Search Results for “kurtis blow” – Hip Hop Be Bop https://hiphopbebop.com The vinyl releases that helped build a culture 1979-1986 Tue, 13 Feb 2024 10:29:48 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 https://hiphopbebop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/hhbb-transparent-logo-66x66.png Search Results for “kurtis blow” – Hip Hop Be Bop https://hiphopbebop.com 32 32 The Russell Brothers https://hiphopbebop.com/the-russell-brothers-discography/ https://hiphopbebop.com/the-russell-brothers-discography/#comments Mon, 20 Mar 2023 13:00:42 +0000 https://hiphopbebop.com/?p=2681 The Russell Brothers Members: BuddaNinja, Master Bee The Beginning It seemed inevitable that Bronx natives, The Russell Brothers, would find...

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The Russell Brothers

Members: BuddaNinja, Master Bee

The Beginning

It seemed inevitable that Bronx natives, The Russell Brothers, would find their future in the music business. Their mother was a singer at The Cotton Club in the 1950’s, performing with the likes of Tony Bennett and their sister, Rosetta Hollingworth, became involved as part of A&R for Mercury Records in the 1970’s. She helped signed artists such as Kurtis Blow, Lipps Inc., Junior, etc.

The duo of Master Bee (Ronnie/Ronald Russell) & BuddaNinja (Roland Russell), were originally members of the Bug Dogs and as hip hop began to evolve they also became members of the Zulu Nation. Roland began creating beats in a small home studio set up and Ronnie became a member of the Jazzy 5, who’s track, ‘Jazzy Sensation’, became as huge hit for Tommy Boy. As rap grew ever-popular the pair decided to form The Russell Brothers.

Electric Boogie aka The Party Scene

Via their sister, they were asked to produce a song for SONY. Her husband, Mike,  introduced them to Larry Joseph and Frank Heller, an engineer at Quad Studio where they would go to record the track. Upon arrival, Larry played an instrumental which he wanted the brothers to perform on, however, it didn’t appeal to them.

With very limited studio time available, Larry gave the brothers five hours to create something and left. Frank Heller knew the hip hop sound better so he and the brothers set about recreating the track the way they wanted. Within a few hours, The Party Scene (Initially titled Electric Boogie on the acetates – Shout out to Testpress Lee),  complete with lyrics, was born.

Larry added his baseline before sending the final mix back to SONY for approval and the track went into production.

Like so many other artists at the time, the brothers went unpaid for their work. In fact, it was only at the last minute that they were given writing and production credit on the label. Full credit was originally given to Larry Joseph.

Who's The Best?

‘The Party Scene’ wasn’t to be the group’s only vinyl release. The following year they also recorded and ‘Who’s The Best?’. The track was a new rap over the original instrumental and was pressed in very limited quantities as a 7″ promotional tool used for CBS Family Day.

It was also very popular in the UK after being used as the music for Mike Allen‘s hip hop chart on Capital Radio and was  sampled by the Beastie Boys for ‘Time To Get Ill’, taken from their Def Jam debut album.

As a result of this experience, Roland decided he wanted to learn the music business first-hand. His career took him to MCA, Motown, Universal, Cardiac/Virgin, and Warner Brothers then on to his own Urban Gold Music.

It was during his employment at MCA/Universal in the 1990s that he helped with the promotion of artists such as Guy, Teddy Riley, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Eric B & Rakim, Heavy D, Blackstreet, etc. The list goes on.

Huge thanks to Roland Russell for the information.

Russell Brothers
Russell Brothers

The Party Scene

Label: Portrait
Year: 1983
Format: 12″ Promo
Origin: US

Side A

  1. The Party Scene (SV) [6:56]
  2. The Party Scene (Single Edit) [4:00]

Side B

  1. The Party Scene (Instrumental) [6:21]
  2. The Party Scene (LV) [8:14]

Notes: SV = Short Version, LV = Long Version. The single edit version is only available on the promo release.

Side A
Side B

Label: Portrait
Year: 1983
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

  1. The Party Scene (SV) [6:56]

Side B

  1. The Party Scene (Instrumental) [6:21]
  2. The Party Scene (LV) [8:14]

Notes: The unofficial release is identified by the multiple small press rings.

Side A
Side B
Side A Unofficial pressing
Side B Unofficial pressing

Who's The Best?

Label: CBS
Year: 1984
Format: 7″ Promo
Origin: US

Side A

  1. Who’s The Best? CBS!! [2:00]

Side B

  1. Etched vinyl

Notes: I couldn’t get label images so had to use these from Discogs.

Side A Image from Discogs
Side B Image from Discogs

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]]> https://hiphopbebop.com/the-russell-brothers-discography/feed/ 7 Eddie Cheba https://hiphopbebop.com/eddie-cheba-discography/ https://hiphopbebop.com/eddie-cheba-discography/#respond Fri, 07 Jan 2022 21:29:38 +0000 https://hiphopbebop.com/?p=3069 Eddie Cheba Harlem Native, Eddie Cheba (Edward Sturgis), was one of rap’s founding fathers and was a pioneering DJ in...

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Eddie Cheba

Harlem Native, Eddie Cheba (Edward Sturgis), was one of rap’s founding fathers and was a pioneering DJ in the 1970s.

He perfected his style of call and response deejaying, complete with routines he’d perform with his Cheba Girls, and was DJ royalty. Of all the clubs that he played in, Club 971 in the Bronx was probably the greatest. It was here that he met another legend, DJ Hollywood. The two became great friends and formed a DJ partnership although that didn’t mean they deejayed together all the time. They had their preferred clubs.

