Jodeci then
Jodeci was one of the most popular R&B groups in the 1990s. The group was comprised of two sets of brothers - Devante Swing and Mr. Dalvin (Donald and Dalvin DeGrate) and siblings K-Ci and JoJo (Cedric and Joel Hailey). They were referred to as the badboys of R&B. Sean "P Diddy" Combs, who was an executive at Uptown Records in the 1990s, took four country boys from North Carolina and Virginia and turned them into party animals.
Uptown Records sent Jodeci to live in a very urban part of New York to roughen up their image, in a bid at turning them into rebellious young men. This left the members with drug, alcohol and sexual addictions. They also purchased guns, with two members getting into trouble with the law. The four innocent country boys from the Bible Belt, were now subject to their own vices.
The newly adopted badboy image they took on to sell records, stuck and began destroying them, as they began to act out, via destructive behavior, in trying to live up to a fabricated public persona. After a while, one can lose one's self in a role.
Jodeci now
After dysfunction set in, group member and producer, Devante Swing struggled to complete any music, which led to the group breaking up after three top selling albums. His most recent video was a surveillance one at a Subway restaurant, featuring the musician stumbling around, visibly inebriated and high.
The Brothers Hailey, continued recording as K-Ci and JoJo, but it wasn't long before their addictions damaged their careers as well. The two are now taking part in a rehabilitative reality show entitled "K-Ci and JoJo...Come Clean."
The irony of it all is Jodeci had talent and did not need gimmicks. The raunch, rebellion and lust did not make their music better. Case in point, the top selling song to come out of that outfit was K-Ci and JoJo's "All My Life" which is a clean tune that is often played at weddings.
The group started out in Gospel music, with God having given them a gift for music, but P. Diddy changed them, exposing the band to a destructive, licentious way of life, they have struggled with to this day. Here's hoping they get back on the straight and narrow.
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