Foster & McElroy are considered pioneers of new jack swing, a genre they helped define with the group Tony! Toni! Tone!. The duo produced the group's first album and had success with the first single release, "Little Walter," which peaked at #47 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1990, the group released "The Revival", its second album which went 2x's Platinum and had numerous #1 singles. Following the success of Tony! Toni! Toné!, Foster & McElroy released their first album as a group, "FM2", one of which included songs such as "Around the World in 80 Beats", "Gotta Be a Better Way", and "Dr. Soul", the latter of which was a top ten R&B hit featuring rapper MC Lyte. It earned moderate success. While working on the album, Foster & McElroy made plans to put together a girl group that would be a modern-day version of The Supremes, with what eventually became the group En Vogue.