Dru Hill

Dru Hill
General information
Genre (s)	Contemporary R&B
founding	1992
Current occupation
singing	Tamir "Nokio" "Ruffin
singing	Mark "Sisqo" Andrews
singing	Larry "Jazz" Anthony
singing	Antwuan "Tao" Simpson
former members
singing	James "Woody" Green (1992–1999; 2002–2008)
singing	Rufus "Scola" Waller (2002-2007)

Dru Hill is an American , founded by Dr. Dre discovered the R&B group that celebrated great success with several chart hits at the end of the 1990s . The group was founded in 1992 in Baltimore , Maryland by Tamir "Nokio" Ruffin. The other band members Mark "Sisqo" Andrews , Larry "Jazz" Anthony and James "Woody" Green had known each other since school. Dru Hill got a contract with Island Records and released two successful albums until they split from 1999 to 2002. During this time, Mark "Sisqo" Andrews and James "Woody" Green released solo albums. In 2002 the reunification took place and Rufus "Scola" Waller was accepted as the fifth member of the group. As part of the Def Soul label , they released their third album.

Her hit How Deep Is Your Love was selected as the song for the box office hit Rush Hour starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker .

In many of their songs, the band used samples from other titles.

history

formation

All four members of Dru Hill were born and raised in Baltimore . Mark Andrews and James Green have known each other since high school and met Tamir Ruffin when they began building careers in the music industry. Ruffin teamed up with the two of them and formed a trio. They took on Larry Anthony, an opera student, and named themselves after Druid Hill Park , a public park in western Baltimore, where "Dru Hull" is the local pronunciation . Dru Hill's early repertoire consisted largely of gospel music , but after a few appearances it swung into the popular area of ​​R&B.

Breakthrough and the album Dru Hill

Dru Hill's big breakthrough came in 1996 when her manager Haqq Islam arranged an appearance at the Impact '96 music convention . After the performance, they quickly got a recording deal and immediately began working on the first album . The album Dru Hill was released on November 9, 1996 and was awarded gold several times . The first single Tell Me was included in the soundtrack of the film Eddie and reached the top 5 R&B hits in the US .

In terms of style, Dru Hill was between the Boyz II Men and the self-proclaimed "bad guys" of R&B, Jodeci . Dru Hill received a lot of criticism, particularly from Jodeci, who said that Mark "Sisqo" Andrews would copy her style. The group mentions Stevie Wonder and the eighties band New Edition as other important influences in their music . The first album features both self-composed songs and songwriters / producers such as Daryl Simmons and Keith Sweat . All four members of Dru Hill performed lead vocals , but it was found that Mark "Sisqo" Andrews' voice, fancy stage outfits and idiosyncratic dance style impressed the fans the most. With In My Bed group the first top 5 had pop hit and the first No. 1 R & B hit. With the third release "Never Make a Promise" they landed another number 1 R&B hit. In the accompanying video , Michelle Thomas appeared as Jazz's friend and conveyed the message of the video against child harassment.

Soundtracks, protégés and controversies

Between the first and second albums, We're Not Making Love No More was recorded for the soundtrack of the film Soul Food , which was written and produced by Babyface . Dru Hill recorded "Big Bad Mama" with Foxy Brown. This track became the theme song for How to Be a Player . In addition to his own recordings, Dru Hill wrote and produced for Mýa and had guest appearances with other stars of R&B. In 1997 Dru Hill sued the record company Island Records because they wanted to be released from the existing contract. The background to the lawsuit was the attack by an employee of Island Records on the manager Keith Ingram, who was hit on the head with a billiard stick. The investigation into the case revealed that the attacker had a criminal history. At the hearing in the case, the President of PolyGram was asked why he was hiring such employees. In response, he said, "If he did not hire such people, there would be virtually no African-American employee in our company and our industry." Kronfield's remarks sparked controversy when they became partially known. Referend Jesse Jackson was personally drawn into the discussion when he publicly stated that PolyGram "has an identifiable pattern of exclusion based on race and gender." Jackson met with the PolyGram chairman and some senior officers who did ultimately publicly apologized for what Kronfield had said and replaced him as President by Motown Records Chairman Clarence Avant. At the end of the month, Dru Hill had agreed with Island Records that they would stay with the label.

