hip-hop duo new boys consisting of rappers earl benjamin better known as ben jay
and dominic thomas better known as legacy took the nation by storm with their hit debut single
you're a jerk the hype wouldn't last long though and within less than a handful of years new boys
would be no more legacy began rapping at the age of eight after watching a music video by
fellow child rapper bow wow ben jay never had any plans to pursue a musical career
he had his heart set on playing football at san diego state university ultimately he did choose
to focus more on music after he discovered that he had a passion for rapping ben jay and legacy
first met at hesperia high school in california's island empire not friends at all at first they
eventually bonded over their common interest in music with both of their birthdays conveniently
only days apart in the month of october they decided to pool the gift money they received
to purchase recording equipment legacy then got to work teaching himself how to make beads
by 2008 the duo would begin performing together under the name swagger boys they also created a
myspace page to promote themselves after a name change new boys would experience their
first taste of success on the social media platform with a track produced by legend
magic music maker software beat making tutorials on youtube mattresses and egg cartons placed
against the wall to improve the acoustics and a space inside legacy's mother's apartment was all
the duo needed to create the masterpiece that would garner so much attention that
the powers that be at warner distributed label asylum offered them a record deal
in april 2009 the teen's debut single was commercially released and became a national hit
it peaked at number 24 on the billboard hot 100 and number four on the hot rap tracks charts
contrary to popular belief jerkin isn't about calling somebody out
it's an underground dance craze that's spread outward from inner city los angeles we caught on
to the dance and we want to make a song about it we wanted everybody to be a part of the movement
the california natives however were careful not to take credit for the new dance phenomenon we did
not create the jerk we wanted to learn the dance because we saw the potential that the dance had
when we learned it in los angeles we saw it becoming big along with the success of the
hit came some controversy over another song on the same subject matter hip-hop duo audio push accused
new boys of copying them and their track teach me how to jerk along with the trademark dance
the new boys also sported a trademark style bright colors and skinny pants their debut album titled
skinny jeans and a mic a nod to their fashion sense was released that september and went gold
the second single and more r b heavy tie me down featuring ray j did equally as well as
their first on the charts peaking at number 22 on the hot 100 and number five on the hot rap tracks
new boys released their second studio album too cool to care in may 2011. after taking some harsh
criticism for their first album the duel wanted to show their fans and haters that they're too cool
to care about hurtful comments legacy revealed that on the previous album listeners were more
focused on the clothes they were wearing and the music style they had become known for so
they decided to make a conscious effort to switch things up and show a different side to themselves
the project yielded its own pair of top 40 platinum singles backseat featuring the cataracts
and dev and better with the lightsaw featuring chris brown the following year a mixtape titled
fully tape gave the group another charting single with fms or freak my [ __ ] behind the scenes of
all the success the duo was experiencing though some major legal trouble was brewing in july
2012 it was announced that new boys was being sued due to copyrights of their name against
christian rock band the news boys the federal lawsuit filed in nashville tennessee claimed that
fans were confusing the two groups the manager of the australian group founded in 1985 before ben
jay or legacy were even born alleges that he'd invested millions of dollars and years of hard
work to promote the news boys who have more than two dozen number one songs and won numerous awards
the suit stated that the news boys have documented several instances of actual confusion among its
customers prospective customers and other outside observers who mistakenly assume a connection
between plaintiff and defendant and the respective music they offer claiming that the new boy's music
is sexually charged and the lyrics are sexually explicit in content as of the making of this video
the outcome of the lawsuit is unclear legacy announced via twitter in early 2013 that the
group had been working on their third album as the year drew to a close though and after a lot
of speculation that the group had gone their separate ways ben jay officially reported that
new boys did in fact decide to split up in order to pursue solo careers apparently though there was
a much deeper and dramatic reason why new boys fell off as ben jay laid out to vladtv in 2018.
he attributed the group's demise to r b singer tinashe
i really hate that [ __ ] yeah i mean i don't like that [ __ ] at all
ben jay insinuated that tanashe who was dating legacy at the time had a negative influence on
him while she was on the scene it became difficult to get legacy to commit to his work obligations
he also spoke about what he feels was the true turning point in their relationship
which involved a physical altercation between the two in an airport in 2022 legacy sat down
with strawberry pink youtube channel to do his very first solo interview he vehemently denied
that his relationship with tenache had anything to do with the breakup of the group he attributed
much of the strife they experienced to creative differences with their label
he revealed that while the duo had a vision for what direction they wanted to go in the label
did as well and they didn't always want to go with the label's vision legacy knew he needed
to break free from those constraints so he walked away as a result of the group falling apart ben
jay told vlad that he ended up homeless became a pimp for a while and got locked up numerous times
then in 2017 he would experience a traumatic home invasion that resulted in the intruder losing his
life at ben's hand as if a death wasn't bad enough it was also revealed that he believed the incident
could have been a setup by a close friend he was never able to prove anything or come to any
definitive conclusion about it then in january 2022 to everyone's surprise new boys kicked off
the new year with the release of the sequel to their 2009 hit song you're a jerk after teasing
the group's return the previous month on social media releasing the track seemed to initially
be a positive moment for them but the reunion may have simply just been a one-off experience
after legacy posted some profound tweets he shared his struggles with chronic depression and anxiety
while also expressing wanting to make art without having to compromise with anybody today legacy
has his hands in several different arenas such as 3d animation coding and learning how to edit
music videos out of past frustration of people not delivering projects to his standards ben
jay continues to release his own solo music and perform live one of his most recent appearances
was during the omarion and mario vs battle in june when he joined ray j on stage for a performance of
timing down unfortunately according to how he came across in a follow-up flat tv interview in 2020
he also continues to harbor a lot of anger and resentment towards legacy over his refusal to
put new boys back together thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget
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