Inside the Incident That Changed Jodeci’s DeVanté Swing’s Life Forever

When Jodeci hit the scene in 1991 with their debut album, “Forever My Lady,” music fans knew we were in for a whole different flavor of R&B. Consisting of members K-Ci, JoJo, Mr. Dalvin, and DeVanté Swing, the group quickly became a commercial success, thanks to their unapologetic sex appeal, smooth harmonies, and attractive faces—with Swing specifically standing out from the rest.

An ambitious kid from the time he was 16, Swing was determined to find stardom, traveling to Minneapolis and auditioning for Prince at Paisley Park. Even as a teen, it was clear that Swing had a knack for singing and making strategic moves that would eventually help him and his group find success. Although he never received the cosign from Prince, Swing decided to make his way to North Carolina, where he teamed up with  Cedric “K-Ci” Hailey and Joel “JoJo” Hailey to record as Jodeci.

After convincing his younger brother, Dalvin DeGrate, to join the group, they all packed up and drove to New York, hoping to secure a contract with Uptown Records. Although it took a little time, they walked out as signed artists, thanks to Andre Harrell and Heavy D. With a little bit of aesthetic work and some time singing background vocals, the group made their performance debut in June 1991 on “Soul Train,” just one month after the release of “Forever My Lady.” After that, Jodeci shot up the charts and became the newest faces of R&B, much to the music industry’s and the ladies’ excitement.

However, just two years later, a then-23-year-old Swing experienced the dark side of fame and fortune after an incident that would change him forever. In July 1993, fans were shocked to learn that he’d been the target of a violent home robbery that left him beaten and bloodied.

According to the Orlando Sentinel at the time, armed robbers broke into Swing’s New Jersey home, tied him up, and stole about $20,000 in jewelry. Per the New Orleans news site, Nolazine, Swing was allegedly asleep when two armed intruders came into his house through an open garage door. “They blindfolded him, tied his hands behind his back, and pistol-whipped him four times, fracturing his skull,” the outlet reported.

These harrowing details were later corroborated by Dalvin, who sat down for an interview with DJ Vlad in 2017 and opened up about his brother’s shocking ordeal. In his conversation, Dalvin explained that Swing was pistol-whipped so badly that it “split his skull open” and that he tried to fight back, eventually biting off a finger of one of the alleged assailants.

Describing how things all went down on his birthday, Dalvin explained: “We didn’t know anything about it. They threw [me] a surprise birthday party, we was working on ‘Let’s Be Alone,’ one of the songs on the ‘Diary of a Mad Band’ album, and we was waiting on Devante. We kept calling and calling him, and we was like ‘Something ain’t right. He wouldn’t just not show up or come to the studio.’”

Eventually, the rest of the group went to Swing’s home, where they saw the aftermath of what transpired. A naturally traumatized Swing stayed intentionally quiet, opting not to talk about what happened and has continued to do so to this day. But that didn’t stop others around him from expressing just how much that moment changed him.

Artists like Stevie J, who was signed to Swing’s “Swing Mob” label in the early 1990s, detailed how the songwriter-producer became abusive to the other members of that group, which included Missy Elliot, Timbaland and others at the time. Speaking in an interview with N.O.R.E. years ago, he detailed an incident where Swing came to the studio and immediately began slapping everyone.

Singer Tweet also detailed her experience working with Swing, noting that he was very “serious” and recalling very tense times on the studio with him.

Over the years, Swing has made headlines for problematic behavior, like being publicly intoxicated, causing a scene, and more. Thankfully, he’s been out of the news and has since been spotted within the last six years performing with the group at various music festivals and concerts.