BET video Vibration/ BET Jamzone Does anybody Know this R&B group?

I'm guessing it's Total?

if no one knows it off the top of their head (i don't unfortunately), one place to look would be on the 'video monitor' pages of old issues of billboard, which are pretty much all available to browse online for this time period.

here's one example of the pages i am talking about. in the bet column, you can see the 30 most-aired videos from that week. if this group was obscure, the best place to look might be in the 'new ons' block below the top 30, which shows what videos bet reportedly added to their playlist for the first time that week -- for example, that week you can see that "black butterfly" by grenique and "been sooo looong" by skooter mac got added that week, which seem to have been lower-profile singles whose videos don't seem to be readily available online these days. you might also look at the 'new' block for the box's column below, since i imagine some more obscure r&b artists could sometimes get their videos spun there too. (complete sidenote: that might be the first appearance in billboard for a certain 'brittany spears'??)

based on the first youtube clip you posted, the song must have been airing while how stella got her groove back was in theaters, which would have been after august 14th if wikipedia is accurate. to navigate to a billboard issue with a specific date, you can start here and scroll right until you find the issue date you want, then find the music video section within that issue. (billboard issue dates are a little ahead of the actual dates they were monitoring, tho -- for example, on the page in my first link, the issue date is september 5th, but the top of the page says the lists correspond to the week ending august 23rd.)

i hope you find it! it sounds like a catchy song. since i am kinda curious myself now i will probably dig around through more of the issues myself this weekend. i'll let you know if i come across any potential matches! there must be so many music videos that are basically just lost to time now :\

found it! the song is "sweet love" by of age, a group from minneapolis that put out a few releases on propell records. it was indeed added by bet in early august 1998. as far as i can tell, the group started off as a quartet but had become a trio by the time this song came out.

i can't find a proper recording of it anywhere, but this listing for the 12" single on a japanese site that apparently used to have it in stock has a little clip you can listen to if you click the button with the headphones under the picture of the record. it's not the same version -- i guess it could be the remix -- but it is unmistakably the same song, with the "boom boom boom boom"s and all.

i assume any record by this group is incredibly difficult to come across nowadays. the music video for one of their previous singles, "all my love," is actually on youtube (finding this after seeing it had been added on bet in may 1998 is what pointed me in the right direction, btw), and one of the commenters there apparently is a former member of the group, and even she is having trouble tracking down a copy. another commenter apparently is the son of the former lead vocalist. if you really wanna hear the full/proper version of "sweet love," i guess messaging one of them might be where to start?

actually the version in the clip on the japanese site might be the same as the one in the videos you posted. hard to tell! definitely the same song tho

dyl, this is astonishing work, I am truly in awe, you are incredible

yeah, great work, dyl. I love sleuthing like this!

me a few days ago: "lol this is clearly unsolvable"

dyl: "hold my beer"

dyl I am beyond impressed thank you I've been searching for this group for over a year shazam aint got nothing on you.

i'm glad i could help sharissa! and thanks all for the kind words lol

fantastic work dyl

Sharissad's been working on a Gimlet podcast episode for a year and you just... figured it out

I love these kinds of threads

so i found the full song!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDpamNxk6es&t=210

it looks like they put out an album in 1999 called finally on street pride records, presumably another small indie label. the album has both "sweet love" and "all my love" on it. honestly, most of it is pretty solid!

"sweet love" definitely has that upbeat, easygoing vibe that reminds me a little of some of the more lighthearted tlc cuts like "baby-baby-baby" or something -- pretty nice song.

ahh i screwed up the embed by trying to specify the start time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDpamNxk6es

it starts at 3:30 in the video