LCM: Mike realized Jodeci was a totally different group. Then people like NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, the white boy bands, when they came along, they approached me because they liked what I did for the BBDs, the Jodecis, the TLCs. Then him and I were able to develop a bond and a friendship, which led to another direction. I remember when I went to Jodeci, they were liking the Boyz II Men stuff, and I was like, 'No, IвЂ™m going to give you your own unique vibe, your own unique look.' That created a relationship with Diddy, and Diddy was like the equivalent of Bivens to Boyz II Men. Lionel is our guy.' The record company looked at me like, 'WhatвЂ™s going on?' He was loyal to me, as far as giving me all the work, but as a director who wanted to be creative and wanted to do as much as possible to play with my craft, of course I did the Jodeci. I went to MCA and Mike was in another room in another meeting, He passed by and he said, 'Lionel, what are you doing here?' And I said, 'Oh, they want me to do this group called Jodeci.' I remember he sort of went, 'No, no, no. MCA asked me to do a lot of videos for them because the BBD stuff was so incredible. Working Bell Biv DeVoe became a sensation. Biz MarkieвЂ™s 'Just a Friend', that was a moment. When I did Public EnemyвЂ™s 'Night of the Living Baseheads', that was a big thing. LCM: When you look at your career, there are moments. Pitchfork: After your run with Biv 10, did you start doing less hip-hop? This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from. They started to dress and give themselves some of the hip-hop vibe. The R&B artists started to come out of the suits. They felt all the R&B stuff would be a lot cooler if it had a little rap feel to it. LCM: At the time, it was New Jack Swing and Teddy Riley coming along. Pitchfork: When you started to do more R&B videos off of the success of 'Poison', did they always want you to put that hip-hop edge in it? To get the combination of a pop/hip-hop video was good for me and it opened a lot of doors once I did that. Hip-hop videos at that time, they didnвЂ™t spend that much money. It was the biggest video at that stage in my career, budget-wise. When they told me their whole concept for their music, I wasnвЂ™t even sure what they were talking about, but it just seemed like something really different.

I know it sounds a little arrogant, but being a hip-hop guy, if I didnвЂ™t like it, I would have said, 'Nah.' But it just had such a cool little vibe to it. I knew it was a good song and I had never heard anything like that before. Pitchfork: Did you anticipate the success the video went on to have?

Bell biv devoe poison video images