Heavy D & The Boyz — Girls They Love Me

JUL 01 1989 · 12:00

Heavy D & The Boyz — Girls They Love Me (1989) Era: Golden Age Hip-Hop / New Jack Swing Crossover (1989–1990) - Late-era Reagan/early Bush cultural moment when Uptown Records fused hip-hop bravado with R&B romanticism, and the 'lover man' rapper archetype emerged as a mainstream commercial force. High. This video is a rare surviving audiovisual document of one of the foundational singles from the *Big Tyme* album, a platinum-certified record that reached #1 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and helped define Uptown Records' commercial identity. As one of the final videos to feature the original four-member lineup before Trouble T. Roy's death in July 1990, it holds additional historical significance as a document of a group at its creative and commercial peak. Context: Released against the backdrop of New Jack Swing's commercial peak and Uptown Records' rise as hip-hop's premier crossover label, 'Gyrlz, They Love Me' exemplifies Heavy D's positioning as the 'overweight lover' — a deliberately non-threatening, charismatic, and romantically confident rapper who expanded hip-hop's mainstream appeal. Produced by Marley Marl, the track sits within a broader Uptown aesthetic that blended street credibility with aspirational Black urban style. The group — Heavy D, DJ Eddie F, G-Whiz, and dancer Trouble T. Roy (who died in July 1990) — represented Mount Vernon, NY's culturally diverse hip-hop scene, adjacent to the Bronx where the genre was born. The video's performance-driven, party-atmosphere visual language reinforced the 'lover man' archetype that would later influence artists like The Notorious B.I.G. Director notes: The video corresponds to 'Gyrlz, They Love Me,' a single from the platinum 1989 Uptown Records/MCA album Big Tyme. The single was issued in March 1990 and produced by Marley Marl. The video's fast editing pace (avg. shot 2.43s, 106 cuts), warm tungsten lighting, and choreography-forward performance staging are consistent with Uptown Records' late-1980s visual identity and the production standards of the New Jack Swing music video era. No director credit is documented in IMVDb or any other verified archival source.