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*Baltimore R&B group Dru Hill returned to their hometown to film their latest music video, “Favorite Time Of Year,” a single off of their nine-song holiday album “Christmas in Baltimore.”
And while the holiday season is over, the effort will certainly elevate your spirit and thrill your ears any time of year… year after year. In other words, it’s not some fascinating novelty to bolster their catalog sales.
Dru Hill was most popular during the 1990s — best known for the hits “In My Bed” and “How Deep Is Your Love.” They only add to their legendary music library with “Christmas in Baltimore,” produced by Grammy award-winning writer/producer Troy Taylor of Songbook Entertainment on their signature label, Dru Hill Entertainment through Empire Distribution.
Comprised of members Tamir “Nokio” Ruffin, Mark “SisQo” Andrews, Larry “Jazz” Anthony, and Antwuan “Tao” Simpson — in a career that has spanned two decades — Dru Hill has sold over 40 million records worldwide and fans can expect the quartet to keep their legacy going strong in 2018.
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SisQo explained to EUR/Electronic Urban Report that the positive feedback they received following their performance at the 2016 BET Music Awards is what served as a catalyst for recording a holiday record. But because of timing, it would be a year later before the members could hit the studio and finally realize their vision.
“We showed up and showed out for our very first holiday album,” states SisQo.
“It’s a Christmas album but it’s not super-traditional,” adds Tao. “I believe people are going to be playing this album even when the holidays are over because it’s that good.”
“We’ve always wanted to do a Christmas album, and we knew our fans have been waiting,” the group previously stated. “This year, it just all came together and we decided to invite everybody in for that authentic Baltimore holiday experience…you won’t find another Christmas album like this, we guarantee it.”
Jazz notes that “the only traditional thing we did on the album was “Silent Night.” But the fact that Nokio had an intricate part in bringing in Troy Taylor to this project, and the energy and the newness that was created from the combination of Troy’s style and Dru Hill’s style and the voices that we’re blessed to have, this is something that’s altogether new and it’s kinda like we brought sexy to the Christmas holiday.”
So which songs on the album are their personal favorites?
“It depends on what time of the day it is,” says SisQo, “and where you’re at and how many drinks you had that night,” he laughs.
As the lead singer of the R&B group, SisQo has also had incredible success as a solo artist. His 1999 debut solo album, “Unleash the Dragon” included the smash hit singles “Thong Song” and “Incomplete.”
When asked about Dru Hill’s professional growth over the past 20 years, compared to their artistry today, Jazz explains how “20 years ago we were young and learning and all gung-ho about riding on the energy of looking at the groups that preceded us and wanting to have the opportunity to actually comes out and make it on a platform. And now that we’ve made it and done it, now our goal is to always keep getting better and keep evolving and be as innovative as possible. We’re still learning.”
Dru Hill recorded seven Top 40 hits and released two successful albums, “Dru Hill” and “Enter the Dru,” before separating from late 1999 to 2002, during which time Woody also released a solo effort.
In 2002, the group reunited and added fifth member Rufus “Scola” Waller to the lineup for their third album, “Dru World Order.” In 2010, the group released their fourth album, “InDRUpendence Day” with new member Tao, who replaced the again departed Woody.
When asked about the brotherhood that’s formed when you’re a member of an iconic R&B group, Tao explains: “Being around each other and loving what we do together and being on the road, it’s like family. Everybody fights — you have your good days and your bad days but the important part is you stick together and that’s what Dru Hill is. No matter what nobody says, they may think we’re crazy but we actually love each other and we are great together. It’s something about us together that’s just a beautiful thing. That’s what I love about Dru Hill.”
Jazz co-signs by describing the group as being like “vocal globetrotters.”
Adding, “We encourage and push one another to do better and inspire each other in moments where you need that inspiration. At the end of the day, it always turns out great.”
Speaking of being “great,” a reader would like to know who came up with the “bounce” choreography in the “Tell Me” music video (watch above).
“We kinda came up with the “Tell Me” bounce together,” SisQo reveals. “We were just joking around because the song had a gospel-tone to it and it kinda reminded us of going to church in the morning and seeing the deacons march down the aisles. We kinda took that one step further and started doing the “Tell Me” bounce-thing. We were joking at first, like, “What if we were jumping while singing this hook?” At the time, there were a lot of vocal groups in the mainstream but we realized that whenever anybody would sing, it seemed like their voices would always sound like they was on a roller coaster,” he explains.
“Their voices would kinda bounce whenever they tried to move and sing simultaneously. So we challenged ourselves to see if we could actually sing and do that kind of movement without having our voices sound like somebody was shaking us. We were like, “If we can pull that off, we’d be the only group in history to move that much without our voices shaking just from the sheer movement.” And to this day, I think I can go on record by saying (no other) R&B groups move as much as us with as little extra vibrato from just movement.”
What are your thoughts on the current state of R&B?
“The kids that are doing R&B today, they’re doing their take on R&B the same way we did our take on R&B,” states SisQo. “When we were creating and expressing ourselves, it was different from the traditional R&B. The same way that the Jackson 5 was different from the traditional Temptations. It’s all music. Music is alive. Music is organic. Music is an expression. We just feel like whoever is doing music, they express themselves the best way they cane from what they know. Like, a lot of the newer kids were more exposed to Hip-Hop than R&B like when we were coming up. So that’s why I think a lot of the new music is expressed almost in a Hip-Hop vibe. And that’s cool because it all helps music grow and helps us come up with new and innovative things to add to our music the same way that the younger generation has as well.”
Fans have heard endless rumors about why you guys broke up and got back together. And who can forget your infamous in-studio brawl at WERQ-FM 92.3. Is there anything you care to clear up about the rumors, speculate and myths floating around about Dru Hill?
“They’re all true, we just broke up today,” Tao jokes, but confirms that Dru Hill’s new album is set to drop this year and it’s sure to make fans “fall in love all over again because we’re putting everything we go into it.”
In the meantime, go cop “Christmas in Baltimore” and watch Dru Hill’s music video for “Favorite Time Of Year” below.
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