Word to the Badd!

[HIStory]

Ca. 1990 Jermaine wrote a song to Michael called "Word to the Badd!"

Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tTzeohx95U

What up yo, word to the badd

Reconstructed
Been abducted
Don't know who you are
They may love you
they don't know you
Lonely superstar
never think about who you love
only think about number one
You forget about where you started from
You only think about what you want
don't care about how it's done
you only think about you, your throne
Be it right or be it wrong

It ain't about your world
It ain't about the things that you do
If you don't care, I don't care
Cause you keep thinkin' 'bout you
It ain't about you takin' my pie
You been takin' for a long time
If you don't care, I don't care
If you keep
Well I ain't thinkin' 'bout you

What up yo, word to the badd

Once you were made
You changed your shade
Was your color wrong?
Could not turn back
It's a known fact
You were too far gone
You know I tried to be there for you
Like a brother I care for you
It didn't matter you always play me off
You only care about what you want
You don't care about how it's done
You only think about you, your throne
Be it right or wrong

It ain't about your world
It ain't about the things that you do
If you don't care, I don't care
Cause you keep thinkin' 'bout you
It ain't about you takin' my pie
You been takin' for a long time
If you don't care, I don't care
If you keep
Well I ain't thinkin' 'bout you
Oh no no, I ain't thinkin' 'bout you
Oh no

What up yo, word to the badd

Thinkin' about that pie that you've been takin' from me
From a brother to another brother hard to believe
Lost and don't know it yet you still show it
Givin' seems to be harder than it is to receive
The glass has gotten shady, time to make it clearer,
Clean it up and lets start with the Man in the mirror.
Theres sadness there brother, aint no mistaken it,
Get a grip cause youre not far from breakin it.
Thinkin about the time when we used to be close,
It shouldnt be past tense, cause nobody knows,
What the future may hold, what tomorrow might bring,
Its not guaranteed that youll be spreading your wings

But meanwhile, I continue to smile, cause in the back of my head,
I know you're still a child
You say that your a man, but that will never be
(cant figure out what the rest says)

Gone too far, ya better turn back, I know who you are
You know where Im at, sad but its true, from me to you.
Pick up the phone, Dont be alone, step off the throne, come back home.

It's an angry song, Jermaine did it allegedly because Michael snatched his producers Babyface and LA Reid with whom Jermaine worked on an album. But when Michael found out about that he called the producers and asked them to work on his Dangerous album, which, of course was a big lure for them, so they abandoned Jermaine for Michael. But the song they recorded together never appeared on Dangerous and it's said that Michael only lured them to sabotage Jermaine's work.

Is that true or is that just Jermaine's side of the story?

Second, the song says:

Once you were made
You changed your shade
Was your color wrong?
Could not turn back

Didn't Jermaine know Michael had vitiligo?

 

[xthunderx2]

hmmmm.....I guess Jermain was mad at Michael back then. Things happen between siblings.

 

[tarah86]

I'm probably gonna me yelled at but I love this song. But, none of us know what was going on at this time between MJ and Jermaine. I think most of it was based on miscommunication.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a96A5jRcIhQ
go to 4:05, Jermaine talks about the song.

 

[Pez]

I laughed alot when I first heard this song years ago. I cannot take any Jacksons bar Michael and Janet serious at all! :lol:

 

[DuranDuran]

It's an angry song, Jermaine did it allegedly because Michael snatched his producers Babyface and LA Reid with whom Jermaine worked on an album. But when Michael found out about that he called the producers and asked them to work on his Dangerous album, which, of course was a big lure for them, so they abandoned Jermaine for Michael. But the song they recorded together never appeared on Dangerous and it's said that Michael only lured them to sabotage Jermaine's work.

Is that true or is that just Jermaine's side of the story?

I've never heard this story, but at the time Jermaine gave an interview. I don't remember his exact words, but basically Jermaine said that he would try to contact Michael and would always get one of MJ's "people" who would tell Jermaine he had to make an appointment. Jermaine didn't appreciate that he had to have an appointment to see or talk to his brother. So he recorded this song to get Mike's attention.
There's a story (don't know if it's true or not) that Mike heard about this song before it had been released and was sad or angry about it. One version said that Mike confronted Jermaine and was going to have a physical fight with him, another version just said that Mike just tried to talk Jermaine out of releasing the song, but Jermaine refused. But Jermaine did record a 2nd version with different lyrics that had nothing to do with Mike, he was just singing to a girl.

