3rd Storee is an American
R&B group that was active in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Their debut single, "
If Ever", peaked at No. 7 on the
UK Singles Chart in June 1999. The group was best known in the mid-1990s for their gold-certified single "If Ever" and "Party Tonight" featuring Treach of the hip-hop duo,
Naughty By Nature and
RL of
NEXT
NeXT, Inc. (later NeXT Computer, Inc. and NeXT Software, Inc.) was an American technology company headquartered in Redwood City, California that specialized in computer workstations for higher education and business markets, and later develope ...
as well as their mature second iteration of the group appearance on the
Rodney Jerkins
Rodney Roy Jerkins (born July 29, 1977), better known by his stage name Darkchild, is an American record producer, rapper, and songwriter. He has collaborated with a broad range of popular artists.
Jerkins has won two Grammy Awards from 19 nomi ...
produced single and music video "Get With Me" feat.
Joe Budden
Joseph Anthony Budden II (born August 31, 1980) is an American broadcaster and former rapper. He first gained recognition with his 2003 single " Pump It Up", which peaked in the top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and preceded the release of h ...
.
Career
3rd Storee was formed during 1997 in
South Central Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. The original line up consisted of members Kevonté, Lil' Man, D'Smoove and Jay-R. As a quartet they almost immediately made a breakthrough when they were signed to Edmonds Entertainment, and put on tour with
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...
. Owing to the success of the tour, 3rd Storee was then invited to open for 'N Sync on a national US tour, before visiting Europe for the first time during 1998, without even releasing an album.
In 1998 "If Ever" was released and peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart. A second single "Party Tonight" was released in 1999 and their debut album was never released. A few years later band member Lil' Man left the group and the group continued to seek to replace and add a new member.
2001, led 3rd Storee to sign with
Def Soul
Def Soul Records was an R&B-based division of American multinational record label Def Jam Recordings. It was formed in 1996 by Russell Simmons and Kevin Liles to expand R&B and soul music through Def Jam's said genre-related roster following the ...
Records and R&B solo vocalist
J'Son joined the band along with newcomer Gavyn Rhones, The group then released their second album titled ''
Get With Me'' in 2002, and the lead single and music video of the same name was promoted across the media. The single also featured
Joe Budden
Joseph Anthony Budden II (born August 31, 1980) is an American broadcaster and former rapper. He first gained recognition with his 2003 single " Pump It Up", which peaked in the top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and preceded the release of h ...
who provided rap verses. "Get With Me" placed at No. 71 on the Billboard Hip-Hop/R&B Single Sales Chart for one week. Another track on the album titled "I'm Sorry" was featured on the ''
Rush Hour 2
''Rush Hour 2'' is a 2001 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Brett Ratner and written by Jeff Nathanson. A sequel to '' Rush Hour'' (1998), it is the second installment in the ''Rush Hour'' franchise and stars Jackie Chan and ...
''
soundtrack
A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
. In 2003, 3rd Storee appeared as actors on the dance film ''
Honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...
'' and also provided the theme song ("Honey" featuring
clipse
Clipse, also known as the Clipse, is an American hip-hop, hip hop duo from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Formed in 1994, it consists of brothers No Malice, Gene "Malice" and Pusha T, Terrence "Pusha T" Thornton. Pusha T was known as Terrar during t ...
) for the soundtrack. The group also made a cameo appearance in an episode of the animated series ''
The Proud Family
''The Proud Family'' is an American animated sitcom created by Bruce W. Smith that aired on Disney Channel for two seasons from September 15, 2001, to August 19, 2005. The series centers on the life of the titular family, including the show’s ...
''. In 2004, 3rd storee eventually signed under J. Records after a brief hiatus initially renaming the group as '
360'
before switching their name to S5 ''
(Storee 5)''. At this time they released a promotional single titled "Ooh That Ass" produced by
The Underdogs.
In 2005, Kevontay made his departure from the group and 3rd Storee attempted on a new venture with
J. Records under a new band name titled Chapter 4. The band Chapter 4 only consists four out of six of the 3rd Storee members: Gavyn as lead vocalist, D-Smoove, Jay-R and J'Son. They released a four-track promotional EP album sampler along with a music video for their lead single "Fool With U", which
Omarion
Omari Ishmael Grandberry (born November 12, 1984), better known by his stage name Omarion, is an American R&B singer, dancer and actor. He rose to prominence as lead vocalist of the boy band B2K, which was formed in 1998 and managed by record e ...
later covered.

After the short lived journey with Chapter 4, the band members decided to take a break from recording as a group and went on the different avenues. Kevontay became an actor and appeared in various television shows and films, but is most known playing the role of Jerome on the comedy series ''
Everybody Hates Chris
''Everybody Hates Chris'' (stylized in all lowercase) is an American semi-autobiographical sitcom created by Chris Rock and Ali LeRoi that originally aired on UPN from 2005 to 2006, and then on The CW until 2009. The series is based loosely ...
