BEFORE THE SHOW - "Everyone gets in their own little mode. Especially if we've been off the road for a while. Everyone goes on their own. We're a little quiet. We get real touchy - like at soundcheck we might get mad if something doesn't go right. We want everything to be perfect."
Tension is high. The show is about to begin. R&B mega group, Jodeci is about to release the album which will confirm that they are indeed a group of abundant talent and absolute staying power. Since we last heard, the two sets of brothers have accomplished a great deal. Now armed with three production companies: Devante's Swing Mob, Dalvin and K-Ci's Clownin' and JoJo's J&J Productions, the four emerge as businessmen as well as artists. Devante is producing Jodeci as well as several up-and-coming R&B groups; Clownin' is working on a new artist named Sara, and J&J is working on Martinez Haley (another brother of K-Ci and JoJo). The group's multi-platinum success and business acumen has stunned the world, while waking them up to the grave implications of being rich, famous superstars.
Their third and finest album, THE SHOW, THE AFTER PARTY, THE HOTEL, much like their lives on the road, brings three distinct elements: the ultimate skill of their soulful God-given talent; naughty but flava'ful funk; and the sexy could-get-you-into-trouble wind-downs they're famous for. This album, of which they are very proud, 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. This time around, they're inviting you to spend an evening with them on the road.
Musically, this 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,"says Mr. Dalvin. "We're going back to the old days, using classic melodies and stuff."
Although the group has garnered an uncanny amount of number one songs and Top 40 hits ("Come and Talk To Me,""Stay,""Forever My Lady,""Gotta Love,""Cry For You,""Feenin'"and "Lately?, worked with some of the biggest names in R&B (Mary J. Blige, Christopher Williams, Father MC, SWV, Aaron Hall), rap (Redman), and rock (Aerosmith), they have also been the center of endless controversy. Yet they remain unmoved.
K-Ci is still the funny, down-to-earth member. JoJo is quiet and serious. Mr. Dalvin still talks the most, while his brother, DeVante - the musical genius - is away in the studio, doing what he does best. The distinct sound DeVante has created for Jodeci has been erroneously called everything from New Jack Swing to Hip Hop Soul. However, they've flipped it all and called it sexual R&B, because "it gets to the core of what R&B is about."With THE SHOW, THE AFTER PARTY, THE HOTEL, they get to the core of who they are. And they are the most significant, talented soul collective of this decade.
THE SHOW - "Performance is the biggest part of our thing. We want everything to be right. From explosions to guitar strings. We're the whole band, we do everything. We get butterflies in our stomachs because we 're not sure what's going to happen. We had a show once when all the power went off in the building in Amsterdam, three times. It was a hard night but we had to deal with it.?What is the show really like for the members of Jodeci?
Dalvin: JoJo be getting open out there. (Laughing hysterically) One night he thought he was Michael Jackson!
JoJo: (breaking a smile)I'm just feeling the crowd. That gets you hyped. You'll do anything.
Dalvin: Like the time you invited all those girls on stage and they almost wrecked the stage?
JoJo: (serious) I felt sorry for the girls in the front giving me those sad faces because they couldn't come up. I just said to myself, forget this, all of y'all come up.
K-Ci: (Laughing)
Dalvin: ...Girls crying...it's a sea of people waving their hands and throwing flowers.
K-Ci: I love that. It's dope.
On stage, they're shocking, sexy, provocative and moving all at once. But no matter what you're seeing, it's real and honest. With a family prayer to guide them on stage, once they hit the stage it's all up to the music and God. In their performances, they bring with them the professionalism that's been instilled in them as kids from touring with their church choir.
Moving their audiences with strong harmonies, amazing passion and commitment, their live performances are a force to be reckoned with. "You've got to come across with what you feel. You gotta make people feel it,"says Dalvin. Because the show is the most important culmination of their skills, they've written two songs that clearly illustrate their gift, "Love U 4 Life"and "Good Luv." These songs are pleasant and unexpected surprises from the street-wise ruffians that the media has portrayed. Despite their sagging pants, visible underwear and thrusting pelvises, these young men have written two ballads that could bring one to tears.
"Love U 4 Life,"a melodic sequel to "Forever My Lady"is a spine-tingling example that beneath their raucous exteriors, Jodeci are sincere and serious songwriters. The group's powerful vocal performance is a sure sign that Jodeci is all grown up now, musically at least. "Good Love,"a sparse, acoustic ode to a special woman, brings Jodeci's harmonies and arrangement skills to the forefront. As passionate and soulful as it may be, the song is still innocent and genuine enough that yuppies will be humming it in the morning, on their way to Wall Street. With gospel inspiration, this song will propel the group even further into the heads of the world-at-large.
"We're grateful to have the Jodeci thing going on. Although there have been some things we didn't agree with or felt bad about, we don't let things get us down. We just keep doing what we originally came to New York City to do, which is to do the best at what we do. As long as we keep our minds focused, it will be straight" says K-Ci.
THE AFTER PARTY - "We try to get our little groove on too. Ain't nothin' wrong with that." Just when you think the possibilities for excitement have been exhausted, there's more. After all the explosives and the crowd is worn out from screaming, crying and dancing, there's more. The inevitable after party. Held at a local club, invitations are handed to pretty girls and well-dressed young men as they leave the stadium. No doubt, the spot will be packed tonight. Surprisingly, Jodeci will be there. All of them. The aloof DeVante, who is often mysteriously missing from interviews and group photos is definitely always rolling with the group on the road.
