Heavy D. & The Boyz have this one MusiCard in series one, another one in the UK edition (different photo), and then 5 cards in the Yo! MTV Raps set. This yellow/black pic can also be found on Yo! card #39.
Heavy D. put out 5 albums with The Boyz before going solo in the mid 90s. The group was down to a trio by the time this card was released, as Trouble T. Roy (real name Troy Dixon, lowest crouching guy in the photo) tragically died in July of 1990 from a fall while messing around with the fellas by an arena exit ramp after a show. His memory inspired the 1992 Pete Rock & CL Smooth song "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)", which has become regarded as a hip-hop classic.
Heavy D & The Boyz dedicated their next album to T. Roy, 1991's Peaceful Journey. It spawned the single "Now That We Found Love", their version of an old O'Jays song, which was an international hit and remains the group's best-known single.
I remember Heavy D. most from the theme songs to sketch-comedy shows In Living Color and MADtv, as well as his occasional acting. He's also notable for having collaborated with the Jacksons, rapping on Michael's "Jam" and the remix version of Janet's "Alright". Sadly, his lifelong heaviness contributed to health problems, and he died in 2011 at the age of 44.
The rest of the Boyz-- DJ Eddie F. and G-Whiz-- are still with us as of this post, happy to report.
CUSTOM CORNER
With Heavy D's theme leading the way, I thought it'd be fun to make a custom subset featuring some of the more memorable characters from In Living Color.
There's the first batch I whipped up (no AI) and that's probably enough for today. I could easily keep going, so I'm thinking I'll likely do a second series for this subset when we get to card #201 featuring the similarly-named rock band Living Colour.
But yeah, In Living Color was huge for young folks and kids of card-buying age back around the time this set was being put together. Like with the MTV subset I made a while back, I bet it would have helped sales to have these inserted into packs of MusiCards, were Pro Set to have such a licensing agreement in place. In reality, Topps put out a set of In Living Color cards in 1992 (TCDb link), but I don't have much recollection of those. Heavy D & The Boyz also have a card in that set, which is 88 cards and 11 stickers deep. I took a curious look on eBay for a set, but seems one will run you north of $100.
Thanks for stopping by and please chime in below if you've got favorites to share with regards to Heavy D tracks or Living Color moments.
I own two of Heavy D & The Boyz cd's, but haven't really listened to either of them since the 90's. The only song I have on a Spotify playlist is Peaceful Journey... which pops up every now and then. On the other hand... They Reminisce Over You is one of my favorites from that era and a song I have saved on multiple playlists.
ReplyDeleteHuge fan of In Living Color. Had no clue that Topps released a set for the show back in 1992. Had I had access to packs of those, I would have been all over them. Instead, I bought a box of 90210 trading cards 😆
I know the Now That We Found Love remake and that's it (I think I confuse Heavy D and The Boyz with D-Mob). Just not going to have a lot to say on the rap portion of this set. Never watched In Loving Color either.
ReplyDeleteI know the They Reminisce Over You song but I didn't know its connection to Heavy D and the Boyz. BTW there's a classic reggae version of "Now That We Found Love" by Third World. I remember reading in the radio trades that at least one station was playing a mostly instrumental version of the song with all the raps removed, and I didn't know why they didn't just play the O'Jays or Third World version.
ReplyDeleteOn the 1991 season premiere of In Living Color they have a segment where they introduce the new cast members, and within a span of a minute or two America meets to future A-list movie stars, Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Lopez.