Three accomplished R&B acts are coming together for a show Saturday night at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. The event, featuring Ginuwine, Dru Hill and 112, is dubbed “Something for the Ladies,” but the show should satisfy anyone who looks back fondly on nights out at the club in the late ’90s and early 2000s — including men.
All three artists broke out in 1996, and they’ve combined for nine No. 1 hits on the R&B charts and three on the pop charts in the 21 years since.
GINUWINE MIGHT have the most lasting song in the groups’ collective catalog.
“Pony,” with its single-entendre swagger, established the singer from Washington, D.C., as one of R&B’s sexiest young voices. It was called into duty for two male-stripper films in the past few years: “Magic Mike” and “Chocolate City,” which happens to star Ginuwine.
Despite the Timbaland-produced song’s grinding beat and salaciously direct lyrics — “If you’re horny, let’s do it, ride it, my pony” — Ginuwine was taken aback at the life his debut single has taken on as a strip-club staple, telling website Wetpaint upon the 2015 release of “Chocolate City,” “I didn’t think a lot of people were going to use that song for dancing like that when I did it. I didn’t know it was going to be in the strip club here.” (None of the artists were available for interviews.)
“SOMETHING FOR THE LADIES”
Featuring Ginuwine, Dru Hill and 112
>> Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall
>> When: 7 p.m. Saturday
>> Cost: $69-$139
>> Info: 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com
The momentum “Pony” gave Ginuwine’s career helped his first two albums — “Ginwuine … the Bachelor” and “100% Ginuwine” — go multiplatinum, but he has escaped the shadow of the iconic song by following up with several memorable hits, including the ballad “Differences” and the sexy “In Your Jeans.” He’s also collaborated with Tank and Tyrese on the supergroup TGT, whose 2013 album “Three Kings” was nominated for a Grammy Award for best R&B album.
DRU HILL came out of Baltimore and set a ladies-first tone with “Tell Me,” which shot up the pop and R&B charts. Their impassioned, gospel-inspired vocals garnered them three No. 1 R&B singles over the next two years, including the banging “How Deep Is Your Love,” featured in the Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker buddy cop flick “Rush Hour,” and the ballads “In My Bed” and “Never Make a Promise.”
By 1999 they were big enough to land a spot side by side with Will Smith on the title song from his summer 1999 blockbuster “Wild Wild West,” which would become their first song to reach the top of the pop charts.
Dru Hill has been around in one form or another for 25 years. The current lineup combines original members Sisqo, Nokio and Jazz with 2008 addition Tao. Though the group never completely disbanded, Sisqo ventured out for considerable solo success in 2000 and landed two R&B No. 1s of his own: the classic club (and beach) thumper “Thong Song” and the tender “Incomplete,” both of which are often worked into Dru Hill’s shows.
“Thong Song” had a revival this year when Norwegian DJs JCY remixed it with an EDM twist and released an updated video featuring Sisqo himself.
“I’ve been asked so many times over the years to make a new version of ‘Thong Song,’” Sisqo told Buzzfeed, “and I have declined every time until I heard the new version that JCY did. I thought it was dope.”
ATLANTA-BASED vocal quartet 112 got its start with Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy Records, which allowed the group to collaborate with the label’s roster of stars, most significantly the late Notorious B.I.G., on its breakthrough single, 1996’s “Only You.”
Sadly, Biggie was killed in March 1997. As members of the Bad Boy family, 112 collaborated with Puff and Faith Evans (Biggie’s widow) on the chart-topping tribute single “I’ll Be Missing You.”
“He was very special to us,” 112 member Quinnes “Q” Parker told Global Grind in 2012, “for a few reasons. He introduced us to the music industry. And had Big not been on that record, ‘Only You,’ we probably wouldn’t have received the initial and instant support that we did.
“Simply because Big was on that record, millions of people gave it a chance. Now, once they pressed play, they realized these little dudes can sing a little bit.”
The group made sure Biggie’s help was not for naught, delivering a string of slinky soul smashes, including “Cupid,” “Peaches & Cream” and the No. 1 R&B hit “It’s Over Now.”
Their first album in 12 years is due for release soon, and based on what frontman Marvin “Slim” Scandrick told The Source magazine last year, fans can expect their same brand of silky, female-friendly soul.
“(Songs on the radio today) make women feel like how you would treat a leased car,” Scandrick said. “I’m from a different cloth, where a strong man wouldn’t bow down to anyone except for his significant other. He’s vulnerable, and she has to feel safe and reassured at all times.”
That Source interview also proved prescient, as Scandrick revealed the one goal he had for his career, which he fulfills this week.
“I got myself on a three-year plan. My end goal is be in Hawaii. … I been talking about Hawaii since I first came out, and now I’m in striking distance of it.”