Jodeci Are Told 'All the Time' That They're Responsible for Babies Being Made (Exclusive)

As the R&B quartet announce their upcoming Las Vegas residency, they expect the joking comments may increase

Rarely does a month go by that someone doesn’t ask Jodeci for money, but it’s not necessarily from people glad-handing — it’s from people who’ve conceived children listening to the R&B group’s music. 

“Do you know how many people come up to us and be like, 'Man, y'all owe us some money for all these kids I got?' We get that a lot,” K-Ci, 54, told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.

Member Dalvin DeGrate, 52, agrees: "It happens all the time."

Known for their love ballads such as "Come and Talk to Me" and "Love U 4 Life," Jodeci saw huge success in the early 1990s. After a nearly two-decade hiatus — they insist it wasn’t a "breakup" — the foursome again released music in 2015 and even toured in 2022 and 2023. Now, though, they’re bringing their soulful, gospel-inspired sounds to Las Vegas, where they’re set to begin a 10-show residency on March 15 at House of Blues. 

"Jodeci in Vegas, can't really beat that," DeGrate said. "It's pretty cool."

In anticipation of the residency, DeGrate and K-Ci, real name Cedric Hailey, chatted with PEOPLE about their stylings, their epic fights and the influence their music has continued to have on pop culture. 

"We try our best to try to make music that's timeless," K-Ci said. "When I say timeless, I mean you never get tired of listening to love songs. We try to record and produce the best-sounding love songs that we can, especially something that cater to the ladies and the fellas, too, that want to play some nice slow jams for their ladies."

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There’s no doubt that Jodeci’s music and legacy has withstood the test of time, as they’ve been mentioned and sampled over the years by artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Mariah Carey, Drake, JAY-Z and more.

“We just made music that we know how to make. A lot of artists get confused and make music that they think people want and so they end up chasing those trends and trying to chase the hits,” DeGrate said. “We never did that. We just created music that we liked and the people just enjoyed it because it was what we felt and what we made.”

He continued, “We just set trends instead of following them. So it gave us the longevity… We didn't try to just put out instant hits, we set out and we came up with the perfect lyric or the perfect melodies with the perfect voice to sing it."

The fact that Jodeci is still together is a marvel in itself, as they’ve gotten through an 18-year hiatus and some epic fights. Even the success of K-Ci & JoJo, a group offshoot that consisted of K-Ci and his brother JoJo Hailey, now 52, didn’t derail the foursome.

"We all know at the end of the day we still got to sit at the same eating table and have a nice dinner. So we just let everything go, man," K-Ci said of Jodeci’s squabbles. "But one thing about Jodeci: we're brothers, we're going to argue, we're going to fight. And that's as far as it go, no physical, no nothing like that."

DeGrate added, "We’re brothers and we agree to disagree all the time. If we don't argue something is wrong, something is wrong."

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And while many assumed Jodeci broke up during that 18-year span of no music, the group is adamant that that’s false. 

"Never, never, never, never," K-Ci says when asked if the quad ever broke up. "Before any record deal or anything, we made a vow: Jodeci is never going to be replaced. It's not going to be no replacements and we are never breaking up. The day we got to break up is the day I probably quit singing. So I'm not planning on quitting singing no time soon."

Dates of residency: 

Friday, March 15
Saturday, March 16
Wednesday, March 20
Saturday, March 23
Sunday, March 24 
Friday, July 5 
Saturday, July 6 
Wednesday, July 10
Friday, July 12
Saturday, July 13

Tickets can be purchased beginning Saturday, Dec. 16 at 7 a.m. EST by visiting HouseofBlues.com/LasVegas, MandalayBay.com or Ticketmaster.com. Citi cardmembers, House of Blues, Live Nation and Ticketmaster customers may also receive access to various presales on Dec. 13, 14 and 15.

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Read the original article on People.