,'' who was also known for his catchphrase ''"Hey, little dude from across the street, let me hold a dollar"''. In 2016, he was a featured actor on the web series "Spook Hunters" from Bullz Eye Entertainment and appeared in the 2018 TV film biopic ''
Whitney Whitney or Whittney may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Whitney'' (2015 film), a Whitney Houston biopic starring Yaya DaCosta
* ''Whitney'' (2018 film), a documentary about Whitney Houston
* ''Whitney'' (TV series), an American sitcom that ...
,'' portraying the
gang
A gang is a social group, group or secret society, society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over Wiktionary:territory#Noun, territory in a ...
banger who killed
Bobby Brown's brother-in-law Steven Sealy. While Jay-R continued to write and produce songs for other artists. Past 3rd Storee bandmate Lil' Man, now known as K. Young, went on the continue his solo career. Dante Clark (D-Smoove) briefly acted in guest appearance roles on
Boston Public
''Boston Public'' is an American drama (film and television), drama television series created by David E. Kelley and broadcast on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. Set in Boston, the series centers on Winslow High School, a fictional public high sc ...
&
City Guys
''City Guys'' is an American television sitcom that aired for five seasons on NBC from September 6, 1997 to December 15, 2001. The series aired as part of the network's Saturday morning block, TNBC.
Premise
''City Guys'' centered on two teena ...
. He later became a production manager/coordinator for various television shows. J'son continued entertainment going under the name Jay Sonic and became an actor and done voice overs for commercials. Gavyn became a solo artist and was featured on various artist music, he also vocal produced for
Keyshia Cole
Keyshia Myeshia Cole (née Johnson; born October 15, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, television personality and actress. Dubbed by critics as the " Princess of Hip-Hop Soul", she is known for her soulful voice and heartfelt lyrics. Bor ...
album
11:11. He also toured with many acts as well as serving as a temporary lead singer with
The Gap Band
The Gap Band was an American Contemporary R&B, R&B and funk band that rose to fame during the 1970s and 1980s. The band consisted of three brothers: Charlie Wilson (musician), Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, along with other members; it wa ...
.
In a summer 2017 interview on YouTube with ''Black Hollywood Live'', Kevontay discussed he would hope a 3rd Storee reunion would happen. He was in doubt about an attempt to start a solo career, but it did not come to happen, however he did started rapping. In the meanwhile he expressed he rather be more behind the scenes with entertainment with future projects as well as develop an animated series, which he later would reprise his role voice acting as the street hustler, Jerome on the reboot animated sequel ''
Everybody Still Hates Chris
''Everybody Still Hates Chris'' is an American animated sitcom based on the sitcom ''Everybody Hates Chris''. It was developed by its showrunner, Sanjay Shah. ''Everybody Still Hates Chris'' premiered on September 25, 2024 on Comedy Central. It ...
'' on
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...
in 2024.
In a fall 2017
social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
post, Jay-R hinted a reunion of the original 3rd Storee members with a recent photo of all 4 bandmates together, citing "Don't Forget, we're coming!!!", with the
hashtag
A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...
s explaining that "nothing can break their bond".
In May 2018, the original four members (K. Young/Lil' Man, Jay-R, Kevontay and D-Smoove) released their new independent single "Leave Ur Man" featuring Bad Lucc (of
Dubb Union
Dubb Union is a hip hop group featuring artists from Los Angeles and the nearby areas of Inglewood, Long Beach, and Watts.
The original name of the group was Westurn Union, but was later changed to Dubb Union to avoid a lawsuit with banking ...
) on internet streaming services. This is K-Young's return since his departure from the group in 2000.
3rd Storee has since returned along with all five members from their second album (''Get With Me'', including members J'son and Gavyn) releasing another independent single in December 2019. The soulful ballad titled ''"Get Back to Love Again"'' made way into internet music streaming services. However, there has not been any confirmation if K. young is part of the band or provides his vocals on the track. So far, there is still no word whether the group plan on releasing an album.
Solo ventures
Aside from an effort to release new material from the band, A few members continued to be creative until the band is able to come back to full formation in the hopeful near future:
* Lil' Man ''(also as artist name'' ''K. Young'' '')
/small>'' previously released his first album in 2005 titled ''"Learn How To Love"''. Years later, he released a few EPs through Treacherous Records: ''"Keep Talking About Love" (2011)'', ''"Distinguish" (2012)'' ''"Lay You Down" (2014/2019)'', ''"Married To The Money" (2018)''The track ''"This Time" (2019)''
* Kevontay Jackson ''(as artist name K. Jackson'') released a rap single ''"Last Man'' ''Standing"'' on streaming services and music video in 2019.
/small> He released the track ''"Scumbag"'' on May 5, 2020, from his upcoming EP, ''The Experiment'', a song he wrote while he was with the band.
