Boyz II Men Songs - Motownphilly Lyrics

Boyz II Men - Motownphilly

Boyz II Men - Motownphilly Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Cooleyhighharmony
Released: 1991

Motownphilly Lyrics

Boyz II Men, Boyz II Men,
Boyz II Men, Boyz II Men

Motownphilly's back again
Doin' a little east coast fling
Boyz II Men going off
Not too hard, not too soft

It's long overdue but now
Philly is slammin'
Boyz II Men, ABC, BBD
The east coast family

Never skipped a beat, na
While cooling on South street
Jet black Benz, plenty of friends
And all the Philly steaks you could eat

Back in school we used to dream about this everyday
Could it really happen?
Or do dreams fade away?
Then we started singing them
They said it sounded smooth
So we started a group and here we are
Kickin' it just for you

Motownphilly's back again
Doin' a little east coast fling
Boyz II Men going off
Not too hard, not too soft

The spotlight is on us now
Watch us do this
Da da, daaa da da, da da da da da da

Live and direct from Philly town
Rap and hype and we can get down
We are ready to roll
So now the world will know that we were

Back in school we used to dream about this everyday
Could it really happen?
Or do dreams fade away?
Then we started singing them
They said it sounded smooth
So we started a group and here we are
Kickin' it just for you

Motownphilly's back again
Doin' a little east coast fling
Boyz II Men going off
Not too hard, not too soft

Doom doom doom da da, doom doom doom da da
Da di da di da da, da da, daa daa daa
Doom doom doom da da, doom doom doom da da
Da di da di da da, da da, daa daa daa

Motownphilly's back again
Doin' a little east coast fling
Boyz II Men going off
Not too hard, not too soft

Writer/s: AUSTIN, DALLAS / STOCKMAN, SHAWN / MORRIS, NATHAN B / BIVENS, MICHAEL
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, JOYCE IRBY D/B/A DIVA ONE MUSIC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Motownphilly

In the US, this was Boyz II Men's first single. It confused DJs for a few reasons: many didn't know how to pronounce the band name, and some thought the song was called Boyz II Men and the group was named Motownphilly, since the words "Boyz II Men" are in the lyrics and the chorus states, "Motownphilly back again."

The song tells of the group's dreams and how they were discovered - backstage at a New Edition concert where they met Michael Bivens, who was a former member of New Edition and was part of Bell Biv DeVoe, who were a very popular group at the time. Boyz II Men sang him an a cappella version of their song "Can You Stand the Rain," and Bivens, who was an aspiring record producer, got them signed to Motown Records. Bivens shows up on this song doing a rap interlude about the experience.

The lyrics talk about the "East Coast Family." "ABC" is the group Another Bad Creation and "BBD" is Bell Biv Devoe. ABC and BBD weren't around a few years later, but Boyz II Men were wildly successful.

The title implies that Boyz II Men were bringing the Motown sound to Philadelphia. Motown is a legendary record label from Detroit featuring black artists.

Boyz II Men became known for slow, harmonizing ballads, but this is a fast song that is not typical of their sound.

This was produced by the Philadelphia-born, Atlanta-based producer Dallas Austin, who co-wrote the track with Michael Bivens and Boyz II Men's Nathan Morris and Shawn Stockman. Austin also worked with Bell Biv DeVoe and would go on to write and produce for TLC.

The music video has the guys dancing and performing around Philadelphia sites, like a Temple University dorm room and in front of Geno's Steaks. Questlove, of the Philadelphia hip-hop group The Roots, makes a cameo appearance.