Introducing Jodeci

Two pairs of brothers the DeGrates – Donald “DeVante Swing” DeGrate, group founder, and Dalvin DeGrate and the Haileys – lead singer Cedric “K-Ci” Hailey and Joel “Jo-Jo” Hailey. The group’s name is a combination of the names of all of its members: Jo-Jo, DeGrate (including both Dalvin and DeVante) and K-Ci….

JO-DE-CI dya get it?!

Jodeci’s sound put the slow in jam. R&B and new jack swing flavours to satisfy your every need, some serious amount of human conceptions in the 90s occured to these very tracks. They mastered the ever so sexy seductive spoken intro and of course the hand clenching arm waving you see featured in the videos.

Coming with their debut album in 1991 entitled Forever My Lady including their first Us number 1 in the R&B chart “Stay”…

Following up with title track “Forever My Lady” looking fresh in crisp white sportswear leather boots combo…

Fast track a couple of years to 1993 when the group came with epic album “Diary of a Mad Band” storming to number 4 in the US charts and number 1 in the R&B charts with a Jodeci sexy slow slow jam cover of Stevie Wonders “Lately”… This shrewd song choice got them noticed by the masses.

Then came the classic dessert video with “Cry For You”…

My personal favourite mainly because of the title – possibly the best R&B word ever. “Feenin”… video complete with padded cell and straight jacket.

The groups third and final album was entitled “The Show, The After Party, The Hotel. YESSSS. Featuring the track many know and love them for – “Freak n’ You”

The group then went on hiatus but K-Ci and JoJo continued to churn out the slowies by which point they got a bit old and if I’m honest I slightly lost interest.