Hip Hop Be Bop

Divine Sounds were a rap group from Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Sty), Brooklyn, New York. The group originally consisted of brothers Disco Ritchie (Richard Dowling) and DJ Mike Music (Michael Dowling – RIP). After the duo wrote What People Do For Money, they decided it would be a good idea for Disco Ritchie to have a rhyming partner. Enter Shelton-D (Shelton McCoy), who they met at a local rap contest where he was appearing as a member of another group. After reading the lyrics he agreed to join Divine Sounds.

The trio finished their demo and shopped it to various labels with little success. The original track featured a sung chorus by Disco Ritchie until someone at Streetwise suggested having a female chorus. After making the necessary changes the group shopped the track again which lead to a deal with New Jersey’s Specific Records. With production from Clark Jay, John Jackson and Jerry Bloodrock, they debuted in 1984 with the classic What People Do For Money for which there are several label variations. The track was so successful that it was picked up for wider distribution by Danya.

Their second release, Changes, also included the classic DJ tool, Do Or Die Bed Sty, on the flip but although the group had a few more releases, nothing really matched the success of their debut. In 1989, What People Do For Money was reissued by JDC as part of their JDC Classics series and itself, featured a couple of label variations.

Shelton-D eventually left the group and was signed to Zakia where he released Shelton-D Is Outstanding in 1988. In 1993 he attempted a comeback with a 4 track single on Ox Records but nothing materialized after that.

[Check JayQuan at Tha Foundation for an in-depth interview]