# Poison (Bell Biv DeVoe song)
**"Poison"** is the 1990 debut single by the American R&B group [Bell Biv DeVoe](https://www.edgepedia.org/bell-biv-devoe), the lead single from their debut album of the same name on [MCA Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/mca-records).[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/bell-biv-devoe-poison/) Written by Elliott Straite and produced and mixed by Dr. Freeze, it became the group's signature song and one of the defining records of the new jack swing (late-1980s/90s genre fusing R&B singing with hip-hop beats and production) style, reaching number three on Billboard's pop chart in mid-1990.[2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgR2kwo12Xc) • [3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/06/29/two-trios-one-goal/798a0052-fde5-466d-941e-2d3cf8bf524b/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist | Bell Biv DeVoe: Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie DeVoe, formerly of New Edition[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/bell-biv-devoe-poison/) |
| Release | 1990, MCA Records; lead single from the album *Poison*[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/bell-biv-devoe-poison/) • [4](https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/06/key-tracks-bell-biv-devoe-poison/) |
| Writer / producer | Composer and lyricist Elliott Straite; mixer and producer Dr. Freeze; mix engineer Jay Henry[2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgR2kwo12Xc) |
| Chart peak | Number three on Billboard's pop chart as of late June 1990[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/06/29/two-trios-one-goal/798a0052-fde5-466d-941e-2d3cf8bf524b/) |
| Album sales | The parent album *Poison* sold over four million copies[4](https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/06/key-tracks-bell-biv-devoe-poison/) |
| Music video | Directed by Lionel C. Martin in 1990, then known primarily as a hip-hop video director[5](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/856-the-making-of-the-video-for-bell-biv-devoes-poison/) |
| Sample source | Kool G Rap, according to the video director[5](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/856-the-making-of-the-video-for-bell-biv-devoes-poison/) |
## Background
Bell Biv DeVoe formed from three members of the Boston R&B group [New Edition](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-edition): Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and [Ronnie DeVoe](https://www.edgepedia.org/ronnie-devoe). In the late 1980s New Edition had released platinum-selling albums, and when the group went on hiatus its lead singers, [Johnny Gill](https://www.edgepedia.org/johnny-gill) and Ralph Tresvant, pursued solo projects while Bobby Brown had already left for a solo career. The three remaining members joined forces as a trio under the purview of MCA's Louil Silas, Jr. and their manager Hiriam Hicks.[4](https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/06/key-tracks-bell-biv-devoe-poison/) • [5](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/856-the-making-of-the-video-for-bell-biv-devoes-poison/)
The idea came from outside the group. Producers [Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis](https://www.edgepedia.org/jimmy-jam-and-terry-lewis), who had overseen New Edition's *Heart Break* album, pulled the three singers aside after a New Edition show and told them they had already taken the group idea to the label; a week later MCA vice president Louil Silas Jr. wrote their names on a piece of paper and said, "You guys are gonna be Bell Biv DeVoe."[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/06/29/two-trios-one-goal/798a0052-fde5-466d-941e-2d3cf8bf524b/) DeVoe later recalled that producers initially wanted the group to sound "a little bit more R&B, like New Edition," and the members refused: "now it's time for us to do a different version of New Edition."[6](https://www.mmone.org/bell-biv-devoe/)
The group described its sound with a slogan it printed on the album cover: "Our music is mentally hip-hop, smoothed out on the R&B tip with a pop feel appeal to it."[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/bell-biv-devoe-poison/)
## Song and production
For the *Poison* album, BBD worked with an assembled roster of producers: The Bomb Squad of Public Enemy, Dr. Freeze and Spyderman, Alton "Wokie" Stewart and Timmy Gatling, and Carl Bourelly.[4](https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/06/key-tracks-bell-biv-devoe-poison/) On "Poison" itself, the credits list Elliott Straite as composer and lyricist and Dr. Freeze as producer and mixer, with Jay Henry as mix engineer; the three members are the credited vocal performers.[2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgR2kwo12Xc) Straite recorded under the name Dr. Freeze.
