don't get it twisted these ladies were no manufactured industry group they came together
the good old-fashioned way they had the talent and the drive and they knew it was only a matter of
time before they made it big however even after they did make it big the politics of music took
them away from the stage and their fans let's find out whatever happened to 90s r b trio mokenstef
monifa buffoon kenya hadley and stephanie sinclair better known as mokenstef came together in los
angeles california in 1990. the name of the group is a combination of the first syllable
of each member's name kenya and stephanie were cheerleaders while attending the same high school
and were also members of a local hip-hop dance crew they took their dancing very seriously
and knew they needed to break away from the other girls in the group that weren't as serious so
they did however they felt that if they were going to take things to a professional level three would
be better than two enter monifa she attended another high school in the area and decided to
attend the audition she stood out as the clear winner and their dance crew was finally complete
they started dancing for various hip-hop acts on stage and in music videos most notably for
rappers amg and big daddy kane since they didn't want to be backup dancers forever
they started developing their vocal skills they took their lumps early
on in their career when they hooked up with a local production company
that didn't do anything for them and then signed a contract with a shady management company that went
nowhere they persevered while continuing to attend college classes and work nine-to-five jobs
they caught a lucky break when they dropped into the office of the owners of the record label that
would go on to sign them to their first deal amg and some other local artists were there playing
around with some rhymes of course the ladies chimed in as well and captivated everyone in
the room with their amazing sound soon after they signed with the now defunct independent hip-hop
label outburst records distributed under death jam recordings and started working on their album
their debut single and biggest hit he's mine dropped in may 1995
the song would peak at number seven on the billboard hot 100 chart and reach gold status
the messy and scandalous opening lyrics he might be doing you but he's thinking about me
sets the tone for the entire track it also got some major cool points by using samples
from funk band zaps be alright and the minneapolis king of funk rock himself prince's doomy baby
fun fact the inspiration for the song written by the group came from r b group h towns 1993
smash hit knock into boots and fans of both songs will also notice the similar sound between them
as is their debut and only album to date would be released that july their follow-up single called
sex in the rain generated much less success compared to their debut a planned third single
called baby come close ended up being released as a promotional single only instead of commercially
mokenstuff came on the scene at a time when the r b genre was hot and becoming more saturated
with each passing year however the ladies have nothing but positive things to say about the
encounters they had with other girl group trios who came out around the same time such as jade
brownstone and cut clothes they never felt like they were in competition with any other
artists anyway because they always did their own thing and had major differences between
themselves and other groups that they could tap into with their music like both kenya and
stephanie being able to rap as well as sing and the fact that they all obtained college degrees
the following year the trio appeared on the movie soundtrack to the american comedy film
fat beach with their song jock and me moken's stuff weren't heard from for another three years
until they made an appearance on a compilation album called hits for the new millennium by
cool dre with the track he say shisei also during this time they recorded another album
but it never came out in 2000 the group officially called it quits
then after a long 14-year hiatus moken's steph officially reunited in 2014
and reconnected with their fans on instagram on their brand new page the real mokenstev
by the time 2017 rolled around there was word that the trio were coming out with a coffee table book
all about their good bad and ugly experiences in the music industry titled unfinished business
the title says it all monifah kenya and stephanie will tell the story of how mocan stuff started
and ended to how they mended the relationships amongst themselves
and also detail how they confronted those who stole and took advantage of them
now they'll finally be able to tell their story their way it will be full of never before seen
photos as well as juicy details about their interactions with other music industry superstars
such as tupac big daddy kane ll cool j and mary j blige as far as what the members of mocan's stuff
were up to during their absence from the music world well they've been pretty tight-lipped in
interviews they consistently suggest that you get the book to find out those details
they do all have children and kenya's personal instagram is mainly centered around her passion
for fitness and work as a certified personal trainer she's also a professional bikini
competitor to coincide with the release of the book fans can hope that they'll also release new
music since they teased with a january 2017 photo on instagram of the trio in a recording studio
as of the making of this video no release date has been announced for the book
or any musical projects thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget
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