Dru Hill Announces They’re Merging w/ R&B Group Playa, Clowned For Photoshopping Photo

August 13, 2018 by Eleven8 in Latest News with 0 Comments

Dru Hill Announces They’re Merging w/ R&B Group Playa, Clowned For Photoshopping Photo

Dru Hill has switched and swapped out members over the years. The group began with member Mark “Sisqo” Andrews , Tamir “Nokio” Ruffin, Larry “Jazz” Anthony and James “Woody” Green when they debuted in 1996 and over time they’ve replaced Jazz with Rufus “Scola” Waller then cut ties with Woody and Scola, brought Jazz back, cut ties with Jazz again and acquired Antwuan “Tao” Simpson. It’s been a confusing ride but now Dru Hill has announced the addition of two more members to their group — R&B veterans Playa.

The Baltimore natives have announced that the group Playa, consisting of Jawann “Smoke” Peacock and Benjamin “Black” Bush, will join the group Dru Hill. They’ve also announced that they’ll be working on a new album titled The Second Coming. Founding member, Jazz, will focus on a solo career.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DRU HILL (@druhill4real)

Playa is most known for their 1998 debut, Cheers 2 U. They worked very closely with Timbaland, Missy Elliott, Ginuwine, and Aaliyah and were a trio prior to the passing of Stephen “Static Major” Garrett in 2008. The new group tells Vibe Magazine:

While Jazz is working on solo endeavors, it only made sense to come together with our brothers. Not many people know this, but we met way back in 1998 when we all played the Ladies Night Out tour and Playa was a trio. We’ve been family ever since. When we stepped on that stage with Dru Hill for the first time this year, it was instant magic. We knew right away that this was where we all belonged.

As far as their sound, Smoke says you can expect a lot more soul.

We are bringing our churchy, soulful vocals— which is the foundation of Playa’s legacy— and adding them to the legacy of Dru Hill. I feel like we bring a whole other concept of harmonies and melodies to the table. And not only that, we’re writers, producers, and arrangers. The vocals that Aaliyah came within the 90s, the overall feel of Drake’s Take Care album, we were a big part of making that happen and we’re only going to keep innovating with Dru Hill on this next project. For me, The Second Coming is definitely the resurrection of real R&B. Fans should get ready because as of this fall, R&B is no longer dead.

After the news of the group went viral, some noticed that one of the members’ sneakers appeared to be photoshopped.