Bomb Squad member Hank Shocklee described the challenge of the album's sound as making the rappers and the singer coexist: singing parts carried the verses while the rapper entered in the break portion, a structure that could not simply repeat on every track. He positioned the record as "an R&B based rap record," a bridge into the R&B world at a time when rapping was only beginning to gain mainstream acceptance.[4](https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/06/key-tracks-bell-biv-devoe-poison/)
Lyrically the song is a cautionary tale dressed in dance music: Bivins, DeVoe, and Bell trade verses that counsel vigilance over attraction, with a refrain advising skepticism where charm and appearance meet.[7](https://readdork.com/track/bell-biv-devoe-poison) The *Second Disc* noted the subtext of dangerously wild women arriving just as AIDS was becoming a mainstream concern, a darker message than the song's party surface suggests.[8](https://theseconddisc.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/reissue-theory-bell-biv-devoe-poison/)
## Music video
Lionel C. Martin, then known primarily as a hip-hop video director, directed the video in 1990 after a call from manager Hiriam Hicks. Martin recalled asking his receptionist "Who is Bell Biv DeVoe?" and being told they were the guys from New Edition who started a group after Bobby left. He said Bivins later explained the choice: they hired him because he was "the hip-hop" director, and "We didn't want to come soft." The video was stylistically a hip-hop video for what was considered an R&B group, at a time when most R&B videos looked much more polished.[5](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/856-the-making-of-the-video-for-bell-biv-devoes-poison/) Martin went on to handle the rest of BBD's videos and clips for acts on [Michael Bivins](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-bivins)'s Biv 10 label, including [Boyz II Men](https://www.edgepedia.org/boyz-ii-men) and Another Bad Creation.[5](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/856-the-making-of-the-video-for-bell-biv-devoes-poison/)
## Chart performance and follow-up
"Poison" scored big first time out of the box for the new trio, holding the number three spot on Billboard's pop chart at the end of June 1990.[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/06/29/two-trios-one-goal/798a0052-fde5-466d-941e-2d3cf8bf524b/) The parent album sold over four million copies and spawned five singles: "Poison," "Do Me!", "B.B.D. (I Thought It Was Me)?", "When Will I See You Smile Again?", and "She's Dope!"[4](https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/06/key-tracks-bell-biv-devoe-poison/) The follow-up "Do Me!" reached number one on the Billboard Dance Singles Sales chart, number three on the Hot 100, and number four on the [Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs](https://www.edgepedia.org/hot-r-and-b-hip-hop-songs) chart.[6](https://www.mmone.org/bell-biv-devoe/) By the end of 1990, Billboard had declared BBD the biggest new pop group of the year.[1](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/bell-biv-devoe-poison/)
## Legacy
"Poison" became one of new jack swing's defining records. [The A.V. Club](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-a-v-club) called it the genre's greatest song, noting the album's harsher, more rap-centric edge, which reflected the involvement of Public Enemy's production crew.[9](https://www.avclub.com/new-jack-swing-1798222079) A retrospective overview of the genre described it as "perhaps the most popular NJS track of all time,"[10](https://mohudson7.substack.com/p/welcome-to-new-jack-swing-city) and a Red Bull Music Academy retrospective credited the trio's fusion of R&B grooves, hip-hop attitude, funk punch, and rap lyrical riffing with redefining the parameters of modern R&B for a generation of acts from Jodeci and Boyz II Men to Usher and Ne-Yo.[6](https://www.mmone.org/bell-biv-devoe/)
The song's endurance outlasted its era. Pitchfork traces its popularity from middle school dances of 1990 to a riff-off in the 2015 film *Pitch Perfect 2*,[5](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/856-the-making-of-the-video-for-bell-biv-devoes-poison/) and Ronnie DeVoe, marking the album's 30th anniversary in May 2020, said the most satisfying thing was that "Poison" was still being played: "You can go to the 50-plus club, which I'm a part of, and 'Poison' is still banging. You can go to the 18-plus spot and 'Poison' is still banging, just as loud!"[6](https://www.mmone.org/bell-biv-devoe/)
## References
1. [Bell Biv DeVoe: Poison Album Review, Pitchfork (Brendan Frederick, July 29, 2018)](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/bell-biv-devoe-poison/)
2. [Poison (official audio), Bell Biv DeVoe Official Artist Channel, YouTube; UMG metadata](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgR2kwo12Xc)
3. [Two Trios, One Goal, The Washington Post (Joe Brown, June 28, 1990)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/06/29/two-trios-one-goal/798a0052-fde5-466d-941e-2d3cf8bf524b/)
4. [Key Tracks: Bell Biv DeVoe's Poison, Red Bull Music Academy Daily (2015)](https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/06/key-tracks-bell-biv-devoe-poison/)
5. [The Making of the Video for Bell Biv DeVoe's "Poison", Pitchfork (Eric Ducker, July 30, 2015)](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/856-the-making-of-the-video-for-bell-biv-devoes-poison/)
6. [Bell Biv DeVoe, The Music Museum of New England (D.S. Monahan, December 22, 2023)](https://www.mmone.org/bell-biv-devoe/)
7. [Bell Biv DeVoe – Poison (1990), track profile, Dork](https://readdork.com/track/bell-biv-devoe-poison)
8. [Reissue Theory: Bell Biv DeVoe, "Poison", The Second Disc (April 28, 2011)](https://theseconddisc.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/reissue-theory-bell-biv-devoe-poison/)
9. [New jack swing (Gateways to Geekery), The A.V. Club (Jason Heller, September 30, 2010)](https://www.avclub.com/new-jack-swing-1798222079)
10. [Welcome to New Jack Swing City, Morgan Hudson, Substack (2025)](https://mohudson7.substack.com/p/welcome-to-new-jack-swing-city)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › R&B and soul songs*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license