 

[Lol007]

Is that true or is that just Jermaine's side of the story?

I can't believe that question! Did you know that Jermaine, when Michael replaced him as the Jackson 5 front man, got jealous of Michael and- in order to put him down- insulted his looks? Did you know that Jermaine used to be REALLY JEALOUS of Michael's success? Did you know that Jermaine wanted to write a book wih Stacy Brown (a well known MJ hater)? Did you know that Jermaine does everything in order to appear in the media at his brother's expense? Did you know that Jermaine had a relationship with Randy's former wife? Oh...come on: let's wake up. Jermaine used to be jealous of Michael and tried to put him down. Don't be so naive. That is just Jermaine's side of the story.

Jermaine, Latoya and Joe are pratically the same personality wise.

 

[annieruok?]

i'm not going to judge jermaine because mostly everyone who has a sibling falls out with them from time to time.

at the end of the day they both love each other and jermaine seems to be a staunch supporter of michael now so to me that trumps whatever beef they may have had back in the day

 

[Triumph]

did this version of the song only "leak"?
..or was it a b-side of a single or something?

 

[HIStory]

I'm probably gonna me yelled at but I love this song. But, none of us know what was going on at this time between MJ and Jermaine. I think most of it was based on miscommunication.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a96A5jRcIhQ
go to 4:05, Jermaine talks about the song.

Thank you for this link. It answers my question.

 

[Debhiwahh1983]

This was actually on his 'You Said You Said' (I think that was the album title!) album in 1990.

Depsite the scathing lyrics, I think it's Jermain'es best solo song!!

 

[OU812]

Jermaine hid in his bedroom like a little...well...yeah when Jackson came to talk about the song. Poor Jerms. All that juice and no spine.

 

[SupraFreshKid]

i'm not going to judge jermaine because mostly everyone who has a sibling falls out with them from time to time.

"Once you were made
You changed your shade
Was your color wrong?"

This goes a little further than sibling rivalry. These lines could have been incredibly damaging, Michael's own blood debunking his Vitiligo claims. I can not believe he would write something like this and actually put it out there for the world to hear.

 

[DuranDuran]

This was actually on his 'You Said You Said' (I think that was the album title!) album in 1990.

Depsite the scathing lyrics, I think it's Jermaine's best solo song!!

I don't know about all that. I think there's better songs on the album itself, as well as earlier material that's superior, like "Castles Of Sand" to name one. TLC sings backup on "Word" and a few other songs on "You Said, You Said". Jermaine's album was released before TLC's debut came out, so they were unknown.

 

[DuranDuran]

"Once you were made
You changed your shade
Was your color wrong?"

This goes a little further than sibling rivalry. These lines could have been incredibly damaging, Michael's own blood debunking his Vitiligo claims. I can not believe he would write something like this and actually put it out there for the world to hear.

Actually, Mike had never said anything about vitiligo or made any statement about his skin when this song was released. He hadn't talked to Oprah yet.

 

[SupraFreshKid]

He was admittedly suffering since around the thriller era and did not tell them anything about it until the Oprah interview. That is a little hard to believe, he must not have visited, interacted, or spoke to them at all. His skin would have been on all their inquiring minds. I honestly think Jermaine just doesn't believe him.

 

[DuranDuran]

He was admittedly suffering since around the thriller era and did not tell them anything about it until the Oprah interview. That is a little hard to believe, he must not have visited, interacted, or spoke to them at all. His skin would have been on all their inquiring minds. I honestly think jermaine just doesn't believe him.

I meant that Mike hadn't told the public about it, I wasn't talking about Jermaine. Jermaine's song was just a publicity stunt. When the album was released (USA), it had a different version, but some overseas versions of the album had both versions.

 

[Spider-Man]

I've never heard this story, but at the time Jermaine gave an interview. I don't remember his exact words, but basically Jermaine said that he would try to contact Michael and would always get one of MJ's "people" who would tell Jermaine he had to make an appointment. Jermaine didn't appreciate that he had to have an appointment to see or talk to his brother. So he recorded this song to get Mike's attention.
There's a story (don't know if it's true or not) that Mike heard about this song before it had been released and was sad or angry about it. One version said that Mike confronted Jermaine and was going to have a physical fight with him, another version just said that Mike just tried to talk Jermaine out of releasing the song, but Jermaine refused. But Jermaine did record a 2nd version with different lyrics that had nothing to do with Mike, he was just singing to a girl.

