Though DeVante's self-given last name implies otherwise, Jodeci's sound contains only whispers of what people were calling new jack swing in the late '80s. Individually, you can see where they're coming from: K-Ci is some compromise of Bobby Womack and Solomon Burke; DeVante is on some Marvin Gaye-esque, funk-flavored rhythm mission; JoJo's voice rings like a pewter bell; Dalvin, in a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none kind of way, jumps in where he's needed vocally, provides a grinding stage presence, and produces the more upbeat Jodeci cuts. That's separately. When they pull it all together, it's way wild. It's like adding lemons (K-Ci) and water (Dalvin) and ice (DeVante) and sugar (JoJo) and getting vodka-Jodeci.
And folks drink it up. Like Luther Vandross in the early 1980s, Jodeci have an extremely loyal black fan base. They tend to live at the top of Billboard's R&B charts. Only a song not written by DeVante-the group's cover of Stevie Wonder's "Lately"-ever made the Top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. But Forever My Lady, which had one gold single ("Come & Talk to Me") and sold 3 million copies, soared to No. 1 on the R&B Albums chart. The follow-up, Diary of a Mad Band, sold 1 million copies with next to no promotion. "Uptown didn't push it," says Dalvin. "Maybe they got mad because we started fucking with Suge." It's the ubiquitous Marion "Suge" Knight, CEO of Death Row Records, to whom Dalvin refers.
Right before the release of Diary Of A Mad Band, there were rumors that Jodeci wanted out of their management contract with Uptown. Jodeci were signed to the Uptown/ MCA label, but DeVante supposedly wanted the group to leave Uptown and go to Death Row Management. [There were rumors that (Suge) Knight threatened (Andre) Harrell. Both deny the story.] K-Ci says the band chose not to participate in any video after "Feenin' " because Uptown "wasn't treating us like we'd just sold 3 million albums. We're making three times as much now as we was then."
But then I started realizing that Prince was the only one making real money in his camp. So I took my ass right back to Charlotte, N.C. I wrote a song about a girl I liked; the chorus was, "Where could I go wrong..." JoJo sang the song. People were saying we should do something with it.
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Jodeci VIBE Magazine (1995)
Non-FictionWARNING : EXPLICIT LANGUAGE All credit goes to VIBE Magazine. ""Silk? Shai? UNV?" DeVante chuckles. "Put that in there. That I laughed. They're just jokes. There are only two powers: us and Boyz II Men."
