About Poison

"Poison" is the debut single by the American vocal group Bell Biv DeVoe. The song, in the style of new jack swing, a late-1980s/early-1990s hybrid of R&B, hip hop and swing, was the group's most successful. Written and produced by Dr. Freeze, "Poison" was the first single taken from Bell Biv DeVoe's debut album of the same name.

The song was written and produced by Elliot Straite, AKA Dr. Freeze. Straite had originally planned to feature the song on his own album, but plans changed when the members of Bell Biv DeVoe heard his demo version. "When the guys heard it, they went nuts. I didn't think that record was going to be that big because it was a personal love letter to my ex-girlfriend at the time. It wasn't a song at first. It was a letter. When I wrote it as a song, I let a lot of my friends hear it, and they said it was weird. After that, I put the music together. I was thinking I wasn't going to be on the album because such heavyweights were already on it. I ended up having two songs on the album: 'Poison' and 'She's Dope!'." Straite cited German electronic group Kraftwerk and Latin musicians Tito Puente and Mongo Santamaria as influences on the song's sound and production.