And suddenly, it struck me. Jodeci killed the black male vocalist!
"How?", the music lover in you asks.
Easy.
Jodeci was one of the forerunners of the modern R&B movement. By that, I mean music that was heavily influenced by hip-hop. Jodeci sold millions of records. Jodeci had vocals and production that was as smooth as silk. This left larger record companies to try to mimic their success (because after all, the larger record companies love to copy each other leaving originality to the independents and underground labels). As result, we have a new collection of singers who all want to sound like Jodeci.
And today, their influence is stronger than ever.
Listen to any standard R&B song today. Name a singer. And he not only croons, but holds the final notes of his songs. This vocalization isn't unique to Jodeci but they helped popularize this method of singing.
I know that it's only popular music, but by virture of their popularity, Jodeci helped push out talented soul singers who will never have a chance to see the light of day, or rather, the music charts and commerciall radio. Or even "American Karaoke", I mean "Idol", is filled with young Black men believing that they must sing in this nasally croon as opposed to just belting it out.
Blame Jodeci. (Or at least give them a royalty check.)
Looking back, if only I know where Jodeci would take popular R&B, I would have rallied my friends against buying their cassette tapes. Now, I can only shake my head in disbelief of the monster they created.
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