ADDICTED TO HIP-HOP

Monday, June 20, 2011

Busy Bee

Chief Rocker Busy Bee (David Parker) first entered the hip hop in 1977. He earned his reputation and amassed a large following in early battles around New York, including winning the New Music Seminar’s MC World Supremacy Belt in 1986.

He made a record in1980 called “Rappin’ All Over” as a member of the Marvelous Three (which included DJ SMALLS and AJ (later AJ Scratch- Kurtis Blow’s DJ).

He’s a member of Africa Bambaata's Zulu Nation.

One of his most famous and high profile roles was in Wild Style, As one of the main characters, he is featured in a battle against Lil’ Rodney C of theFunky 4+1 and Double Trouble, as well as at the show in the film’s finale with DJ AJ. Be sure to check out the funky fresh suit he’s wearing on stage at the amphitheatre.

He was also involved in one of the most infamous battles in history againstKoll Moe Dee. Copies of this battle have been traded around for last twenty years (including on this site).

He had an early 12″ pre-Sugarhill Records was “School days” in 1980. On Sugar hill he made “Making Cash Money” in 1981 and “Busy Bee’s Groove” in 1984.

His biggest record to date is “Suicide” in 1987 which was produced by Jazzy Jay and appeared on Strong City.

He did release two albums (“Running Thangs” in 1988 and “Thank God for Busy Bee”), but his work on the Wild Style soundtrack is widely considered his most memorable recordings as well as some featured tracks on the Sugar Hill box set.

He appeared on Funkmaster Flex’s Mixtape Vol. 3 in 1998.

The B -Boys

Members
DJ Chuck Chillout
Donald D
Brother B

The B-boys hail from the Bronx, New York.

Their best known record is “Rock The House” which has been sampled on just about every early cut and paste jam.

“2 3 break” and “Cuttin Herbie” were two equally good scratch instrumentals displaying the turntable finesse of Chuck Chillout. “2 3 break” was one of the first records to cut up the well known “Rocket in the pocket” break by Cerrone. All of these tracks were released on Vintertainment records in 1983.

1985 saw their return with “Stick Up Kid” and “Girls” and “Girls Part 2″.

Chuck Chillout worked with Run DMC on the “King of Rock” LP primarily on the cut “Daryll & Joe”.

Chuck Chillout went on to host a NY rap show on WBLS. In the mid 80′s he putt out a solo record on Vintertainment called “Hip Hop On Wax Part 1″. This release was part of a three part series. Part 2 was by Kool DJ RED ALERT and Part 3 was by DJ Born Supreme Allah (who also made “2,3 Break Pt 2″ in 1985). Chuck also put out an album in 1989 called “The Masters of Rhythm” with Kool Chip on Mercury Records which featured “Rhythm is the Master”, “No DJ Like Chuck” and “I’m Large”. he is also credited with mixing Public Enemy’s “Night of the Living Baseheads”. He was also known as DJ Steel of Steel Productions.

Donald D was a solo artist for a few years affiliated with Ice T’s west coast Rhyme Syndicate putting out two albums. The first one of which was called “Notorious” in 1990. He also did a cameo on Ice T’s album “Power”. He currently resides in LA where he is working on “Girls Part 3″ with Brother B.

In 1995 Chuck Chillout released a single called “2-3 Break ’95″ on Phat Wax with a vocal group he produced on the b side.

He also discovered the hip hop group Black Moon.

Chuck has a record pool in Newark (which was started in 1999) called Full Blast Record Pool and is working with a new upcoming artist named FT. NOX.

In addition, he has a show on XM radio Channel 66 Raw.

Grabbin’ the Mic and Rockin’ the Crowd

Imperial Brothers

“We Come to Rock” was their first 12″ from Cutting Records in 1984.

The B side features DJ Whiz Kid and is usually considered the better version of track.

The follow called “Live it Up” in 1985 was more hip hop than its electro predecessor.

As of 2007, El Don and Chedda have reunited and are making tracks appearing on Smack dvd and New york mixtapes. They are currently working on a comeback overseas album with a label based in France.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Romanian hip hop

Romanian hip hop is currently growing in popularity in Romania. The sound is similar to that of Latin Rap and Spanish acts. The main theme is politics, based on anti-system protest, and social, underlining the rich-poor gap and the low quality of the new, post-Communist, enriched class. Bucharest is the main center, since most of other groups/rappers from outside the city would still come there for recording.

Once dominated by B.U.G. Mafia (Bucharest Underground Mafia), the market is currently the fiefdom of La Familia,Bitza, Zale andParaziţii. An important moment in Romanian hip hop history was the support Morometzii gave to Traian Băsescu and his centrist political alliance during 2004, through the anti-system (in fact against the then-ruling Social Democratic Party) songs România, trezeşte-te! ("Romania, wake up!") and În luptă cu Puterea ("Fighting the Power").

2006 was a great year for Romanian hip hop, especially for the underground scene. Independent labels as Hades Records or Facem Records finally got out of the box with albums that soon reached the stores at a national level. Also a big step in the evolution of Romanian hip hop was the Summer Jam 2006 hip hop festival that took place in Bucharest. Created and supervised by Hades Records/Hades Events, Summer Jam was the first of its kind and size in Romania, uniting more than 20 artists and bands over 2 days of show, including DJ contests, breakdance shows, streetball contests and a lot of high quality hip hop. The producers of the show said that much more is to be expected for 2007's edition.

List of performers/bands

1-Q Sapro

Ad Litteram

Aforic (Constanţa)

Anonim (Bucharest)

Anonim is a hip hop band from Bucharest, Romania, with two members (Gues whoo and Zekko). It was created in 1999, but the two members started commercially singing together in 2005 due to age issues (profanity by minors).
The two wanted to start up a band without a specific name, so in the end they settled for Anonim ("Anonymous" in Romanian).
In the winter of 1999 they recorded their first song in Gabi Mitran's studio. By the year 2000 they began singing in Bucharest at high school parties, in bars and clubs.
Eventually they met Paraziţii, who at the time were interested in promoting new hip hop bands. In 2002 they held several concerts around Romania with Paraziţii, and are now on Paraziţii's label, "20CM Records"

BUG Mafia (from Pantelimon neighbourhood of Bucharest)

B.U.G. Mafia ("Bucharest Underground Mafia", originally "Black Underground Mafia") is a Romanian hip hop group from Pantelimon, Bucharest, widely regarded as one of the seminal acts of gangsta rap inRomania. Founded in 1993, it was among the first Romanian hip hop acts.
The original line-up consisted of Vlad "Tataee" Irimia, Dragoş "Caddillac" Vlad-Neagu and two other members, D.D. and Mr.Nobody, who, by late 1993, had left the group. Alin "Uzzi" Demeter joined B.U.G. Mafia in 1995, thus completing the group's first official incarnation.
Active from 1993, the group endured a long-standing controversy due to the explicit nature of their lyrics. Focusing on subjects such as post-communist Romanian political class, poverty and crime in Romania's communist-built housing projects or social unrest they were subsequently banned from many mainstream T.V. and radio stations in Romania and even at times prevented from touring, spending a night in jail after their first concert in Turnu Severin in 1997.
Their debut album, "Mafia", marked the beginning of the new gangsta rap era as the production and the social commentary in their lyrics were revolutionary within the genre. Although largely unknown at the group's inception, members Tataee, Caddillac and Uzzi would all become gold-selling superstars in Romania.