This story and the one about Baby Face and L.A. Reid are both mentioned in Maldanado's book, she was with Jermaine at the time. She said that Mike was just looking for the best in the business and wasn't trying to sabatoge Jermaine's career. And she also said that Mike went to the Encino home to talk to Jermaine, who was living there at the time, there was no physical fight, but Michael was hurt and didn't understand why Jermaine wrote the song. Also, she said that Michael was worried for Jermain's career, saying something along the lines of he(Michael) knew his fans wouldn't care, but that it would hurt Jermaine as a commercial draw.


I'm not fond of the song, personally. Its sooo mean. But at the same time when you hear Jermain singing it, you know its from some who is hurt, least that was my impression. The first time I heard it all I heard was Jermaine's pain and anger, and knowing it was directed at Michael still bothers me a bit, even though I understand Jermaine's anger.

 

[SupraFreshKid]

I meant that Mike hadn't told the public about it, I wasn't talking about Jermaine. Jermaine's song was just a publicity stunt. When the album was released (USA), it had a different version, but some overseas versions of the album had both versions.

Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding on that part

 

[PrettyYoungThang]

Jermaine has always ridden on Michael's coat tails. He never could get over the fact that Michael won the fame and Jermaine faded in to obscurity. He tried to talk it up at the memorial "I was his mouth, I had his back" etc etc - trying to make it look like he propped michael up. All Jermaine was, was Michael's backstabber.

 

[HIStory]

He was admittedly suffering since around the thriller era and did not tell them anything about it until the Oprah interview. That is a little hard to believe, he must not have visited, interacted, or spoke to them at all. His skin would have been on all their inquiring minds. I honestly think Jermaine just doesn't believe him.

Well, it seems he started to be very isolated from his family as well from Thriller on. The Jermaine song is exactly about how Michael didn't take his phone calls and stuff. I can imagine he hasn't talked even to them about the vitiligo.

 

[HIStory]

This story and the one about Baby Face and L.A. Reid are both mentioned in Maldanado's book, she was with Jermaine at the time. She said that Mike was just looking for the best in the business and wasn't trying to sabatoge Jermaine's career. And she also said that Mike went to the Encino home to talk to Jermaine, who was living there at the time, there was no physical fight, but Michael was hurt and didn't understand why Jermaine wrote the song. Also, she said that Michael was worried for Jermain's career, saying something along the lines of he(Michael) knew his fans wouldn't care, but that it would hurt Jermaine as a commercial draw.

Michael trying to sabotage Jermaine's career doesn't really make sense. I mean Janet was always a lot closer to him in success and talent, yet Michael had no problem with Janet having a successful career and never seemed to be jealous of her, on the contrary.

 

[HIStory]

Jermaine has always ridden on Michael's coat tails. He never could get over the fact that Michael won the fame and Jermaine faded in to obscurity. He tried to talk it up at the memorial "I was his mouth, I had his back" etc etc - trying to make it look like he propped michael up. All Jermaine was, was Michael's backstabber.

I also remember Jermaine once said that anybody from the family (obviously meaning himself) could have been trained into being the star of the Jacksons, not just Michael. Well, yes, if talent didn't matter.

 

[ItsALLforLOVE]

Did you know that Jermaine wanted to write a book wih Stacy Brown (a well known MJ hater)?

This book is supposed to be talked about on ET tomorrow. On Friday, they showed Jermaine talking about it with Larry King in 2003, called it Legacy. Then he denied it in 2006. Supposedly, it talks about him supposedly hurting children. It did have Stacey Brown's and Jermaines name on the book. Of course this involves Diane Dimond saying this crapola, so...

I just hope this is not true and that Jermaine did NOT do this dirty laundry airing in a book.

