I love Latina women
Veteran
it's always great to go back and read old interviews and reminisce 
link to the article is all the way at the bottom
Jodeci's DeVante Swing is talking a mile a minute. He's in a studio in Rochester, N.Y., the hour is late, and he's taking time from his group's current national tour to work on some upcoming projects.
Though Jodeci has been vilified in the past for their language, behavior and even their dress, DeVante's worst sin tonight is the worship of an inanimate object - his brand-new $1,200 Rickenbacker guitar.
As the group's founder and main producer, DeVante has had a lot more than a new instrument to be excited about lately. After three albums in four years, Jodeci is finally taking their place atop the heap of sound-alike, look-alike male groups who don't have a single memorable voice to distinguish them.
While Boyz II Men occupy a rarefied space all their own, Jodeci is now arguably the most recognizable and musically progressive R&B group out there.
Borrowing and incorporating the musicianship of the past with their contemporary style, Jodeci's four members - twentysomething brothers Dalvin ''Mr. Dalvin" DeGrate, Donald "DeVante Swing" DeGrate, and Cedric "K- Ci" Hailey and Joel "JoJo" Hailey - are committed to maintaining their individuality.
Their latest CD, "The Show, the Afterparty, the Hotel," represents the group's musical evolution from its work on 1991's "Forever My Lady" and 1993's "Diary of a Mad Band." There is less hip-hop, more acoustic instruments, and more of the group's trademark blended harmonies. The changes were intentional, DeVante said.
"I didn't try to be hip-hop. I tried to keep it musical. A lot of people like to use samples. We're original. I just went in the studio and started messing around. Most of the songs were written on the guitar. A month went by, two months went by - I just came up with more ideas," DeVante said.
On this latest release, Jodeci also has recorded some quality uptempo tracks, something that has eluded them on past projects. DeVante, who once had an almost Princely control of the group, let his brother Dalvin get more involved with production this time. Dalvin and lead singers K-Ci and JoJo contributed several songs to this CD, either as writers or producers, and it shows. It's the group's most balanced work.
Jodeci's musical balance has extended offstage. Their image, while never virtuous, took a real beating in 1993 when DeVante and K-Ci were arrested on weapons and sexual contact charges, respectively, stemming from an incident in DeVante's New Jersey home. (DeVante pled guilty this year, and was put on two years' probation. The group's management would not release information on K- Ci's legal status.)
After the negative publicity garnered by that incident, Jodeci's advisers realized that their public profile needed sanitizing. Former Uptown Records head Andre Harrell brought them in to help form and promote a black music branch of Lifebeat, the music industry's AIDS organization. The result was urbanAIDS, which was created to get information about AIDS out to urban youth of color. Jodeci became the spokespersons for a multi-city promotional tour, and a recent benefit concert in New York, which drew prominent R&B artists like Brandy, Salt N Pepa and Naughty by Nature.
Jodeci's most recent hit, "Freek N' You," would seem to contradict any AIDS protection information the group would provide, but DeVante disagrees.
"We're responsible to people to a point," he says. "I feel like if we're going to tell mugs (people) to be out freakin', (we need to tell them) to be safe about it. When Eazy E died and Andre came up with the idea, there was nothing wrong about that. The worst gangsta out there gives a f--- about something. Everybody gives a f--- about something. If you ask me if I care about my life and being safe, yes, I care about that. I'm not that rebellious."
Still, the contradictions remain. DeVante writes songs about love and yearning as much as he writes about sex. He uses the b-word to describe what he considers exploitive, conniving women, but says he loves and respects women.
The group has upgraded their style to become a little more sophisticated, but their wardrobe is still heavy on black leather, earrings and tattoos. While their last video was about "freakin'," the current video for the single "Love U 4 Life," has Dalvin marrying Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins of TLC, who is reportedly his real-life girlfriend.
The group's contradictions may not hurt their popularity with fans, but may impact their ascension to Boyz II Men-like popularity.
"Jodeci couldn't hold a candle to Boyz II Men image-wise," says Power 99 program director Gary Young. "Boyz II Men is a mass- appeal group. Jodeci is an R&B group with a slight mass appeal. They're not all the way there yet." Young adds that mainstream acceptance is possible with "the right material, the right marketing, and they probably have to stop taking their clothes off onstage."
http://articles.philly.com/1995-11-21/news/25680743_1_jodeci-dalvin-mad-band
link to the article is all the way at the bottom
Jodeci's DeVante Swing is talking a mile a minute. He's in a studio in Rochester, N.Y., the hour is late, and he's taking time from his group's current national tour to work on some upcoming projects.