/small> Jackson played the character of 'Jerome 'on the sitcom ''"Everybody Hates Chris"'' and reprised his role voice acting on the animated sitcom ''"Everybody Still Hates Chris"''
* J'son ''(as artist name Jay Sonic)'', Post-teenage years of being a previous solo vocalist J'Son (singer), J'son, he briefly made a quick appearance going under the new stage-name 'Jay Sonic' and released a music video titled ''"Spazz Out" (2011)''.
/small> He was later seen in a 2012 independent local radio show showcasing his R&B vocal ability while freestyling
Freestyle rap, also simply known as Freestyle, is a style of hip hop music where an artist normally improvises an unwritten verse from the head, with or without instrumental beats, in which lyrics are recited with no particular subject or structure ...
, however no new music have been released since.
* Gavyn ''(as artist name Gavyn Rhone)'', released tracks such as ''"Jealous" (2010''), ''"When You Cry" (2011)'' -Produced by Mario Winans
Mario Mendell Winans ( Brown; born August 29, 1974) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from South Carolina. An extended member of the Winans musical family, he is best known for his 2004 single " I Don't Wanna Know" (f ...
. And released ''"Catch a Vibe"'' & ''"Dance For Me" (2020
/small>''
* Jay-R ''(as artist name Jay-R Reed)'', revamped his solo ventures back into the music scene after a brief hiatus of songwriting for various artists, he released previous recorded music but new to the public on music streaming services along with plans to record and release new music and an upcoming EP titled ''"Pieces" (2020)''. His first released single ''"Curl Them Toes"'' made its official debut in early May 2020
/small>, followed by a double release of singles ''"10 Position
' & ''"D.U.I."'
A music video for D.U.I. was released July 2020.
Members and lineup chronology
*Kevontay (Born Kevontay Jackson)
*Lil' Man AKA K-Young (Born Kenneth Pratt)
*D'Smoove (Born Dante Clark)
*Jay-R (Born Barry Reed Jr)
*Gavyn (Born Gavyn Rhone)
* J'Son (Born Jason Tyrel Thomas)
Discography
Albums
*''The 3rd Storee'' - 1999 (Unreleased)
*'' Get With Me'' - 2002 - U.S.
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
#45Charts
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...
at AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
*''Chapter 4'' - ''(EP Album under the new band name Chapter 4)''
Singles
As 3rd Storee
* " If Ever" - 1999
* "Party Tonight" (featuring Treach
Anthony Shawn Criss (born December 2, 1970), better known by his stage name Treach, is an American rapper and actor. He is perhaps best known as the lead rapper of the hip hop group Naughty by Nature.
Early life, family and education
Criss atte ...
and RL) - 1999
* "Get With Me" (remix) featuring Joe Budden
Joseph Anthony Budden II (born August 31, 1980) is an American broadcaster and former rapper. He first gained recognition with his 2003 single " Pump It Up", which peaked in the top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and preceded the release of h ...
- 2002
* Honey feat. Clipse ''(Honey film soundtrack)''
* "Leave Ur Man" (featuring Bad Lucc
Dubb Union is a hip hop group featuring artists from Los Angeles and the nearby areas of Inglewood, Long Beach, and Watts.
The original name of the group was Westurn Union, but was later changed to Dubb Union to avoid a lawsuit with banking c ...
) - Magicink/COB - released May 15, 2018
* "Get Back To Love Again" - December 23, 2019
As Chapter 4
* "Fool With U" ''(under the new band name "CHAPTER 4")'' - J. Records 2006
Chapter 4 sampler track listing
# Fool With You
# Waiting On My Baby
# Lights On ''(Featuring Scott Storch
Scott Spencer Storch (born December 16, 1973) is an American record producer and songwriter. Storch began his career as part of Philadelphia-based hip hop band the Roots, which he joined as a keyboardist prior to the release of their 1993 debut a ...
and Fabolous
John David Jackson (born November 18, 1977), known professionally as Fabolous, is an American rapper. Raised in Brooklyn, he first gained recognition for his ability upon performing live on DJ Clue's WQHT, Hot 97 radio show. Jackson then signed ...
)''
# Should've Thought Twice
Unreleased songs
As 3rd Storee
* "The After Party" ''(Follow up to "Party Tonight")'' - The 3rd Storee Album
* "If Ever" (Pop Radio Mix) - The 3rd Storee Album
* "If Ever" feat. Harlem World (So So Def Remix) - King Triple Exe Session 4: The Passion of 90's R&B Album
As S5
* "Ooh That Ass" (''unreleased promo under new name change'' "S5") - J. Records 2004
As Chapter 4
* "2 Piece Juicy" (unreleased from Chapter 4)
Music videos
* "If Ever"
* "Party Tonight"
* "Honey" - Promotional Video for the movie "Honey"
* "Get With Me"
* "Fool With U" (credited as Chapter 4)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:3rd Storee
Musical groups established in 1997
American contemporary R&B musical groups
American boy bands
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Vocal quartets
Elektra Records artists