UB Black Music Spotlight: Celebrating The Bad Boys of R&B Jodeci

As with every Black Music Month, UB is presenting artist spotlight features, to celebrate great R&B artists!

As this years celebration comes to an end, we celebrate a group of guys who created the marriage of streetwise hip-hop to romantic R&B, Jodeci!

The kings of Hip-Hop Soul and hailed as The Bad Boys of R&B.

K-Ci, DeVante Swing, JoJo, and Mr. Dalvin have sold over 20 million records worldwide, and achieved three #1 albums on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart.

In only five years, from 1991 to 1995, they released three albums, all reaching triple platinum, or double platinum and each hitting #1 on Billboards R&B chart.

Along with Ten R&B Top 10 hits, four gold, and five of them Billboard R&B #1s.

Jodeci is two sets of brothers: the Haileys (Joel aka “JoJo” and Cedric aka “K-Ci”) and the DeGrates (Donald aka “DeVante Swing” and Dalvin), and thus “Jo-De-Ci.”

Natives of Charlotte, NC, they toured the South in separate groups singing and recording gospel music before joining together to create impassioned R&B in a hip-hop world.

They got their respective starts singing in southern churches and touring on the gospel music circuit.

The North Carolina boys eventually found each other and formed Jodeci—an amalgamation of their names—and made their way to New York City to pursue secular music.

Jodeci got their first break also in Charlotte on “Furious Black Family Gospel Songs,” a compilation album. On that album were listed as the DeGrates and the Haileys.

After this release, “DeVante,” recorded a song in Charlotte that JoJo, was performing.

They traveled to New York City with K-Ci and Dalvin, to look for a record deal.

Late rapper and producer Heavy D, whose group Heavy D & The Boyz was signed to Uptown Records, convinced the label to sign the brother group, who chose the name Jodeci.

At Uptown, Sean Combs, was in charge of developing the act and created a hip-hop-based image.

The group sang background vocals for recordings by Ralph Tresvant and Jasmine Guy and made their performing debut on an episode of “Soul Train” in June, 1991.

Jodeci’s wild, sexual image and smooth vocals, its combination of vintage soul and New Jack vibe, were a sensation from the start.

Jodeci introduced themselves with their earth-shaking debut “Forever My Lady” on May 28th, 1991.

The debut album went triple platinum, #1 R&B and cracked the pop Top 20.

Three singles went #1 R&B–the title track (also Top 30 pop), “Stay” and the gold certified “Come & Talk To Me” (also #11 pop). The final single “I’m Still Waiting” reached #10 R&B.

A total of 8 million copies sold worldwide.

1993‘s follow-up, “Diary Of A Mad Band,” moved further into an edgier future and earned #1 R&B/#3 pop chartings and double platinum.

Uptown Records unveiled the record just before Christmas 1993 on December 21st, and it gifted the world the historic first appearances from Timbaland, and Missy Elliott, while Redman also pulled up for a feature.

Going gold was the #1 R&B/#15 pop single “Cry For You.”

Charlotte native Anthony Hamilton once told UB, that if given the opportunity to redo any R&B song, he would choose a Jodeci song. “Hmm, a track that I could re-do my way? “Cry for You” from Jodeci. I love that song! It might not be better than K-Ci’s, but I’ll give him a run for his money! That’s my favorite group.”

The second single from the album “Feenin’” hit #2 R&B/Top 30 pop.

Mr. Dalvin shared with UB in 2020, that “Feenin‘” is not one of his favorite Jodeci songs. “I’m gonna let you in on something, the reason why is because me and my brother argued about it. I didn’t like that snare that he put in it. So we would always argue about that (laughs). But my brother is a genius and was like I’m keeping it like this. But it was one of our biggest records, just one of my least favorites.”

The album track “My Heart Belongs To U,” also charted for 20 weeks on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart.

“Diary Of A Mad Band” reached quadruple-platinum in the U.S., moving 6 million units worldwide.

That same year, Jodeci performed on “Uptown MTV Unplugged” and its cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Lately” became the subsequent album’s biggest hit, reaching gold, and a #1 R&B/#4 pop single.

“Diary of a Mad Band” remains an R&B classic from Jodeci.

In 1995, the conceptual “The Show, The After Party, The Hotel” was released. This year, the album will celebrate it’s 30th Anniversary on July 18th.

The album is a combination of the sentimental New Jack Swing of their first album, “Forever My Lady” and the harder edged funk of the second, “Diary of A Mad Band.”

Musically, the album is a distinct flight back to the origins of funk. It borrows gracefully from the very artists they were forbidden to listen to in their strict, religious homes.

As children of ministers, it was the music that was taboo in their homes, therefore it was exciting for them. “This album should have been released between the last two albums because it pulls influences from both,” stated Mr. Dalvin. “We’re going back to the old days, using classic melodies and stuff.”

