POP MUSIC : WHO’S HOT : Hip-Hopping a Cappella in the Streets : Color Me Badd leads a surge of young, soul-oriented vocal groups to the top

“I Wanna Sex You Up,” the racy Top 5 single that launched the career of the vocal quartet Color Me Badd last year, recently took a severe bashing--from members of Color Me Badd.

Recalling the first time he heard the final mix of the song from the “New Jack City” soundtrack on Giant Records, Bryan Abrams said, “We were almost in tears--it didn’t sound good to us.”

Mild-mannered and pleasant up to that point during a recent interview in Beverly Hills, Abrams started wincing at those memories. His Color Me Badd colleague Mark Calderon, who looks like George Michael, was squirming a bit, too.

“The song had so much potential that they didn’t bring out,” Calderon griped. “I didn’t like the beat and I thought our vocals could have been much better.”

The final product simply wasn’t what they’d expected. From their complaints, you’d think they had been removed from the creative process--but they weren’t. However, as rookie artists who were making their first single, they didn’t have any say in that crucial final mix.

Continuing his attack, Abrams added, “We thought it should have more of a street sound. It was too laid back. We were thinking that the record company was wrong. Nobody is going listen to this. It wasn’t hip.”

Then Calderon chimed in, chuckling, “What if the label had listened to us?”

They’d probably still be struggling unknowns in their hometown of Oklahoma City. As it was, “I Wanna Sex You Up” became a hit and propelled the group’s debut album, “C.M.B.,” up the charts.

That was half a year ago. Already past the 2.5-million mark, the album is still selling, boasting two consecutive No. 1 pop singles, “I Adore Mi Amor” and “All 4 Love.” With a new single, “Thinkin’ Back,” in the pop Top 30, the album--No. 5 on the Billboard magazine pop album chart--is surging again and could be a Top 10 fixture for a while.

Judging the commercial potential of singles apparently isn’t one of the group’s strengths--but singing is. Along with Boyz II Men and Jodeci, Color Me Badd is leading the surge of young, soul-oriented vocal groups to the top of the charts.

Color Me Badd’s style is street-corner a cappella meets hip-hop--or, as the group itself has labeled it, doo wop hip-hop. Color Me Badd material sounds like old O’Jays and Stylistic songs updated with hip-hop rhythms.

It’s a thoroughly black sound, but only one member, Kevin Thornton, is black. Sam Watters is Anglo-American, Abrams is part American Indian and Calderon is Mexican-American.

“The first time people see us they often assume Kevin is the lead singer because he’s black,” Abrams said with a laugh. “They figure only black people can sound like we sound. It’s a very narrow way of thinking but we’ve gotten used to it. It takes some people a while to get used to this multiracial thing.”

When they were searching for a record deal in New York a few years ago, some record companies never got used to the idea.

“They thought we were too tough to market,” Abrams explained. “I don’t think it was racism on their part. They were just thinking that it might be harder for a mixed group to get started. Some labels wanted to sign us but first they wanted to make all these changes. We just wanted some label to take us as is.”

That’s just what Giant Records did. The group’s multiraciality never had a chance to be a factor because its first single, “I Wanna Sex You Up,” was an instant hit. The radio stations never knew about its racial makeup since, as standard procedure on a first single, publicity photos weren’t sent out.

“We wanted the music to stand on its own,” Calderon said. “Once you’re a hit, people don’t care what color you are. But at first we were afraid there might be opposition. We didn’t want any hassles. We’d done enough struggling.”

Their history is a rags-to-riches tale riddled with struggles. A few years ago, they were starving in New York.

“We’d go without food for days,” Calderon recalled, savoring an exotic soup during lunch. “A McDonald’s hamburger was a feast to us.”

The four, all in their early 20s, have been inseparable since they met six years ago in high school. All R&B; vocal-group fans, they sang a cappella wherever they could find an audience--from school hallways to clubs.

Their ticket out of Oklahoma City was their current co-manager, Adil Bayyan, whom they met when he was passing through town as road manager for Kool & the Gang. Bayyan persuaded them to move to the New York area while looking for a record deal.

“Sometimes I think of us stuck in Oklahoma City, singing in clubs, dying to get out,” Abrams reflected, still starry-eyed about Color Me Badd’s success. “We lived in fear of that happening to us. It was our worst nightmare. We saw groups like that all the time in Oklahoma City. That would have been like death.

“But we escaped, man, we escaped and we made a dent in this business. You’ve got to forgive me, but sometimes I still can’t believe it.”