On the teaser for next week’s Love and Hip Hop Hollywood episode Fizz alluded to the fact that it may be time for B2K to come back (Reunion tour, maybe??). J BOOG HIMSELF is even going to make an appearance so they can chat about it. Which got me thinking:
Black boy bands from the early 2000s are everything honey.
They remind me of a simpler time. A time filled with tropical punch Capri Suns, MySpace top 5s, and obsessively voting online for my favorite artist(s) to appear on 106 & Park.
Multiple black boy bands over the course of the early 2000s peaked my interest, but by far the two I loved the most was B2K and B5.
B2K:
B5:
B2K came first. I vaguely remember the infatuation that I had for them. I was a little bit too young at the time to really go insane over them, but I remember thinking Omarion and J Boog were so daggone fine. This leads to my love for Omarion throughout his solo career, but we can save that for another post.
You Got Served is a classic. Even though it’s admittedly cheesy and low-budget it breathes the 2000s era. From the fashion to the tech it’s all in there like a time capsule. I’ll always adore that movie (and the chance to gawk over young Omarion and Marques Houston).
But B5, oh B5. I remember my obsessive love well. In the beginning, I remember bringing a Word Up! magazine (remember those?) to my 5th-grade class and fawning over B5. All of girls were talking about our favorites, and I picked out the youngest one with freckles: Bryan.
(By the way, he’s married! It breaks my little 12-year-old heart, but I’ll let it go ONLY because they’re super cute together. Check out this video from his bae’s YouTube channel!)
I spent the next two or three years in a crazed hysteria over B5.
I wrote endless amounts of fanfiction on a now defunct forum breeding5.com. It’s where I began to craft my creative writing chops, writing some of the worst, cliched, craziest stuff I’ve ever written in my life.
I remember going to a specific B5 concert in my city that sent me into a state of silent frenzy. All I could do was stare and proclaim that I loved them over and over again like they could even hear ya girl. I was in a trace like Madame Zeroni herself put a spell on me.
It was just a lot. I was so in love with B5 y’all. It was incredible how deep I was in it. I even convinced my dad to buy me this random 30 minute documentary on their life off of Amazon.
But anyway, I hold a special place in my heart for boy bands like B2K and B5. That’s why I don’t shine away from others that came after them, like Mindless Behavior. I respect how they capture that lightning in a bottle of talent and give a generation of girls (and boys) something to look up to.
And if B2K is actually going to have a reunion tour, ya girl is gonna be the first one in line to secure a ticket.
Are y’all aware of a unknown boy band that needs attention? Let me know. I’d love to see how the new generation is killing the game. Also, are they any boy-bands from your childhood that you wish would come back?
All my love,
Nia Simone xoxo
PS. Here’s a couple of my favorite songs from my fave boy bands:
This bring back memories, me, my sister, and cousins were big B2K fans. I even had like 2 of their VCR tapes they came out with. We all fought over who would be our boyfriend lol and of course me being the youngest I got left with J Boog(we all thought he was ugly) lol. I liked B5 but wasn’t that big of a fan like I was with B2K. Great post!
The power of boy-bands is insane LOL