Moving their audiences with strong harmonies, amazing passion and commitment, their live performances were a force to be reckoned with. “You’ve got to come across with what you feel. You gotta make people feel it,” Dalvin stated.

The show is the most important culmination of their skills.

The album went platinum, #1 R&B/#2 pop. “Freek’n You” reached gold,” #3 R&B/Top 15 pop.

“Get On Up” peaked at #4 R&B/Top 30 pop and “Love U 4 Life,” reached #8 R&B/Top 40 pop.

Record label and personal controversies as well as a natural desire to try other projects eventually put Jodeci on hiatus.

Between the four of them, they had three production companies: Devante‘s “Swing Mob,” Dalvin and K-Ci‘s “Clownin’” and JoJo‘s “J&J Productions.”

K-Ci & JoJo, continued making hits as a duo.

The Haileys collaborated with the late great 2Pac on “How Do U Want It,” which was later nominated for a Grammy Award. K-Ci & JoJo, along with Babyface and two of his brothers from the R&B act After 7, recorded “I Care ’Bout You” for the Soul Food soundtrack in 1997.

The brothers made their side projects into a full album, “Love Always.” Released in 1997, the album spawned two top-ten R&B hits: “You Bring Me Up” and “Last Night’s Letter”.

“All My Life” was the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, a feat that K-Ci and Jo-Jo had never achieved with Jodeci.

“Love Always” went on to sell four million copies.

The duo went on to release the following album releases “It’s Real,” “X,” “Emotional” and “My Brother’s Keeper” in 2013.

DeVante‘s Swing Mob Productions, included in-house hits by Usher, Mary J. Blige, Al B. Sure! and of course Jodeci.

Signees included Timbaland, Missy Elliott and Ginuwine.

Mr. Dalvin‘s eye for talent led him to discovering Missy Elliot as well as Stevie J.

He released his first solo album, “Met.A.Mor.Phic,” in 2000. In 2020 he released the party-tune “Goodtimez.”

Jodeci reunited and took the stage at the 2014 Soul Train Awards for a classic medley and to premiere “Nobody Wins.”

In 2015, Jodeci reunited after 20-years and released their fourth album, “The Past, the Present, the Future.”

The album’s track “Every Moment,” topped the Billboard Adult R&B Airplay chart for two consecutive weeks that year.

“We reignited,” stated Mr. Dalvin at the time. “That fire, we never really put it out. We just dimmed it. K-Ci and JoJo were really successful. I was producing for Mariah Carey and DeVante had all his things going on behind the scenes. As far as the group, it’s like a well-oiled antique car. It doesn’t lose value. We just parked it for a while.”

“Jodeci can never break up because we’re brothers. Brothers in our hearts, brothers by blood and we’ll always be brothers. And brothers will always be together, stated JoJo.”

Last year the group reunited for a sold-out Vegas residency.

Mr. Dalvin Talks Jodeci!
We spoke to Dalvin in 2020, in support of his solo single “GoodTimez.”

UrbanBridgez.com: You recently did the remix to JoJo’s latest single “Special” featuring Snoop. Tell us how that all came about?
Mr. Dalvin: Well you already know I was the remix guy for Jodeci, I did most of our remixes like with Wu-Tang. I had got out of production for awhile, but when COVID happened I was like I’m gonna start making beats again. So JoJo had released the single and came to me like, you know what I kind of miss those Mr. Dalvin remixes. So I thought, what better way to give all of my new technology a spin? So I decided to remix Special for him. I told him, I don’t know how it’s going to turn out, because I’m like a fish out of water kind of. The great thing I did like four different versions. Every time I sent him one, he was like this is dope let’s use this one (laughs). I started challenging myself and really getting into it. He wanted to use all four of them, but I think the final one I brought him and the one with Snoop, was the one I really liked.

UrbanBridgez.com: Well it came out dope. We posted it on UB and it got a lot of hits.
Mr. Dalvin: Thank you, really appreciate that. And me and JoJo been working a lot together, because like the last few shows it’s been me and JoJo. People be like how can Dalvin and JoJo do a Jodeci set and blah, blah, blah. And you know what, it turned out really amazing, Everybody else was doing their own thing and me and JoJo just like to be on stage. So we felt like getting on stage and that’s what it was (laughs). We didn’t miss a beat, it was really good.