Enter the Dru

The single How Deep Is Your Love was included in the soundtrack of the film Rush Hour and reached the top 3 R&B hits in the US. In addition to this single, the single This Is What We Do was released from the LP Enter the Dru as a second extraction , in which Method Man participated as a rapper. This song reflected the direction and development of Dru Hill. With the release of the single These Are the Times , where Babyface was co-producer and co-writer, the group reached number 21 of the R&B hits in the USA.

The album sold two million in 1999 and again Dru Hill was awarded gold several times. In the same year Dru Hill have produced Enchantment Passing Through for the soundtrack of Broadway - musicals Aida .

Dru World Project

Mark "Sisqo" Andrews was seen as a soloist by the press and the public, and the other three members of the band were more or less background singers. When she appeared in the video Wild Wild West with singer and actor Will Smith was Sisqó finally became the star of the group. In both the song and the video, Smith and Sisqó were the main characters, while the other members of Dru Hill stayed in the background. During the filming of the Wild Wild West video , "Woody" left Dru Hill as he felt he had to return to his musical roots, gospel . Island Records wanted Dru Hill to continue performing as a trio and recorded a video for You Are Everything . The hip-hop remix included a guest appearance by JaRule . It was also planned that the Def Jam artist Case Background would sing the remix of the title Beauty from the LP Enter the Dru . A corresponding video was shot, but never published.

After Island Records and Def Jam merged to form The Island Def Jam Music Group in mid-1999 , all members of Dru Hill signed individual contracts with the label "Def Soul", including Woody. The Dru World project was launched. The aim of the project was that between November 1999 and November 2000 each band member should bring out an album: Sisqó a pop album, Jazz an R & B / soul album, Nokio a hip hop album and Woody a gospel album. After the releases, the members of Dru Hill wanted to reunite and record the album "Dru Hill Order", which should come out in November 2000.

Sisqó released his debut album Unleash the Dragon and had only moderate success with the first release Got to Get It . The second single Thong Song was released in the spring of 2000 and was more successful. It was only with the third release from the album - Incomplete - that Sisqó achieved a number 1 hit in autumn 2000. As a result, the moderate placements meant that the project was not continued for the time being and none of the intended solo albums were released until November 2000.

In the fall of 2000 Dru Hill should record the album Dru World Order in the studios of Def Soul. Without Me was chosen as the first release from the album . The time of separation and work on the solo projects, however, led to tensions and conflicts within the group. During a photo shoot for Vibe Magazine in November 2000, Sisqó left the shoot and shortly afterwards the group broke up completely.

The album was postponed indefinitely and Sisqó began work on his second solo album, Return of Dragon . The single Without You was taken as the album track on the second solo album, which however fell far short of expectations after its release in June 2001. In this regard, at the end of the year, Sisqó and Nokio planned to bring Dru Hill back together. To this end, Rufus Waller was added to the list of members, who appears under the name Scola at Dru Hill.

Woddy got a solo contract with Gospocentric Records , who released his gospel album Soul Music on April 9, 2002. Scola wrote the songs My Homie and No Matter What for Woddy's album and worked as a background singer on several tracks .

Dru World Order

The album Dru World Order was released on November 26th, 2002, two years after the originally planned release date. Almost all of the tracks on this album were produced by Nokio, who was also the lead singer on She Said and Men Always Regret . For the other tracks, the members of Dru Hill shared the lead vocals. Various producers worked on the album, including Brian Michael Cox and Kwamé. However, Dru Hill could no longer achieve the great successes that were achieved with the first albums with this album, only the title I Should Be still reached the top 10 of the R&B hits.

In 2005, Dru Hill was released from Def Soul and disappeared from the public eye. Def Soul released another CD with the title Dru Hill: Hits and a corresponding DVD with the music videos, including the two biggest hits by Sisqó. In the summer of 2007, Scola released a CD entitled Scola's Lost Treasures and is currently working on a solo project called From EA 2 Cali , which is expected to be released in 2009.

Dru Hill now has his own TV show in the US called Keith Seat's Platinum House . The first airing was on February 23, 2009 and dealt with the new album and the reunion of Dru Hill. The first release should be the ballad Away , on the album there are some well-known producers. It remains to be seen how this album develops.

