Singing, Dancing, Producing And Writing

03/19/1999 6:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Billy Johnson Jr

The biggest complaint about contemporary R&B music dismisses the average artist for simply singing and dancing while outside musicians produce and write lyrics. In many cases, group members can't even recite basic music scales.

Baltimore's Dru Hill want to reset the standard.

It's hard to imagine that Dru's now-promising career looked a bit hazy prior to the soundtrack to Eddie, the Whoopi Goldberg film that included their throbbing, flagship hit "Tell Me."

"It was taking us a minute to break over here," says lead singer Sisqo, "and I was wondering why." Sisqo actually sought an outside opinion and appreciates the insightful reply he received.

"They said they don't see black male groups or R&B groups as real musicians," Sisqo recalls, "because all they do is sing and they don't play no instruments." The comment really made the group think. Sisqo and Jazz received years of formal music training and all members know how to play keyboards; Nokio even plays the trumpet. Incorporating more of their own creativity in their music helped them stand out from other groups on the scene.

The quartet co-wrote five songs on their self-titled 1996 debut, impressing executives at Island Records with their work on a hot Jermaine Dupri remix of their song "Sleeping In My Bed." The success of that single paved the way for the group to have input on "90%" of their latest album, Enter The Dru.

Dru Hill prove their ability to play guitar on "You Are Everything," an apologetic and melodic ballad reminiscent of "Cry For You" by Jodeci. "All of us are playing the guitar simultaneously in harmony," says Sisqo. "You know, we taught ourselves that."

Even the hip-hop-heavy "How Deep Is Your Love" shows the group's ability to do more than just sample a loop. Sisqo applied his years of studying classical music, which began when his mother bought him a few Mozart records after noticing her young son singing along to classical music used in a cartoon.

"If you listen close," Sisqo begins about the bridge of the group's collab with Redman, "it's a little intricate, kind of like an orchestra when you have a French horn or one string section doing one thing and another string section or horns or a cello doing something else."

Dru Hill's ability to deliver this intensity onstage should make a difference when they begin their nationwide tour this spring. They've long since proven their dancing and singing talent, but adding songwriting and live instrumentation will clearly place them a few notches above the competition, ultimately accomplishing their goal to change the way people perceive R&B music.

"We want to be like poster boys for R&B music," Sisqo explains. "And with each album, with each single, with each tour, with each video, we just want to step our game up and continue taking R&B music and the music that we write to the next level."