UrbanBridgez.com: You helped write and produce some of Jodeci’s singes as well, out of the groups catalog what are your favorites and why and not necessarily ones you penned?
Mr. Dalvin: As crazy as this sounds, Cry for You would probably be my favorite Jodeci song. It’s crazy man, if you ask anybody what Mr. Dalvin’s favorite Jodeci song is. They would not choose Cry for You. I’m not really a sensitive emotional person, to write a song like that and my brother kind of is. So he can tap into that deep emotion like that. Performance wise it’s Freek’n You. So it varies, but my least favorite is Feenin. (laughs)

UrbanBridgez.com: Really? I wouldn’t of thought that.
Mr. Dalvin: I’m gonna let you in on something, the reason why is because me and my brother argued about it. I didn’t like that snare that he put in it. So we would always argue about that (laughs). But my brother is a genius and was like I’m keeping it like this. But it was one of our biggest records, just one of my least favorites.

UrbanBridgez.com: Now even more with the success of the New Edition biopic, the Jodeci one has been on a lot of minds lately. What’s the latest?
Mr. Dalvin: That’s the burning question, people really want to know. The biopic is in the works, in talks and has been that way for a few years now. People have to understand that these things take a long time. New Edition’s took 11 years to make. Biopics take a long time because it’s not just us four coming together and say let’s do a movie and we do it. It doesn’t work like that and many people do think it works like that. A lot of the parties have to come together and agree to certain things and terms before you can move forward. It’s also not always the members of the group, although we could all make it a lot easier. Everybody develops over the years, if you’ve been in a successful situation whether it’s a group or business or anything. As individuals you come up with your own teams, your own lawyers, etc. And everybody has to all agree. Sometimes it can get complicated, because somebody may want this and somebody else may want that. So until that agreement is done, it’s hard to move forward. So we’re all just trying to focus on everything that makes sense and not just with the group. You can’t just put out a movie and people watch it for a few weeks and then go on to the next thing. You have to see how it’s going to benefit you. Because you’re giving them your life, your life’s work. For someone to portray you in a certain light, so you want to be done right. It has to be the right director and the whole nine. When it’s all over and said, you want to be proud of what’s presented.

UrbanBridgez.com: Yeah you want that proper representation.
Mr. Dalvin: Right, look at all these movies like the Aaliyah one and All Eyez on Me was a terrible display of who Tupac was. You get one chance to do it and that’s the chance they got and they ruined it. So when you see these other mistakes you don’t want that for you. Tupac was a very good friend of mine, to me that represented actually nothing of who that guy was. And that’s what we have to live with because he’s dead and gone. He can’t say anything. So we would rather it be right, than be wrong. Trust me I would love to go to a theater now or turn the TV on and see someone portraying me. As dope as that sounds to be immortalized, like even with the skits they do of us. It’s funny because it lets you know you’ve accomplished something in life. People make parody’s and even when people hate on me, and making fake Instagram pages talking. I always say I must be doing something right (laughs). Although it gets annoying, it still means I’m somebody that people take they time out to do these things and worry about what I’m doing.

UrbanBridgez.com: What was your biggest accomplishment as a member of Jodeci, I know it was many being apart of one of the baddest groups to hit the studio and stage?
Mr. Dalvin: Appreciated! As you said it’s so many I’ll go off the top of my head. Like changing the laws in Japan not sure if we changed it forever but that day we did. We were on a bill with James Brown and that is my favorite artist of all time, I was just blown away. It was us Mary J. Blige and James Brown and when we got on the stage and they sing every word, but don’t know a lick of English. So we had a translator on stage for when we talked to the audience. So after every song we did, nobody would clap they would just bow their heads. So I went to the lady off to the side of the stage translating and told her, if they don’t clap for us, we’re going to leave the stage. But I also said some explicit words, dropped some F bombs and the whole nine (laughs). Because it’s hard to perform when people are just looking at you like Zombies (laughs). We needed to speed up the energy of the crowd and you know they love you because they’re singing every word. But then it goes dead silent after you sing (laughs). They had these armed guards like walking up and down the aisle. It was comedic like a comedy, not really but that’s what it looked like to me. So I talked to the lady and whatever she said to these Japanese people, but you saw an older person jump up and another one started clapping and yelling. I ran out and dove in the audience, and from there on it was just an explosion. The armed guards was trying to calm everybody down. But yeah we tore the place down. So James Brown was standing on the side of the stage right and he said y’all boys was real good, but let daddy do his thing (laughs). I’m like ain’t no way James Brown can come behind that, no way. When I tell you and I wanna say around then he was in his late 60s. When I tell you this man took the stage and I just felt great being able to witness. I had never experienced being at his concerts before and realized then this is why this man is who he is. Like you just got chills watching this man. And the thing is until then, I had never known he could play every instrument.

UrbanBridgez.com: Me either.
Mr. Dalvin: He got on the drums, got on the organ, got on the guitar and played every other instrument. I never even knew that. I was just like wow, we ain’t did nothing. And every time he spoke, he never spoke in English, he spoke in Japanese the whole time. He’s a seasoned professional and I felt it. I was like, we have a lot of work to do.

Take A Trip Down Memory Lane with Jodeci!