A young Dave Chappelle cracks some funnies for The Source’s Punchline column back when House of Pain were considered “cutting edge” and “X” hats were a must-have item. (more…)
Typically grouchy Rev. Run, a silent Darryl Mac and the always articulate Jam-Master Jay try their best to tolerate the moronic questions and blatant abuse of the term “keep it real” from the bubble-head hosts of The Big Breakfast. Hopefully the Son of Kurtis Blow got some bacon or at least a hummer after the show. Thanks to crate digga for the footage.
MC Breeze aka Joey B Ellis, Sage (Stallones son), Sylvester Stallone and Tynetta Hare at the premiere of Rocky V
If only every local legend 80’s rapper was considerate enough to have a website with a decent bio, I’d never have to do more than recording some vinyl and cut ‘n paste some text…
“How can you talk about Philadelphia (rap music) without talking about M.C. Breeze? How are you going to go from Schooly D to Jazzy Jeff? You can’t. He’s the link in the chain.” – Philly Rap Pioneer Schooly D.
“Of all the Old School Philly Rappers, Breeze most represents this city,” says filmmaker Mike D on why Breeze was chosen to be the subject of the first Bring The Beat Back production. “While other rappers were busy talking about how fly their sneakers, cars and gold chains were, from his very first record, Breeze was reppin’ Philly.” That first record, an EP released in the winter of 1985, featured “It Aint’New York,” “Discombobulatorbubulator” and a ballad, “Another Sad Song,”and was entirely produced by Breeze. He wrote and performed all the music (keyboards, guitar and Dr. Rhythm drum machine) live in a four track studio and did the lead vocals. He even drew the artwork for the label and (later) album cover. Handmaster Flash, a member of his original crew, The Mighty B-Force, did turntable scratches and additional raps. The record was released on Breeze’s own label and funded with money he saved delivering pizza for Dominos. (more…)
Roc Marcy makes a rare appearance at Sputnik in Brooklyn for the Industry Shakedown Radio One Year Anniversary. Thanks to Solace for the footage. More to follow soon.
Original Stylin’ stands as one of the great forgotten albums of it’s era…actually forget that – it’s not forgotten, but it’s fair to say that EST was one of the most original and under-appreciated MC’s of his day. Remember how they had a falling out with Steady B and Cool C after the first album? Turns it it was a very similar situation to what happened with Ice Cube and NWA – they figured out they were getting ripped-off by their manager and bounced whilst the rest of the Hilltop was turned against them. While Steady and the rest of ‘em would later realize that 3-D were right all along, there was at least one report of a brawl between the crews at a local basketball court at the height of the feud. (more…)
To begin the Hilltop Hustlers story, you need to go back to Steady B. After his uncle Lawrence “LG” Goodman lost his New York talent thanks to most of the Juice Crew signing with Cold Chillin’, he set out to form his own local all-star team to keep his Pop Art label buzzing, and MC Boob was the obvious choice to set the ball rolling. Jesse Serwer got the story behind the early singles when he interviewed DJ Tat Money, who went on to become Steady’s main DJ:
JS: On “Bring the Beat Back,” the DJ was someone else, right?
Tat Money: Grand Dragon K.D.
JS: Right. That was the first time the transformer scratch was on wax, right? Was he known for that?
Tat Money: Not at all.
JS: So who is the real originator of the transform?
