Jodeci is a male r&b group comprised of two sets of brothers. K-Ci and JoJo (Cedric and Joel Hailey) form one set of brothers. DeVante Swing and Mr. Dalvin (Donald and Dalvin Degrate) form the other set of brothers. Jodeci released their first album, “Forever My Lady” on May 28, 1991. The album was primarily written by DeVante Swing and produced by DeVante Swing and Al B. Sure! The album was released when the soundtrack to New Jack City was blazing the chart along with Keith Washington, Hi-Five, Guy, and Another Bad Creation.
The single ‘Forever My Lady’ opens with, “So you’re having my baby, and it means so much to me.” Forever My Lady album opened with four singles about love that provided the soundtrack to the creation of a lot of kids being born nine months later. Featuring hits Forever My Lady, Stay, Come and Talk to Me, and I’m Still Waiting, black love was strong in 1991 and 1992.
Jodeci was more street than Boys II Men and more grown-up than ABC. They were four young black men with a lot swagger and bad-boy tendencies. They wore Timberland boots, oversized jump suits, and sunglasses indoors. Later, they wore a lot of black leather with their sunglasses. All four members were raised in North Carolina. Jodeci was formed by DeVante Swing. The brothers K-Ci and JoJo had prior success with three gospel albums prior to Jodeci. The Degrate brothers were in their own family’s gospel group.
After auditioning for Uptown, Jodeci was assigned to Sean “Puffy” Combs for development. Under Andre Harrell and Sean Combs, Jodeci became a hit group. Andre Harrell and Sean Combs were also developing Guy and Mary J Blige at the time. Jodeci released four studio albums. Of the four, the first two albums Forever My Lady and Diary of a Mad Band were the most successful.
As with many groups, they fell apart due to egos, solo projects, and drug and alcohol abuse. K-Ci was in a twelve year relationship with Mary J. Blige. The toxicity of the relationship provided the anguish to many of Mary J.’s early hits. As the urban legends goes, Mary J. made her best hits when she was unhappy. DeVante Swing went on to discover other artists such as Timbaland and Missy Elliott. He also worked with Tupac, Al B. Sure! and Mary J. Blige on her duet with K-Ci titled, “I Don’t Want to Do Anything Else” in one of the most hood love duet classics ever made. K-Ci and JoJo later formed their owned group and had hits like “All My Life”.
Jodeci claims they’ve never broken up. Like New Edition, Boys II Men, Dru Hill, and other male groups, they’re with us forever.