Young Black Teenagers

Young Black Teenagers
Also known as	YBT
Origin	Long Island, New York, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Years active	1989–1994
Labels	Sound of Urban Listeners MCA
Past members	ATA First Born Tommy Never Kamron DJ Skribble

Young Black Teenagers (YBT) was an American hip hop group from Long Island, New York that consisted of ATA, First Born, Tommy Never, Kamron, and DJ Skribble. Despite their name, none of the group's members were black. They intended their name as a tribute to the black culture they were influenced by, but some thought their name was offensive or ridiculous.

YBT had the support of the prominent rap group Public Enemy and their producer Hank Shocklee signed them as the first act of his label Sound of Urban Listeners (SOUL). They released their second album with MCA Records.

History

Their debut album Young Black Teenagers (1991) featured the singles "Nobody Knows Kelli" (about the character Kelly Bundy from the sitcom Married... with Children), "Proud to Be Black", and "To My Donna" (an attack on Madonna for taking the rhythm track of the Public Enemy song "Security of the First World" for her single "Justify My Love"). After the first album, Tommy Never inexplicably left the group, and YBT became a foursome, with A.T.A. contributing more vocally. Their second album, Dead Enz Kidz Doin' Lifetime Bidz (1993), featured the song "Tap the Bottle", their biggest single. The band did gain some publicity (albeit not necessarily positive) for the song "Time To Make The Dough Nutz", as it contained a sample of Rush's 1981 hit "Tom Sawyer", angering many devoted Rush fans, even though YBT insisted it had been meant as a tribute.

YBT were listed among VH1's "Least Hiphop Moments", where they were overtly ridiculed for their overall name and premise.

After "Tap The Bottle" became their only worldwide hit, YBT called it a day in 1994.

DJ Skribble worked for MTV for several years as an in-house DJ. Kamron (Ron Winge) along with ATA (Rodney) previously ran a music studio in Roosevelt, New York and produced hip hop tracks.

DJ Kamron (Ron Winge) is now co-founder of the Marksmen in Manhattan, producing tracks for Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Jerry Wonder, Jill Scott, 50 Cent, and TV commercials, films, video games and other prominent musicians. He also works at Geejam Studios as a senior audio engineer. He played the role of Jamal in House Party 2, Kamron is included in the credits from the Juice (film) producing all DJ Q's turntable scratching.

A.T.A. (Rodney) is a manager and a clothing entrepreneur. First Born owns and operates a tattoo shop in Brooklyn, New York called Ringleaderz Ink. Tommy Never worked with Clivillés + Cole in The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. after leaving YBT. He now runs a wealth management firm in New York.

In 2015, DJ Kamron stated on his private Facebook page that he may eventually release the 3rd unreleased YBT album that was recorded back in 1994. He had stated that he still has, and owns, all the master DATs from the unreleased 3rd album.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album	Chart Positions
		US	US Hip-Hop
1991	Young Black Teenagers	—	—
1993	Dead Enz Kidz Doin' Lifetime Bidz	158	56
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or not released

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions		Album
		Billboard Hot 100	US Hot Rap Singles
1991	"Loud and Hard to Hit"	—	25	Young Black Teenagers
1992	"Tap the Bottle"	55	6	Dead Enz Kidz Doin' Lifetime Bidz
1993	"Roll with the Flavor"	—	22