 

[Soso Deaf]

this is out of pure jealousy. he's said many times he could've beenmichael but mj was lucky. righttime, right place.

it was anger and never should've been made into a public song. especially whenhe put his kids through school and supported him

 

[HIStory]

this is out of pure jealousy. he's said many times he could've beenmichael but mj was lucky. righttime, right place.

it was anger and never should've been made into a public song. especially whenhe put his kids through school and supported him

I think Jermaine was indeed jealous of Michael. In J5 he was the girls' favourite but Michael overshadowed him with his talent. Then he, and not Michael, went solo first. But his career never really launched as a solo artist. While Michael became incredibly successful. If Jermaine thinks he was as talented as Michael then I cannot see any reason why he couldn't have had a more successful solo career. But thing is Jermaine simply was and is not as talented as Michael.

 

[DuranDuran]

I think Jermaine was indeed jealous of Michael. In J5 he was the girls' favourite but Michael overshadowed him with his talent. Then he, and not Michael, went solo first. But his career never really launched as a solo artist. While Michael became incredibly successful. If Jermaine thinks he was as talented as Michael then I cannot see any reason why he couldn't have had a more successful solo career. But thing is Jermaine simply was and is not as talented as Michael.

Talent has very little to do with success. That's why Pat Boone could sell more by remaking Little Richard songs than Richard did himself. Milli Vanilli could sell 12 million albums and not sing at all. The Archies & Alvin and the Chipmunks had hits and they don't really exist. Elvis is the King when basically using Jackie Wilson's vocal style. Music success has more to do with payola and which labels have enough to pay it. Talent helps with a having a long term career, but isn't required to sell. Today there's Lil Wayne & Soulja Boy who have no talent who sell big today.

 

[mjjfan4ever]

"Michael was lucky"? This is as laughable as Paris Hilton think Paris was named after her.
The fact is without Michael's talent, the Jackson 5 would not have ever achieved the level of success they had.

I have always felt that Jermaine was jealous of Michael, but at the end of the day he was there during the trial and it seemed like they were able to come together as a family.

What I don't understand though - I would love someone to help me understand this comment by Jermaine since MJ's death, "I was Michael's backbone"? What does that mean.???? Anyone can explain to me??

 

[HIStory]

Talent has very little to do with success. That's why Pat Boone could sell more by remaking Little Richard songs than Richard did himself. Milli Vanilli could sell 12 million albums and not sing at all. The Archies & Alvin and the Chipmunks had hits and they don't really exist. Elvis is the King when basically using Jackie Wilson's vocal style. Music success has more to do with payola and which labels have enough to pay it. Talent helps with a having a long term career, but isn't required to sell. Today there's Lil Wayne & Soulja Boy who have no talent who sell big today.

True, sometimes talent has nothing to do with success or vica versa, but in the case of Michael vs. Jermaine I think there has been a good correlation between their respective talents and success.

 

[MusaedJackson]

Say whatever you want to say, but michael's brothers are always not happy that they were not great as Michael, Some of them have really good hearts like tito and janet, but Jermaine .. I don't think so, they are brothers, but he hated the idea hes not like him, michael left them, michael started caring about him self his own family, kids, please don't get me wrong, he loves his family .. but they are not happy that michael is busy, its sad, What Jermaine was saying that was really from his deep heart, i believe i know how does it feel .. RIP MICHAEL

 

[DuranDuran]

True, sometimes talent has nothing to do with success or vica versa, but in the case of Michael vs. Jermaine I think there has been a good correlation between their respective talents and success.

If you study how the business works, talent doesn't matter at all. I don't think it's that Jermaine has less talent on a musical scale per se. He's a better singer than Janet. He's not a dancer or entertainer like Mike & Janet. Jermaine is like a Teddy Pendergrass, a Jeffrey Osbourne, a Charlie Wilson, or a Roger Troutman. He's just too "R&B" and "funk" to cross over, especially the Motown era stuff. Still Epic could spend more money than Motown. After the 1960s classic era, very few Motown acts crossed over to pop except Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, & the Commodores. This is one of the reasons the brothers and many other acts like Gladys Knigh & the Pips left Motown in the 1st place. If Jermaine didn't decide to rebel against Joe and stay behind at Motown, maybe his career would have been different. Gladys Knight & the Pips wasn't that successful on Motown as they were ignored by Gordy. Like The Jacksons they became more successful when they left. So in a way Jermaine is right about timing and luck. He was unlucky to be stuck on Motown, lol. Marvin Gaye discovered the group Maze and took them to another label and not Motown. Jermaine said Marvin is his idol, so that should have told him something there.