Though Jodeci has been vilified in the past for their language, behavior and even their dress, DeVante's worst sin tonight is the worship of an inanimate object - his brand-new $1,200 Rickenbacker guitar.
As the group's founder and main producer, DeVante has had a lot more than a new instrument to be excited about lately. After three albums in four years, Jodeci is finally taking their place atop the heap of sound-alike, look-alike male groups who don't have a single memorable voice to distinguish them.
While Boyz II Men occupy a rarefied space all their own, Jodeci is now arguably the most recognizable and musically progressive R&B group out there.
Borrowing and incorporating the musicianship of the past with their contemporary style, Jodeci's four members - twentysomething brothers Dalvin ''Mr. Dalvin" DeGrate, Donald "DeVante Swing" DeGrate, and Cedric "K- Ci" Hailey and Joel "JoJo" Hailey - are committed to maintaining their individuality.
Their latest CD, "The Show, the Afterparty, the Hotel," represents the group's musical evolution from its work on 1991's "Forever My Lady" and 1993's "Diary of a Mad Band." There is less hip-hop, more acoustic instruments, and more of the group's trademark blended harmonies. The changes were intentional, DeVante said.
"I didn't try to be hip-hop. I tried to keep it musical. A lot of people like to use samples. We're original. I just went in the studio and started messing around. Most of the songs were written on the guitar. A month went by, two months went by - I just came up with more ideas," DeVante said.
On this latest release, Jodeci also has recorded some quality uptempo tracks, something that has eluded them on past projects. DeVante, who once had an almost Princely control of the group, let his brother Dalvin get more involved with production this time. Dalvin and lead singers K-Ci and JoJo contributed several songs to this CD, either as writers or producers, and it shows. It's the group's most balanced work.
Jodeci's musical balance has extended offstage. Their image, while never virtuous, took a real beating in 1993 when DeVante and K-Ci were arrested on weapons and sexual contact charges, respectively, stemming from an incident in DeVante's New Jersey home. (DeVante pled guilty this year, and was put on two years' probation. The group's management would not release information on K- Ci's legal status.)
After the negative publicity garnered by that incident, Jodeci's advisers realized that their public profile needed sanitizing. Former Uptown Records head Andre Harrell brought them in to help form and promote a black music branch of Lifebeat, the music industry's AIDS organization. The result was urbanAIDS, which was created to get information about AIDS out to urban youth of color. Jodeci became the spokespersons for a multi-city promotional tour, and a recent benefit concert in New York, which drew prominent R&B artists like Brandy, Salt N Pepa and Naughty by Nature.
Jodeci's most recent hit, "Freek N' You," would seem to contradict any AIDS protection information the group would provide, but DeVante disagrees.
"We're responsible to people to a point," he says. "I feel like if we're going to tell mugs (people) to be out freakin', (we need to tell them) to be safe about it. When Eazy E died and Andre came up with the idea, there was nothing wrong about that. The worst gangsta out there gives a f--- about something. Everybody gives a f--- about something. If you ask me if I care about my life and being safe, yes, I care about that. I'm not that rebellious."
Still, the contradictions remain. DeVante writes songs about love and yearning as much as he writes about sex. He uses the b-word to describe what he considers exploitive, conniving women, but says he loves and respects women.
The group has upgraded their style to become a little more sophisticated, but their wardrobe is still heavy on black leather, earrings and tattoos. While their last video was about "freakin'," the current video for the single "Love U 4 Life," has Dalvin marrying Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins of TLC, who is reportedly his real-life girlfriend.
The group's contradictions may not hurt their popularity with fans, but may impact their ascension to Boyz II Men-like popularity.
"Jodeci couldn't hold a candle to Boyz II Men image-wise," says Power 99 program director Gary Young. "Boyz II Men is a mass- appeal group. Jodeci is an R&B group with a slight mass appeal. They're not all the way there yet." Young adds that mainstream acceptance is possible with "the right material, the right marketing, and they probably have to stop taking their clothes off onstage."
http://articles.philly.com/1995-11-21/news/25680743_1_jodeci-dalvin-mad-band
