DeVante was afforded the opportunity to work with Al Green, one of his idols, and wrote and produced the song "Could This Be the Love." More significantly, his Swing Mob collective directly and indirectly fostered the rise of such acts and producers as Sista, Mad Skillz, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Playa, Ginuwine, Aaliyah, and Tweet. As with the group's first two albums, it topped Billboard's R&B chart and went platinum. Jodeci's third album, The Show, The After Party, The Hotel, was released in July 1995. The group's personal troubles got worse in 1993, when DeVante and K-Ci pleaded guilty to gun violations and sexual assault charges, but that wasn't all shortly afterward, DeVante's house was robbed of over 160,000 dollars in jewelry and clothes as the singer was held with guns in his mouth and at the back of his head. It didn't matter much, as Diary eventually went double platinum. Dre's Death Row Records, which resulted in almost zero promotion for their new album. A minor feud resulted over the band's follow-up album, Diary of a Mad Band Jodeci, unhappy with their treatment by Uptown, flirted with the idea of leaving for Dr. In May 1991, they released Forever My Lady, which featured the gold single "Come and Talk to Me" and went on to sell over three million copies. Harrell was impressed, and just like that, Jodeci signed a recording contract. They were almost rejected, but rapper Heavy D overheard the tape and talked Uptown president Andre Harrell into hearing the group.
By the time they got to New York, they had demo recordings of 29 songs, which they brought to the offices of Uptown Entertainment. The two planned on going to New York to shop the demo, but both K-Ci and Dalvin decided to tag along at the last minute. He returned to Charlotte, where he wrote a song and recorded JoJo singing it. The Hailey brothers and DeVante started hanging out together, partying, and talking about making R&B records together, coming up with the name Jodeci at this time.Īt age 16, DeVante ran away to Minneapolis to get a job in Prince's organization, but was refused. However, when they did meet, K-Ci was with a girl Dalvin had been dating, and a fight nearly broke out. The boys were able to hear each other's gospel songs played on the radio, and were eventually introduced through girlfriends as teenagers. Both families belonged to the Pentecostal church, and the DeGrates' father was a minister. Natives of Charlotte, North Carolina, all four members toured the South as young boys singing gospel music, and even recorded albums. Made up of two sets of brothers, the group's name was a consolidation of its members' names: Joel "JoJo" Hailey, Donald "DeVante Swing" and Dalvin DeGrate, and Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey. If Boyz II Men were portrayed as a clean-cut, wholesome R&B vocal group, then Jodeci's wild, sexual, bad-boy image represented the other side of the coin.
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