Overview
Blackstreet (often stylized as BLACKstreet) is an American R&B group founded in 1991 by record producers Chauncey "Black" Hannibal, and Teddy "Street" Riley. The group has released four albums with Interscope Records until 2003. They achieved relative success leading up to the single "No Diggity" (featuring Dr. Dre and Queen Pen), which peaked at number 1 for four weeks in November 1996.
Formation
After the breakup of Guy, Riley (while working on Bobby Brown's third album, Bobby) came up with the idea to start a new group featuring himself, Hannibal, a singer named Joseph Stonestreet and Levi Little. Originally, the group was to be named Stonestreet, but it was later decided to combine Stonestreet with Chauncey's nickname "Black". The group became Blackstreet Featuring Teddy Riley, with an original lineup of Riley, Hannibal, Little, and
Stonestreet. However, Stonestreet left after the release of the single "Baby Be Mine", and was replaced with Dave Hollister before the first self-titled album was released.
Career
In 1993, their first single "Baby Be Mine" was released on the soundtrack to the Universal Pictures comedy CB4 (starring Chris Rock). The song was written by Riley and Stonestreet and produced by Riley.
Their debut album, Blackstreet, featured the singles "Booti Call", "Before I Let You Go" and "Joy". "Booti Call" and "Before I Let You Go" were both Top 40 hits, with "Before I Let You Go" hitting the Top 10. In 1996, they released their second album Another Level. It was a breakthrough success due to the top single "No Diggity" (with Dr. Dre), which was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1996. In 1998, Blackstreet won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
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