"Iesha" — Another Bad Creation
Six boys between seven and twelve rapping about a playground crush over a Dallas Austin beat, the 1990 single that made Another Bad Creation the kid act of the New Jack Swing era. Michael Bivins found them, Motown signed them, and it went top ten.
Another Bad Creation were six kids discovered by Michael Bivins of Bell Biv DeVoe and signed to Biv 10 Records, his Motown-distributed label, as part of what he called the East Coast Family, the collective of Bivins acts that also took in Boyz II Men. The lineup was David "Li'l Dave" Shelton from Boston, Romell "RoRo" Chapman, Christopher Sellers from Cleveland, the Atlanta brothers Demetrius "Red" Pugh and Marliss "Mark" Pugh, and Adrian "G.A." Witcher. When "Iesha" came out on October 2, 1990, the youngest, Shelton, was seven, Mark Pugh was eight, and the oldest were twelve. The song was written by Dallas Austin and Bivins and produced by Austin, who was nineteen.
It reached number nine on the Hot 100, number six on the R&B chart and number 17 in Australia, went gold, and finished 1991 at number 54 on the year-end chart. The album, Coolin' at the Playground Ya Know!, arrived on February 11, 1991, peaked at number seven on the Billboard 200 and number two on the R&B albums chart, and was certified gold in April and platinum by May. "Playground" followed it to number ten on the Hot 100 and number four R&B, then "Jealous Girl" and "My World." AllMusic later called the record "an enjoyable, infectious, bubblegum/R&B record" that helped put Motown back at the center of R&B. Boyz II Men's "Motownphilly," released that April, co-written and produced by Austin and a number three hit, name-checks ABC and Bell Biv DeVoe in its lyrics, and the kids turn up in its video.
There was no second act. It Ain't What U Wear, It's How U Play It came out on September 21, 1993 and did not chart, and the group broke up in the mid-1990s, reuniting occasionally since, including a March 2026 Atlanta date on New Edition's tour. Austin went on to produce most of Boyz II Men's debut and then TLC.
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