Woody and Scola leave

Early in 2008, Dru Hill's original line-up reunited and began touring with other artists from the 1990s R&B scene. During an interview with WERQ in Baltimore, Woody stated that he would be leaving Dru Hill to be fully engaged in his spiritual duties. In a video that was seen on YouTube , you can see Sisqó leaving the studio, Woody and Nokio fighting each other and manager Kevin Peck trying to separate the two.

To replace Woody, Dru Hill hold a casting in Baltimore , at which the new member of the group, Antwuan "Tao" Simpson, was found.

Officially, it was never directly discussed why Scola had left Dru Hill. Scola himself claimed that Woody no longer wanted him because there had been disputes over money.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1996	Dru Hill	DE33 (7 weeks) DE	-	-	-	US23 platinum (72 weeks)US
1998	Enter the Dru	DE19 (20 weeks) DE	-	-	UK42 gold (11 weeks)UK	US2 × 2 Double platinum (43 weeks)US
2003	Dru World Order	-	-	-	-	US21st platinum (26 weeks)US
2005	Hits	-	-	-	-	US72 (3 weeks) US
2010	InDRUpendence Day	-	-	-	-	US30 (1 week) US

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1996	Tell Me Dru Hill	-	-	-	UK30 (3 weeks) UK	US18th platinum (23 weeks)US
	In My Bed Dru Hill	DE14 (16 weeks) DE	-	CH31 (3 weeks) CH	UK16 (3 weeks) UK	US4th platinum (25 weeks)US
1997	Never Make a Promise Dru Hill	-	-	-	-	US7th gold (20 weeks)US
	5 steps Dru Hill	-	-	-	UK22 (3 weeks) UK	-
	We're Not Making Love No More	-	-	-	-	US13 gold (20 weeks)US
1998	Big Bad Mom	DE30 (11 weeks) DE	-	CH23 (10 weeks) CH	UK12 (3 weeks) UK	US53 (15 weeks) US	Foxy Brown feat. Dru Hill
	How Deep Is Your Love Enter the Dru	DE8th gold (17 weeks)DE	AT29 (6 weeks) AT	CH10 (15 weeks) CH	UK9 (16 weeks) UK	US3 gold (20 weeks)US	Dru Hill feat. Redman
1999	These Are the Times Enter the Dru	DE46 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	UK4 (9 weeks) UK	US21 (24 weeks) US
	Wild Wild West	DE3 (15 weeks) DE	AT5 (14 weeks) AT	CH2 (17 weeks) CH	UK2 (19 weeks) UK	US1 (17 weeks) US	Will Smith feat. Kool Moe Dee & Dru Hill
	The Love We Had (Stays on My Mind) Enter the Dru	-	-	-	-	-
	You Are Everything Enter the Dru	-	-	-	-	US84 (10 weeks) US
	Beauty Enter the Dru	-	-	-	-	US79 (12 weeks) US
2002	I Should Be ... Dru World Order	-	-	-	-	US25 (17 weeks) US
2003	No Doubt (Work It) Dru World Order	-	-	-	-	-
	I Love You Dru World Order	-	-	-	-	US77 (13 weeks) US

Awards for music sales

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Germany (BVMI)	gold1	-	250,000	musikindustrie.de
United States (RIAA)	5 × gold5	4 × platinum4th	6,500,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	gold1	-	100,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	7 × gold7th	4 × platinum4th

swell

1. ↑ Dru Hill on WhoSampled.com
2. ↑ music.msn.com
3. ↑ druhillmusic.com
4. ↑ findarticles.com
5. ↑ mtv.com
6. ↑ Brown, Ann. "Talking stocks of the Wall Street Project".
7. ↑ mtv.com
8. ^ RIAA certification for Dru Hill. Retrieving from Record Industry Association of America ( Memento August 3, 2005 on the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ hiphopdx.com
10. ↑ crunktastical.net
11. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE AT CH [ Dru Hill in the Official UK Charts (English) UK] US
12. ↑ Wild Wild West (Will Smith) in the charts: DE , AT , CH , UK

Web links

• Dru Hill at Allmusic (English)
• Dru Hill at Discogs (English)