6 Things to know about Dru Hill
Dru Hill is an American music group, most popular during the late 1990s. The group comprised of Jazz, Woody, Nokio, and Sisqo.
As they tour Kenya for the first time, here are a few things you might want to remind yourself about the group or learn about them:
Top Songs – Some of their most popular songs are Tell Me, In My Bed, Beauty, Never Make a Promise, Angel, April Showers, We’re Not Making Love No more, How Deep is Your Love, These are the Times, 5 Steps, Wild, Wild West, Bad Mamajam, You are Everything, I love You and I should Be.
Albums – The group released two successful albums, Dru Hill and Enter the Dru. They group separated in 1999 and reunited in 2002 with an additional fifth member Rufus ‘Scola’ Waller and released their third album Dru World Order. The album did not do well.
In 2009 the group released their fourth album, InDrupendence Day, with new member Tao taking the place of the again departed Woody.
Soundtracks – Between their first and second albums, Dru Hill contributed We’re Not Making Love No More, a number 2 R & B and number 13 Pop hit, to the Soul Food soundtrack.
We’re Not Making Love No More was written and produced by star producer Babyface. Dru Hill and rapper Foxy Brown recorded Big Bad Mama, which was the main single for the soundtrack to the 1998 film How to Be a Player.
Change of Name – The members of Dru Hill were natives of Baltimore, Maryland. Most of their early repertoire was made up of gospel music as well as an early song by the group, Please Remove Yo’ Shoes. The group became a gospel group but eventually switched to a more commercially viable music.
After the group signed to Island Records the label suggested they change their name from Legacy to Dru Hill after Druid Hill Park, a popular park on the West side of Baltimore, the name of which is pronounced “Dru Hill” in the local Baltimore accent. A dragon is used as a logo for the group.
Controversy – In 1997, Dru Hill filed a lawsuit against Island Records, seeking a release from its contract, after an Island employee hit the group’s manager. It was discovered that the employee in question had a criminal record.
The chief operating officer was quoted saying that “if he were not to hire African-Americans with criminal records, then there would be virtually no African-Americans employees in our society or in our industry.”
Kronfield’s remarks set off a wave of controversy when word of them reached the media in, the Reverend Jesse Jackson became personally involved.
SisQo – Mark Althavean Andrews is a singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer and actor. SisQo’s successful debut solo album, Unleash the Dragon in 1999, included the hit singles Thong Song and Incomplete. The two songs were major hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with Thong Song making it to number three, and Incomplete going to number 1. The success later got SisQo a doll made of himself.
