Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly of Kriss Kross fame has been found dead at his home in Atlanta at age 34.
As annoying as “Jump” was, I have to admit I kinda fuxed with “Warm It Up” at the time. Hopefully Jermaine Dupri helps out with the service, since he stayed eating off these guys for years.
This will be the first and last time that I post a Talib Kweli song, out of respect to Keith E. E. The GURU. Fuck that “Young Guru” guy for never changing his name, by the way.
Seems like the perfect time to revisit Uptown‘s memories of his friendship with Biggie Smalls…
Uptown: I was about 10, 11 years old. I grew up in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, New York – about three blocks from where Biggie Smalls lived. Me and a whole bunch of friends would go around in the neighborhood and do these little block parties. They would stop the street off, put a DJ out there and we would grab the mic. Biggie, Half-A-Mil, there’s a couple of us that was out there together in the neighborhood, used to go ‘round to all kind of block parties and do the shows. Me and Biggie Smalls, we would bump heads a lot. He lived three blocks away from me – I was on Nostrand Ave and he lived closer to Clinton. My people knew his people and they were always trying to get us together, ‘cos they knew it would be a great fuckin’ show. Big was a cool dude. I have a homeboy right now, if he could find some of the cassette tapes that me, him and Big did in the crib, rhyming while we smoked a blunt and shit like that, he would probably be a millionaire.
Even though he was big-time, he was known to come back in the neighborhood, sit down and chat with us when he didn’t have to. He used to make jokes at me, ‘cos he had first took a ear to the Buckshot LeFonque project. “Let me find out you a jazz rapper now? So now you don’t do parties? You do fuckin’ jazz?” We grew-up respecting each other – he knew the skills I had, I knew the skills he had. We just used to make fun of it. He was like, “Well I’m glad you took that route, now I can get all my money!” Just to know that he was still paying attention to the stuff that I did was an honor to me.
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Two fatties at the height of their respective powers were taken from this small planet in the month of March – one, a waffle-guzzling comedian with an appetite for destruction. The other – the brother of the guy from K-9. Sixteen and thirty-one years ago, respectively, these two hedonistic maniacs checked-out, leaving gigantic shoes that have yet to be filled. But who was the most brolic of these two foodaholics? Here’s a super-scientifical breakdown:
Just dug-up this section from my 2011 interview with Keyboard Money Mike about the late, great Tim Dog:
Keyboard Money Mike: You know Tim Dog? I used to DJ on tour with Tim Dog for a good two years.
Robbie: From the “Fuck Compton” period?
Oh my god…we went to LA to perform that song! We went to Compton to perform the song “Fuck Compton” and the police had to escort us out, ‘cos the Crips and the Bloods were not gonna let us leave alive!
Who’s idea was that? Seems kinda dangerous…
I would say the record company. It was Tim Dog and Cypress Hill on a tour bus, we toured all over the United States. Of course Cypress Hill lived in LA so they were gonna do a song in LA. We couldn’t get on stage at all! But then we had a college show to do the next day, and Ice-T came to the rescue. They were telling us at the university, ‘You guys won’t be able to perform here or leave the campus because all y’all niggas are gonna be dead’. Ice-T came to the rescue, because Tim Dog and us was all part of the Zulu Nation, so Ice-T was Zulu Nation so he came through and made peace between Tim Dog and the Crips and the Bloods. So we still got to perform at the university, but we didn’t perform the song “Fuck Compton” – which everyone wanted to hear! I don’t know what part of LA we was in, but they hated Compton!
Tim Dog was in a league of his own. After his debut on Ultramagnetic MC’s “A Chorus Line” (the b-side of their “Travelling At The Speed of Thought” single), it would be another two years until he dropped the hilarious “Fuck Compton” on Ruffhouse Records in 1991, a record which spoke on the frustrations that many New York rappers felt in light of West Coast chart dominance in the wake of the rise of NWA, MC Eiht, DJ Quik and the like. His Penicillin On Wax LP had a major impact on hardcore rap fans in part because it saw the return Ultramagnetic to the game after an extended hiatus.
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The music world lost a giant this week, as legendary trumpeter Donald Byrd passed away at the tender age of 80. Having bridged the spectrum from be-bop to funk without missing a beat, Mr. Byrd released a massive catalog of great music, much of which provided perfect source material for classic rap tracks. In honor of the great man, here are my ten favorite uses of his work.
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Tribe Called Quest, Busta, Joey Crack, Curtis and Missy Elliot all perform to pay tribute to Baby Chris The Violator. Special appearance by Kool DJ Red Alert at the end.
Funkmaster Flex goes in on his dedication to the Violators.
Rest in peace to Baby Chris Lighty, the original Intelligent Hoodlum.
DJ Kenny Parker: As a matter of fact, a lot of the fights that used to go on in Union Square and Latin Quarter was these Brooklyn dudes that used to run with Kane…they was always fighting guys from the Bronx. They was always fighting Chris Lighty and the Violators! [laughs] Back then, Chris Lighty was a Violator and he was a thug. You couldn’t even run-up on Red Alert! You think Red Alert is just the coolest guy in the world, and I love Red Alert – that’s my brother – but back in the day, if you ran-up on Red Alert like ‘Yo! Play my record!’ you was gonna have problems! You follow me?
Allindstrom.com video interview with Baby Chris:
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I didn’t get a chance to write anything about MCA when he passed earlier this year, but this is how I’d like to remember him – pouring beer over his head and then slipping over for a face plant. The bratty, obnoxious Beasties who had girls in cages were always my choice over the bohemian, thoughtful Beasties anyway. …Ill will always be better than …Boutique to my ears, unorthodox sampling be damned. ‘Three Jerks Made A Masterpiece”, indeed.
A new collection of unreleased Big L material, titled Return of the Devil’s Son, is due next month:
‘This album is supported 100% by the Big L family.” Said Big L’s older brother Donald Phinazee “I’ve been talking about this album for the last six years and it means everything to me. This is an original Big L album and I’m excited to put my brother out. This album will show where he should have been and where he was about to go. It’s going on 12 years since he’s been gone. He would have been that one; this project will show where he should have been at’.
Return of the Devil’s Son on Distrolord/SMC Recordings will be available online and in stores November 23, 2010.
Track listing:
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According to DJ Phantom, The Shepard (the second solo LP from the late, great Killa Sha) will be released January 18, 2011 to mark the first anniversary of his passing.
Dave Tompkins wrote a great piece remembering his friend Rammellzee recently:
Phone conversation with myself and Rammellzee (first voice), from October, 19th, 2007:
“You like oysters, boss?”
“Sure.”
“I’ve got a spot over here for you. We can watch the boats sink.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll let you hold the bomb.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you know anyone at the Smithsonian Institute?”
“Working on that one.”
“You need to talk to someone in the Department of Space.”
“Okay.”
“The Andromeda Galaxy is going to be here in 5 million years. It will consume this galaxy.”
“Uh-oh.”
“This means something to me.”
“Of course.”
“It’s sending a master blaster radio cloud ahead of itself.”
“When?”
“That one will be here in 10,000 years.”
“Shit.”
“I know it’s a little far off, but you might want to take a look at it.”
“And finish my book before it happens?”
“EXACTLY!”
“Okay.”Time enough.
While you’re there, order his book How To Wreck A Nice Beach. I finally did.
Just got put on to some timeless gems over at Lord Finesse‘s Facebook gallery, featuring a teenage Fat Joe, Big L, DJ Premier, GURU and more. “Whole lotta memories…” (c) Iz The Wiz.
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