playa came together and burst onto the r b scene at the perfect time in the 90s
the group had a great sound rubbed elbows with the likes of missy elliot aaliyah and genuine
and their debut album was backed by one of the hottest and most successful producers
in the business however even though they had all these check marks in the win column they
were never able to build any momentum and things fell apart soon after that
let's find out whatever happened to r b hip-hop trio playa juwon
e digora peacock benjamin digital black bush and steven static major garrett formed the group the
world would come to know as playa in louisville kentucky in 1990. static got his name from the
concept of creating static in the industry black was in reference to his deep dark complexion
and smokey came from a record label vp that was reminded of smokey robinson when he heard him sing
through the years they each gave one another the added nicknames of major digglera and digital
several years prior while in high school smokey and black were introduced to each other
on a three-way phone call by a mutual friend who knew that they were both into music
and could sing and thought they would make a good duo smokey and static met through a
friend that attended the same church as smokey static and black knew each other the longest
and had the strongest bond that started while they played little league football together
smokey and black eventually ended up alongside some other guys in a group called a touch of class
in the beginning they modeled themselves after many of the other all-male r b groups out at the
time that they admired the group would eventually cross paths with one of them in particular
and that meeting would change everything enter jodeci member devonte swing they impressed him
with their version of some jodeci songs backstage at a concert so much that he decided to sign them
to his swing mob label with elektra records in 1993. devontae was also responsible for giving
the group the name they would become famous under after calling them little players in
reference to his experiences getting to know them the world actually almost got a very different
looking player since when they met devonte he exchanged contact information with smokey
and when he was ready to reach out with an offer for a deal he wanted to put him
specifically in one of two other r b groups he was already working with at the time intro and
h-town smokey convinced him that the group he had already put together playa was the way to go
the basement crew as the collective was also known as consisted of not only playa
but other soon-to-be household names such as missy elliott timbaland and genuine surrounded by all
of this incredible talent only encouraged playa to strive to be better and better
since devonte was busy with jodeci working on their the show the after party the hotel album
they rarely got a chance to work with him so they took the responsibility on themselves to
soak up the knowledge of all the other artists and improve their writing and production skills
by 1995 most of the swing mob artists playa included had left devante's label for greener
pastures which was clearly the right move since the label folded that same year
they still put the experience that they garnered working on jodeci's album to good use and built
up a catalog of material that would later show up on future projects after signing with def
jam recordings cheers to you their debut album dropped in 1998 the album featured production by
timbaland and smokey and produce two singles the second one and biggest hit today the title track
cheers to you reach number 10 on the us hot r b hip hop singles and tracks chart
several years pass before anything was heard from playa again by 2002 they had plans to record their
second album never too late on def jam only one single was released which didn't do very well
and the album ended up being shelved a few days after that single bomb
the writing was on the wall and they were dropped shortly after
in a 2009 interview with rnb haven.com smokey spoke about the situation and what he
ultimately decided to do about it saying def jam dropped us because they said they didn't get it
as in they didn't understand we tried to keep up with what music was doing
but not veering off too much into [ __ ] music we went a little more street which was where we were
from anyway we recorded a lot of songs and then decided to work on solo projects this was mainly
due to a negative issue that came about within the group that demanded me to be on some grown man
and get a job to take care of my little ones since i received no and was offered
no financial help on a business level or brother level i had to do what i had to do
another issue was that i couldn't make any money with playa singing doesn't get you any money
producing and writing does i had no one within the clique that believed or had
faith in what i could do rather than sing i had already established myself as an artist
it was time to make some bread like others around me were doing apparently smokey's
approach didn't sit well with static or black and they both let him know it in different ways
black did an interview expressing his frustration that himself and static
had to pick up the slack for smokey's perceived laziness and uninterest he decided to focus on
his own projects and over the next several years released three solo albums he also switched gears
completely at one point and became a member of a quintet gospel group called totally dedicated
smokey went on to create his own record label bittersweet entertainment llc on which he
released several solo projects and also projects with artists he had signed to the label in 2013
he took home a best rap album grammy for his contribution on drake's sophomore album take care
static became a highly sought after songwriter for several artists including aaliyah genuine
pretty ricky and destiny's child he actually got put on the music map as a songwriter first
before even joining playa when he penned genuine's breakthrough hit
pony he also produced songs for nicole ray's 1998 debut album make it hot and eventually became the
lead writer for alia writing most of the lyrics on her third and final self-titled 2001 album
the last time smokey even spoke to static was at the end of their tour for their debut album
the estrangement between the trio would continue on for years until tragedy
on february 26 2008 static major died due to complications relating to a medical procedure
he was 33. at the time of his death he was still working on his debut solo album
and his most recent completed work released just two weeks after his death was being a writer and
featured artist on little wayne's grammy-winning hit lollipop from his album the carter iii
he is survived by his wife and four children
for a short time there was talk of another playa album that would serve as a tribute to static
but once again old wounds reopened and the remaining two members couldn't get it together
in 2018 r b group drew hill made a surprising announcement about a lineup change in the group
players smokey and black would officially now be part of the group filling in after
the departure of larry jazz anthony earlier that year they would now be known as a five-some with
tamir nokio ruffin mark cisco andrews and antoine tau simpson while maintaining the dru hill name
in an interview with vibe playa excitedly spoke about the change saying 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 drew hill for the first
time this year it was instant magic we knew right away that this was where we all belonged
along with the new lineup announcement the group also mentioned that they were hard at
work on their sixth studio album the second coming which as of the making of this video
has not yet been released that probably has a lot to do with the continued changes within the group
including tao's departure in 2019 due to personal conflicts with the other members
and eventually nokio's decision to leave in favor of spending more time with his family
by the end of 2020 we yet again saw another iteration of drew hill which was now more playa
than drew hill so it made perfect sense to start fresh with a brand new name the group formerly
known as drew hill became smoke and black dragon including sisqo smokey diggelra and digital black
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