Remembered by Dalvin as "the weird one,"Devante spent his childhood behind keyboards, while Dalvin was "the street person." Now, Dalvin says proudly of his older brother, "He's got more things to do than the president of the United States. He has about 40 artists and he just bought them an apartment building to live in. He has produced four albums in the last four months. Everyday he takes up something new."Adds K-Ci, "Devante is bustin' his tail in the studio doing Jodeci stuff. That's the price you pay when you're a self-produced group." Says K-Ci about rolling to the after party, " It's not what's on the outside, it's what's on the inside. We are just real people."After a great peformance, these four guys love to get their groove on as much as the next guy. Yes, they might even be found on the dance floor with the very screaming girls who made them the sex symbols and pop icons they are today. With an icy bottle of Moet in hand, they head straight to the dance floor. If the crowd behaves, they stay if not, it's off to the roped-off VIP area from where they have to watch the fun from a distance, for security reasons.
In honor of their legendary after parties Jodeci has composed 3 straight-up party jams, with just enough old-style funk to make them work. "Bring On The Funk,"(a collaboration with the DeGrate Brothers) a tribute to the late 70's, sets the album off with Jodeci-style harmony on top of a borrowed chorus from Tom Browne's classic, "Funkin' For Jamaica.""Fun To Night,"and "Get On Up,"both produced by Dalvin, are light Kool And The Gang-type party pieces that bring sweet harmony to old school basslines. "Can We Flow,"which is half jam, half slow jam is the last song of the night. Sexy yet danceable, it'll make you want to hook up with someone. Preferably, with one of the members of Jodeci.
THE HOTEL -"Sex is what's happening. People love sex - even though it's getting scary.... We have to live our life - but at the same time we're gonna keep our heads straight. We ain't gonna act stupid and lose all of this." Finally, the most controversial and provocative part of the evening... and the album. The after party is over, your clothes are wet with sweat, you've danced all night and had a little more to drink than usual -- all in honor of the show. There's that tickling urge to ask, what's next? This is the very question that's become a downfall for many young urban artists in recent years.
Jodeci is no different. The media has raked them over the coals, reporting alleged rapes, harassment and sexual disputes. JoJo, the quietest and most intense member of the group speaks out the loudest on his disillusionment with show business, press, trouble-making adversaries and reckless groupies. "I see a lot of people getting into people's business. They take what you say and put it in their own words and there's a lot of confusion and a lot of unnecessary stuff being said about you, so I stay to myself." Tired of discussing and explaining the past, they admit that there have been altercations. "Sometimes you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, or somewhere where you want to be but somebody else doesn't want you there and makes trouble for you. People are always trying to bring you down if you got a little something. That's the way the world works," says Dalvin.
True indeed. The biggest problem has been the girls. To make sense of the mysterious increase of unfortunate incidents that are plaguing young black artists, the group gives the serious problem a little levity by blaming it on what JoJo has scathingly nicknamed "The GC"(The Groupie Convention). It's an imaginary place where, it seems, all R&B and rap groupies get together and decide to accuse artists of inappropriate conduct when they themselves are in compromising positions, in order to win costly lawsuits. "They'll meet you, tell you everything about their mama and everything else. Next thing you know, your lawyer is calling you at 3 in the morning. `You're wanted for assault of a young woman,'" sadly adding, "it's only happening to black groups," says JoJo.
So it's rather appropriate, somewhat sarcastic and very effective that the most striking song on the album is called "S'more."Preceded by a skit featuring a group of girls banging on a hotel room door screaming for K-Ci to open up. The irresistibly sexy, self-explanatory response, "S'more"(also produced by Dalvin) is K-Ci at his most mature point vocally. His Donny Hathaway-like passion burns with the maturity of a man well past hiding from groupies in a hotel. Well past it.
Troublesome or not, young men will be young men. With five tracks that are strictly for the hotel, it is evident where their hearts and hormones lie. The sexy "Pump It Back"poses the prickly question, "Can you pump it back?"in a sticky, slick grind that will become a Jodeci classic. The gutsy first single entitled "Freek `n You,"is the perfect way to kick off what's being called their finest album to date.
Its relentless, sexual Jodeci approach makes it evident why Jodeci has become the ultimate lovemaking experts of choice for today's horny generation. "Time + Place"and "Let's Do It All Night"are the steamy erotic trips that set the tone for this intimate evening that will definitely go into morning.
BEFORE THE NEXT SHOW - When we have time off we go home to North Carolina and chill with our families and friends. When we go to church they don't even have to ask us to sing, we just get up and do it. At Dalvin's church they have their drums and keyboards already set up. When we get there, the church musicians know it's their day off."
Once in a while, there's a day off. After all the glitz, glamour, snapshots, autographs, and newly formed friendships it comes to a temporary halt. The members of Jodeci go home to North Carolina. Home to Christ Gospel Church and Tiny Grove Holiness Church where they can be found singing their hearts out, giving thanks to God for his blessing and all their success. Dalvin and DeVante go home to their mother who pages them every 5 minutes -- she's always worrys for them when they're out on the road. K-Ci and JoJo go home to "moms,"who takes their car keys if they've been going out too much, and a grandmother who makes them laugh by calling their earrings "ear bobs."
When they go home, they get away from the rumors that fly, the girls that chase and the danger that goes along with being superstars. The rumors go from the typical to the ridiculous. The grapevine has been known to say something about the fact that Jodeci is breaking up. Says JoJo, "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."
After you've experienced one night of THE SHOW, THE AFTER PARTY AND THE HOTEL, you'll know these brothers will always be around.
