By the end of the month, Dru Hill had settled with Island Records, with the agreement that they would remain on the label. The Reverend Jesse Jackson became personally involved, publicly stating that the Dutch-based PolyGram had "a pattern of race and sex exclusion." Jackson met with PolyGram chairman Alain Levy and several other executives, who issued a public apology for Kronfield's statement, and replaced Kronfield as president with Motown Records' chairman Clarence Avant. Kronfield's remarks set off a wave of controversy when word of them reached the media in November. His response was 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." At an October 1997 deposition hearing, Eric Kronfeld, president and chief operating officer of Island's parent company PolyGram, was asked why he had hired such an individual. It was discovered that the employee in question had a criminal record. In 1997, Dru Hill filed a lawsuit against Island Records, seeking a release from its contract, after an Island employee hit one of the group's managers, Keith Ingram, over the head with a pool cue. The group was also instrumental in writing and producing for new University artist Mýa, whose first two singles " It's All About Me" and " Movin' On", were co-written by Sisqó, who also performs guest vocals on "It's All About Me".
DRU HILL SONGS SHOW ME HOW TO
Dru Hill and rapper Foxy Brown recorded "Big Bad Mama", a remake of Carl Carlton's 1981 hit "She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)", which was the main single for the soundtrack to the 1997 Bill Bellamy film Def Jam's How to Be a Player. "We're Not Making Love No More" was written and produced by producer Babyface. The group's name comes from Baltimore's Druid Hill Park, which is commonly shortened in the local vernacular to "Dru Hill".īetween 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. The group became known getting jobs at The Fudgery, a local fudge factory at Harborplace at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, beginning a store tradition of singing and performing to entertain guests while making fudge. The members of Dru Hill are natives of Baltimore. In 2009, the group signed to Kedar Entertainment Group and released their fourth album, InDRUpendence Day, the following year, with new member Tao taking the place of the again departed Woody. Due to groups failure to produce any new music featuring Sisqo (he chose not to lend his vocals to new recordings) Def Jam cited the group as non productive and destructive and dropped the group from Def Soul. In 2002, by then part of the Def Soul record label, the group reunited and added fifth member Scola to the lineup for their third album, Dru World Order, after that album underperformed the group met with New Label President LA Reid about a follow up. Sisqó's second album, Return of Dragon, did not perform as well.
While Woody's Soul Music LP was a moderate success in the gospel music industry, Sisqó's debut album, Unleash the Dragon, and its hit singles, " Thong Song" and "Incomplete", were major pop successes, and established Sisqó as a household name outside Dru Hill. Dru Hill was influenced by the Dragon and Asian culture, as displayed in their wardrobe and logo. Signing to Island Records through Haqq Islam's University Records imprint, the group released two successful albums, Dru Hill and Enter the Dru, before separating for a period from late 1999 to 2002, during which time Sisqó and Woody released solo albums. The group achieved popularity in the 1990s. Its original members were lead singer Mark "Sisqó" Andrews, Tamir "Nokio" Ruffin, Larry "Jazz" Anthony and James "Woody" Green. Dru Hill recorded seven Top 40 hits, and is best known for the R&B number-one hits " In My Bed", " Never Make a Promise", and " How Deep Is Your Love". The group was founded in Baltimore in 1992 and is still active.
Dru Hill is an American R&B group, whose repertoire included soul, hip hop soul and gospel music.