Sisqo ready to relive ’90s, thongs and all
Sisqo
Sisqo will entertain at ‘90s Fest. The 1990s-themed concert and festival takes place at a new-ish venue, the South Side Warehouse, in Pittsburgh.
Sister Hazel
Sister Hazel will perform at the ‘90s-themed show on Pittsburgh’s South Side.
Thank or blame Sisqo for helping thongs become a big thing.
He’s the R&B singer who made the skimpiest of undies more mainstream with his pop-culture sensation, “The Thong Song.”
“Before I even left the studio I knew it was a smash hit. First of all, the track was dope,” said Sisqo, part of ’90s Fest, a Sept. 17 concert also bringing DJ Jazzy Jeff, the Spin Doctors and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to a venue at 2200 Smallman St. in the Strip District.
“And then once you factored in the subject matter … That was something that was so taboo then,” Sisqo said. “Though some people didn’t even know what a thong was at the time, myself included.”
“The Thong Song’s” famed, Miami-made MTV video shed some light and raised a lot of eyebrows.
“You should have been there when we were editing the video,” Sisqo said. “They were cutting stuff out left and right. Now, you can see people full-blown nekkid on TV, but back then that was too much. It wasn’t approved yet by the FDA (or the FCC). That was considered very, very risque but we found a way to walk that line. We wanted to make it tongue-in-cheek. It’s not something you should take seriously; it’s just a fun song.”
Released on his 1999 debut solo album, “The Thong Song” garnered four Grammy nominations and climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard singles chart.
“It was like an existential experience to me, like I saw the light and it changed my life,” Sisqo said. “Like that scene in ‘The Ten Commandments’ when Moses comes down from the mountain and his hair turns white. How do you think my hair got white?”
Sisqo did indeed rock a white hairstyle back in the day, which helped give him that all-important signature look.
Standing out was a trickier thing to do in the 1990s, which ties in with his theory for why there’s so much nostalgia now for the decade that brought us “Clueless,” slap bracelets, Super Nintendo and Jordan Catalano.
“That was the last time that artists thought differently,” Sisqo said. “I mean, there’s a lot of talented young kids now, but with the advent of the internet there’s this everybody-is-a-star kind of thing. Back in the ’90s, right before the internet got big, to be seen and heard you had to step your game all the way up. You had to do something really spectacular to get noticed.”
Presented by Nickelodeon, ’90s Fest lasts just four dates — New York, New Jersey and Columbus, Ohio, being the other tour stops — inviting concertgoers to bask in warm memories.
Besides the nostalgic music, also including rockers Sister Hazel and cover band Saved by the ’90s, there’s a ’90s Arcade with classic, pixelated video games, along with a ’90s Market selling throwback fashions like scrunchies, crop tops and pump-up sneakers.
Those deemed “best dressed” will win a Y2K Survival Kit and a backstage pass to party with the musical performers.
Nickelodeon’s The Splat will bring back the most memorable obstacles and challenges from the TV network’s hit ’90s game shows including “Double Dare,” “GUTS” and “Legends of the Hidden Temple” along with surprise visits from beloved Nickelodeon characters, nostalgic sharable moments and of course, slime.
If that’s not enough vintage ’90s, there will be a Jazzercise-style workout.
“Wait, did you say Jazzercise?” Sisqo asked amid a burst of laughter. “That’s hilarious. You just gave me a funny visual. Jazz is like improvisational, so how can you exercise to that?”
Sisqo laughed again when asked if it will be difficult wrestling the mic out of the hands of emcee Pauly Shore.
“You mean Pauly is going to be there? I haven’t seen him since the MTV days. We hung out in Cancun. This tour is going to be like a class reunion for me.”
Sisqo admits he feels a bit awkward when he does 1990s-themed shows.
“The group I was in, Dru Hill, came out at the end of the 1990s, when we were right out of high school, so most of the time when I do these ’90s shows, I’m the youngest guy there,” he said. “I was still in high school when the guys I’m sharing the stage with had their biggest hits. It was not until 2000s when I finally sold the bulk of my solo records.”
Sisqo is excited to see Bone Thugs-N-Harmony again in Pittsburgh.
“Oh, snap! Dru Hill toured with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in 1997. With Aaliyah, too, God rest her soul. I liked that tour (which included a September date that year at Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena). Those were cool times. We had a lot of sellouts.
“Pittsburgh, I love playing. Of course, most of the time we like to play there when it’s not football season, since we’re from Baltimore,” Sisqo said.
Told that Steelers fans have a stronger dislike for Cincinnati now, he said, “Oh good, we’re off the radar then.”
Sisqo has houses in Maryland, Minneapolis (where his kids are) and California.
Anyone who snarks about him being a one-hit wonder must have done research that’s “Incomplete,” to quote the title of his 2000 chart-topping single.
Written by Montell Jordan of “This Is How We Do It” fame, and reportedly offered first to Michael Jackson before being shopped around, “That was a song I initially didn’t want to sing for one reason — it was a ballad,” Sisqo said.
“With my group Dru Hill we had been known for our ballads so I wanted to stay as far away from what I did with them. Not that I don’t like a good love song, but I just didn’t want to do any more slow songs at that time. But once I heard that line ‘Got a bank account bigger than the law should allow,’ I thought, ‘Oh yeah, I’m singing that song on my record.’ That’ll never get old.
“Imagine that: Having a bank account bigger than the law should allow,” Sisqo said. “You’ve pretty much got it going on if you have that.
“I’ll definitely sing that song on this tour. I might throw in one Dru Hill song (the platinum-selling “In My Bed” perhaps?) though I usually don’t. We’ll have to see.”
Fans will also need to see if Sisqo’s still got that silvery white hair.
“I took it back to … wait, you’ve got to come out to the show to find out for yourself,” he said. “You see what I did there?”
Rest assured he will sing his ode to thongs.
“You’re thinking about them now, right?” Sisqo said.
“It’s still a fun song. People love it now. Soon as they hear those violins in the beginning it whisks them back in time. It’s bananas. And I’m sorry, that’s a lot of metaphor just to get to ‘bananas,'” Sisqo said. “Now I’ve got banana hammocks on my mind.
“Let’s just say people are still crazy about it.”