searching "new jack swing video cast" and other similiar variations yet still nada. I have however found some interesting tidbits of info about Gene Griffin. Apparently he was an alleged gangster (wikipedia - so take it with a grain of salt - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wreckx-n-Effect) and he also screwed Teddy for Royalties down the line. Link: http://www.judiciaryreport.com/taking_too_much_credit.htm - scroll half way down the page.