american r b group black street was the brain child of singer songwriter
musician record producer and the creator of the new jack swing genre edward theodore riley
better known as teddy riley after the breakup of another group teddy created the 80s r b
group guy and while in the middle of working his magic for artists like rex and fx heavy d and
michael jackson he came up with the idea to start a new group featuring himself in 1991 the group's
original lineup featured teddy an artist that he had become familiar with while working with guy
named chauncey hannibal as well as levi little and joseph stonestreet the name came from putting
together chauncy's nickname black with the latter half of joseph's surname street joseph however
ended up being replaced by david hollister before the group's first self-titled album was released
black street's introduction into the music world was through their first single called baby be mine
featured on the 1993 soundtrack to the comedy film cb4 their self-titled debut album was released the
following year and included the singles booty call the popular wedding jam joy as well as the top
10 hit before i let you go two years later they released their second album titled another level
it was a breakthrough success eventually going four times platinum largely due to the number one
single no diggity featuring rappers dr dre and queen pen i like the way you work here
the song captured the number one spot on the billboard hot 100 as well as the r b hip-hop chart
interestingly teddy was the only one who believed in the single years later he would reveal that the
other members didn't like the song at all in 1998 black street won the grammy award for best r b
performance by a duo or group with vocals the new album also brought with it a new lineup featuring
mark middleton and eric williams in place of dave and levi both mark and eric had honed their skills
as members of other groups prior to joining black street the reasons why levi left aren't clear
but both sides have said that money was the central issue years later dave would reveal
that it wasn't his intention to leave but due to receiving many offers to produce as well as sing
with other artists coming his way after the success of their debut album he knew he had
to make the best decision for his career and that was to exit the group another major issue was his
relationship with chauncey dave has referred to chauncy as quote the cancer in the group and urged
people to take a closer look at why there was a different lineup of black street with each album
the reason he claims was because of chauncey's inability to get along with the other members
due to the success of another level naturally a lot of great collaboration offers started coming
in the group would make a guest appearance on rapper jay-z's the city is mine and they also
hooked up with r b singer maya and rappers mace and blinky blink for the hit track take me there
off the soundtrack for the 1998 animated musical comedy film the rugrats movie the group's third
album finally came three years later and with it surprise surprise another lineup change
mark was out and new member terrell phillips was in according to mark he was put out on account
of him making a ruckus over what else money he claims that he was paid the least out of everyone
even though he was promised much more the second single girlfriend boyfriend with janet jackson
featuring rappers ja rule and eve failed to crack the top 40. then teddy and chauncey had a falling
out of sorts with reports of chauncey filing a 2 million lawsuit against teddy
claiming misappropriation of funds and in turn teddy launched his own 2 million lawsuit charging
chauncey with defamation of character and slander later chauncey would release a statement
maintaining that no lawsuit was ever filed teddy would consider the statement an apology and the
issues settled the group then disbanded after some time had passed teddy began having second thoughts
about disbanding black street and decided to patch things up with chauncey mark and eric
also returned to restore the lineup the reunion resulted in the release of their last album today
level two unfortunately the album didn't do well and after several failed attempts to keep the
group together all members eventually continued on with solo careers in 2010 teddy decided to
put together what he believed would be the final four lineup of black street consisting of himself
eric mark and dave and their plans for the group to quote go out with a bang it was a surprise to
hear eric and mark's names brought up since they both previously spoke out about the main reason
that they were originally at odds with teddy and chauncey being over how the money was split
among the members when eric and mark entered the group after the first album they claimed there
was a verbal agreement made for everything to be split evenly between the four of them however that
didn't happen this lineup didn't last long and was then replaced with what was touted as the
second generation of black street black street 2 or bs2 consisting of teddy newcomers lenny harold
tony tyler sherman tisdale aka j styles and former member dave hollister in 2011 eric and
mark then found themselves on the outs with teddy and chauncy after the latter duo filed a lawsuit
against the former duo over the use of the black street name as co-owners of the trademark teddy
and chauncey accused eric and mark of booking themselves as black street for performances
without the proper permission or consent the lawsuit was later dismissed after a cease and
desist order was issued against eric and mark chauncy and teddy also found themselves at war
with one another after chauncey noticed that teddy had let the ownership of the group's name labs
to protect the integrity of what he helped to create chauncy bought soul's stake in the name
and offered teddy an even split which he says teddy didn't like naturally teddy's version is
quite different he insists that chauncey let the trademark lap so he could swoop in
and claim it himself and he wasn't notified about it he also maintains that he did pay chauncey 90
000 to add him to the registration but he never did teddy eventually also filed a restraining
order against his former groupmate in an interview with soultrax.com chauncey highlighted that teddy
is the common denominator and instigator of the breakup of both guy and black street
teddy played us off on each other he was the boss and we were all tied to the same contract
everybody's wrong except for him everybody we didn't abandon the names he did we've got them
preserved them and made sure that we keep those names within the family
he acts like we took something from him no we're protecting what we created together chauncy
ultimately ended up winning the rights to the name so by 2014 the lineup went from a five-some
to a foursome once more with teddy completely out of the picture this time and chauncey mark
eric and former member levi returned to continue the black street legacy in an interview the same
year with hip-hop entertainment blog this is 50 dave said that he still gets along with everyone
except chauncey when asked what it would take for them to be copacetic again he said that
chauncy would have to be honest about his fault as well as admit that he was jealous of dave
to add insult to injury a few years later when dave's episode of the tv1 series unsung
aired it was revealed that chauncey declined to be interviewed and he also denied permission
for the use of the black street track that dave just happens to sing lead on before i let you go
in march 2021 black street released a remix version of their 1996 hit no diggity with
the dutch duo lucas and steve later on in the year in september the group was given the honor
of receiving a key to the city where it all began virginia beach today black street's latest social
media posts reveal that they're currently at work on a new album while also touring and performing
stateside as well as internationally the year 2021 also marks the group's 30th anniversary
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