Are the Hailey brothers continuing a sad tradition of the tragic 'Soul Man?'
K-Ci and JoJo Seek Redemption on Reality TV
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheLoop21
Robert Townsend’s 1991 film 'The Five Heartbeats', chronicled the lives and careers of a fiction R&B group, The Five Heartbeats. At the center of the story was the character of Eddie King, Jr. (portrayed by the underrated Michael Wright), a dark shadowy figure, who was magnetic on stage, but self-destructive off stage. Eddie King. Jr. was a metaphor for the ‘Soul Man’, a tragic figure in African-American lore. Nearly 20 years later singers and brothers K-Ci and JoJo Hailey seem to follow a script that is all too known for far too many Black male singers.
The Brothers Hailey are currently the stars of the TV-One reality series K-Ci & JoJo ‘Come Clean’ which features the former Jodeci lead singers in recovery from alcohol (and presumably drug) addiction. At their peak in the mid-1990s, Jodeci were the bad-boys of R&B, thuggish counterparts to the January “white sale” clean of Boyz II Men. K-Ci and JoJo seemed to live up to that reputation in every way, including widespread rumors that K-Ci was physically abusive to then romantic partner Mary J. Blige. By the early 2000s, enough stories had begun to circulate about their personal and professional unraveling, that the worst was feared when a video of JoJo collapsing on stage hit the internet in 2008.
Gifted vocalists, whose performances always remained in conversation with their musical roots in the Black Church, the travails of K-Ci and JoJo were all too reminiscent of the many Black male singers who had struggled to balance their artistic gifts with the pressures of celebrity and dysfunctional family lives.
Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21.com
K-Ci and JoJo Seek Redemption on Reality TV
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheLoop21
Robert Townsend’s 1991 film 'The Five Heartbeats', chronicled the lives and careers of a fiction R&B group, The Five Heartbeats. At the center of the story was the character of Eddie King, Jr. (portrayed by the underrated Michael Wright), a dark shadowy figure, who was magnetic on stage, but self-destructive off stage. Eddie King. Jr. was a metaphor for the ‘Soul Man’, a tragic figure in African-American lore. Nearly 20 years later singers and brothers K-Ci and JoJo Hailey seem to follow a script that is all too known for far too many Black male singers.
The Brothers Hailey are currently the stars of the TV-One reality series K-Ci & JoJo ‘Come Clean’ which features the former Jodeci lead singers in recovery from alcohol (and presumably drug) addiction. At their peak in the mid-1990s, Jodeci were the bad-boys of R&B, thuggish counterparts to the January “white sale” clean of Boyz II Men. K-Ci and JoJo seemed to live up to that reputation in every way, including widespread rumors that K-Ci was physically abusive to then romantic partner Mary J. Blige. By the early 2000s, enough stories had begun to circulate about their personal and professional unraveling, that the worst was feared when a video of JoJo collapsing on stage hit the internet in 2008.
Gifted vocalists, whose performances always remained in conversation with their musical roots in the Black Church, the travails of K-Ci and JoJo were all too reminiscent of the many Black male singers who had struggled to balance their artistic gifts with the pressures of celebrity and dysfunctional family lives.
Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21.com
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