Tat Money: I’ve been digging up some of my old tapes I had archived. And I’m like damn, I was really focused on this transformer stuff at the time. I totally forgot. The transformer was like this: We were all doing it, and he got the break and put it on wax. K.D. wasn’t a well-known DJ or anything. He was okay. We were all really competitive so at that time, it was like, “Damn I could have been on the record.” You had that mentality. It was like, “Who the hell is he?” In your mind you think, “I’m better than him.” He happened to be in the right place at the right time probably on some, “Yo I need a DJ, you want to do it? Come on” shit. Cause that’s Steady. I know him like the back of my hand. That’s just how he is. He’s a real kindhearted cat, and I think K.D. was hanging around the area and they just became a duo. The thing was Boob already had two other DJs at the time. He was kind of notorious for switching DJs. This big fat dude named Tank, who was his first DJ, actually came with him when he came to Funk-O-Mart looking for me. (more…)
Thought I might dedicate this week to Philly, and since I’m still kinda faded from the weekends antics I’ll set it off some of the Hilltop Hustlers videos. Not exactly representative of their finest work, but tomorrow I’ll get some vinyl rips up to showcase the Hilltop at their best. Special shout-out goes to the chick Michelle who skeezed dated Steady B and EST before Cool C made her wifey. (more…)
Way back in August, 2007 I published a three part interview with T-Ray, which included numerous references to V.I.C., a number of which weren’t exactly flattering. So when I finally got the chance to speak with Vic it was only right that allow him the opportunity to respond. Here are the highlights:
Robbie: What was your reaction when you read what Todd said about you in the interview I did with him?
V.I.C: He did say a lotta crazy stuff in that interview…stuff that I found very bizarre.
So I have to ask – did he actually hand you half a million dollars to record the Ghetto Pros album?
I was hoping that anyone that read that would have enough sense to say, ‘OK, who gives out half a million dollars for an independent project?’ For a compilation, none the less! Who gives that out? So that was all bullcrap. The whole recording budget was probably 250, 200 [thousand]. You’re talking about everything – you’re talking about side artists, you’re talking about studio time. Especially in 2000, 2001. Right now, if you had a budget like that where everyone had Protools in their house, that’s fine. But you’re talking about a budget that’s gonna go in the blink of an eye…especially if you have someone like Nate Dogg on the project, that take like $32,000 to do that song. [laughs] (more…)
Affiliations: A member of The Beatnuts until the Stone Crazy album, worked with Godfather Don as the Groove Merchantz and later formed Ghetto Pros with Mike Heron.
Claim to Fame: “G Rap used to live around my block, and I gave him the loop for ‘Truly Yours’. I remember playing the actual 45 to G Rap – he came to my basement, he heard it and he was like, ‘Yeah! Let me get it!’ And that’s how ‘Truly Yours’ came about. It’s funny ‘cos [DJ] Polo went around tellin’ everybody he gave the record to Marley.”
Current Status: Worked on Joell Ortiz’The Brick: Bodega Chronicles and a track for his shelved Aftermath project (which is set to appear on Dr. Dre’s long awaited Detox album), and recently produced some cuts for Butta Verses. Provides musical scores for various MTV and E! Network programs such as Pimp My Ride, Punk’d and My Super Sweet Sixteen, and is developing his own music library company. (more…)
Get down there this Friday night to see Delta launch his new album and see me play my collection of rap 45’s. Why am I playing little records, you might ask? Because them shit’s are easier to lug around than a crate of records, and I plan on getting George W. Bush drunk, possibly before I even hit the turntables. Anyone L.O.T.U.G. fans wanting to duke it out with me are also welcome….I’ll be the kid in the Hydra Entertainment shirt.
The anticipation of hearing that your favorite beat mechanic is in the studio with your current #1 MC can lead to impossibly high expectations. More often than not, you end being bitterly disappointed with the results, thinking of what ‘could have been’ or ‘why bother?’ Sure, there have been some great team-ups as well…but that’s for another post. (more…)
This hilarious 1981 TV special covering hip-hop taught me a number of things:
1. Sugarhill Gang dressed like guys who work at the bank, even in their ‘prime’.
2. Sha-Rock makes dressing like Little Bo Peep seem sensible.
3. South America is full of ‘white people’.
4. Kurtis Blow’s sideburns were no effin’ joke.
5. ‘Showdown’ was an embarrassment for all involved.
6. Ron Burgundy if the truth.
