NFL
By: Brock Vierra
In a new series, I explore some of music’s forgotten artists and dissect what happened to make a once-promising career vanish into thin air. We start with the hip-hop/ rap duo New Boyz. The group made up of Dominic “Legacy” Thomas and Earl “Ben J” Benjamin had three key factors that shot them into superstardom virtually overnight. They had a solid understanding of marketing in the early era of social media, they had the look of two, young playboys, and their collaborations with Ray-J, Chris Brown, The Cataracs, Iyaz, Tyga, and Dev gave them much-needed clout to propel them into the spotlight. So the question remains, what went wrong?
Well, let’s first look at what went right. Their first studio album Skinny Jeanz and a Mic was a hit amongst the 15-24-year-old demographic. I mean I was personally bumping New Boyz when I was in middle school as their songs went along with a popular dance style of the early 2010s called jerkin. Songs off the album like You’re a Jerk got them a foot in the door into the mainstream market but it felt like a one-hit wonder due to its affiliation with a dance style that would clearly expire. However, their hit Tie Me Down Ft. Ray-J brought the house down while giving legitimacy to Legacy and Ben J as rappers. Ben J’s persona as a playboy would only increase with a chorus that remains quotable in 2023. Both songs would be inside the top 25 of the Billboard Top 100
Their sophomore effort Too Cool to Care was met with massive acclaim as it felt like New Boyz was on the verge of being the next big duo in the rap game. Three songs off the album hit the Billboard Top 100. Break My Bank, Backseat, and Better With The Lights Off were customary at every middle school and high school dance while their somewhat explicit music videos were on repeat on MTV. This was supposed to be the catalyst to a planned third album that would’ve cemented their place in music.
A single titled FM$ was released in 2012 and for many, it was assumed to be the tone-setter for their third project. However, that would end up being the last thing they released before an unexpected hiatus in 2013. Now the reasons for the breakup remain unclear. Publicly, both men stated that there was no animosity towards each other and both wanted to focus on their solo careers but rumors that were somewhat confirmed by Ben J state that Legacy had an entanglement with female artist Tinashe and that Tinashe was influencing decisions made by Legacy which led to a loss of both an acting gig with Disney and a potential managerial deal with Nick Cannon.
Whether this is true or not remains to be seen but it should also be noted that Ben J also has a tremendous amount of skeletons in his closet so realistically the only men that truly know the reason that New Boyz broke up is Ben J and Legacy. All issues between the two seem to be a thing of the past. For years, Ben J has publicly expressed a desire to reunite with his old rap partner but Legacy who remains out of the spotlight has never really responded. That was until 2022 when New Boyz dropped a new single for the first time in about a decade with their song You’re A Jerk 2. But, it pretty much fell on deaf ears.
The problem for New Boyz now is that the things that propelled them to stardom in the past don’t exist anymore. Social Media is no longer this uncharted wild west, Ben J and Legacy are no longer young playboys and they don’t have artists lining up to collaborate with them like they used to. I hate to use the term flash in the pan but it’s hard to find a term that more accurately describes them than that.
Now do I believe New Boyz could launch a full-scale comeback? I do. Their fanbase has just entered the age in which they now have adult money, New Boyz and the Jerkin era still makes people reminiscent of a simpler time and a remastered version of Skinny Jeanz and a Mic could jumpstart a comeback. Do I see it happening? No. The issue is that due to the fact that their time together was so short, they never evolved out of music that’s appropriate for a 21 and below audience. Basically, there’s no direction of where their music could even go at this point. Also, both men would have to put their differences aside long enough to make that third album we’re still waiting on and what major record label wants to reinvest into a brand that is deemed “too old” and hasn’t ever shown consistency to be a marketable product for the long run.
It just sucks because I am a big fan of New Boyz and I truly felt they were on the verge of being a mainstream face of “rap pop.” We’ll never know what could’ve been but what a time it was to see them when momentum was on their side.