As well as being a huge influence to a young promoter named Russell Rush (Russell Simmons), Hollywood and Cheba were also in the sights of Sylvia Robinson at Sugarhill Records. Apparently, Lovebug Starski was Sylvia’s first choice to record ‘Rapper’s Delight’ but when he turned her down, unbeknown to Eddie Cheba, she asked Hollywood for him and Cheba to record it. It wasn’t until after the Sugarhill Gang released it that Hollywood told Eddie about it. This wasn’t the only recording opportunity either. Eddie was J.B. Moore’s and Robert Ford’s first choice to record ‘Christmas Rapping’ before Kurtis Blow.

In 1979 though, funded by the owners of Club 371, Eddie Cheba recorded the uptempo disco rap track ‘Looking Good (Shake Your Body)’ for Tree Line Records. The track became a hit and, due to public demand, it was licensed to Peter Brown‘s Queen Constance Records for wider distribution. It is considered as an early house music influence.

Eddie Cheeba

Lookin' Good (Shake Your Body)

Label: Tree Line
Year: 1979
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

  1. Lookin’ Good (Shake Your Body) (Vocal) [7:13]

Side B

  1. Lookin’ Good (Shake Your Body) (Instrumental) [7:13]
Side A
Side B
Side A
Side B
Side A
Side B

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]]> https://hiphopbebop.com/eddie-cheba-discography/feed/ 0 William Waring https://hiphopbebop.com/william-waring-biography/ https://hiphopbebop.com/william-waring-biography/#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:17:46 +0000 https://hiphopbebop.com/?p=12178 William Waring Alias: Billy Bill William Waring is one of the unsung heroes of hip hop. He began as a b-boy...

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William Waring

Alias: Billy Bill

William Waring is one of the unsung heroes of hip hop.

He began as a b-boy with long time friends, Kurtis Blow and Danny Harris (RIP), in the Amsterdam Ave/Convent Ave Crew and progressed into writing the lyrics for many old school artists such as The Fat Boys/Disco 3 (Fat Boys), Lovebug Starski (You’ve Gotta Believe), Sweet G (Games People Play), Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde (Fast Life) and of course, Kurtis Blow (Throughout Your Years, Hard Times, Basketball, etc).

I’ve purposely left this biography brief so you can check out Jay Quan’s in-depth interview with William Waring here.

william waring

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]]> https://hiphopbebop.com/william-waring-biography/feed/ 4 Trouble Funk https://hiphopbebop.com/trouble-funk-discography/ Wed, 26 Jun 2019 10:15:27 +0000 https://hiphopbebop.com/?page_id=8600 Trouble Funk Members: Big Tony, T-Bone, Boogie, Fats, Syke Dyke (R.I.P.), EJ Roxx, Monster Baby, Doc, David Rudd, Gerald Reed,...

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Trouble Funk

Members: Big Tony, T-Bone, Boogie, Fats, Syke Dyke (R.I.P.), EJ Roxx, Monster Baby, Doc, David Rudd, Gerald Reed, Mack Carey (R.I.P.)

Alias: Trouble, Arkade Funk, Slim, The Go-Go Allstarz, Tilt

Trouble Funk was founded in 1975 in Washington DC. With the perfect fusion of soul, funk and rap, they quickly became one of the biggest groups on the go-go scene, following in the footsteps of Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers.

Originally named simply Trouble, the group changed their name to Trouble Funk  thanks to a stage sign that read ‘Trouble Will Funk You’ with only the words ‘Trouble’ and ‘Funk’ big enough to be read by the crowd.

They debuted in 1980 with the track ‘E Flat Boogie’ on Al & The Kidd Records but quickly followed it up with the now classic ‘Pump Me Up’ which has been sampled by the likes of Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, Public Enemy, Teddy Riley and even George Michael. It was first issued in 1980 on a 7″ but the group also released it as part of the Hollyrock 12″. This version was so successful, that the group couldn’t keep up with orders themselves so it was signed to Jamtu Records (Jam Records) for wider distribution and released with a few variations in 1981. There was also a promotional only 12″ that included tracks from the first three Jamtu 12″ releases. It may have been issued prior to these to promote the future releases but that is unclear.

The most famous use of ‘Pump Me Up’ was actually by Philadelphia native and 1988 DMC World DJ Champion, Cash Money on the classic DJ scratch track, ‘Scratching To The Funk’ which was released on Sound Makers Records in 1985.

In 2014, ‘Pump Me Up’ was once again released on a 7″ single as a reissue on Aaron Fuchs‘s Funky Delicacies label, a subsidiary of Tuff City Records. The B side contained another of their classic singles, ‘Let’s get Small’.

trouble funk logo transparent 2

Pump Me Up

Label: T.F. Records
Year: 1980
Format: 7″
Origin: US

Side A

  1. Pump Me Up

Side B

  1. Pump Me Up

Notes: Originally released as a 7″ before the 4-track EP.

Side A
Side B

Label: T.F. Records
Year: 1980
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

  1. Hollyrock
  2. Roll With It

Side B

  1. Pump Me Up
  2. E Flat Boogie
Side A
Side B

Label: Jam Records
Year: 1981
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

  1. Hollyrock
  2. Roll With It

Side B

  1. Pump Me Up
  2. E Flat Boogie
Side A
Side B
Side A
Side B

Label: Jamtu Records
Year: 1980
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

  1. Hollyrock
  2. Roll With It

Side B

  1. Pump Me Up
  2. E Flat Boogie
Side A
Side B

Label: Jamtu Records
Year: 1980
Format: 12″ Promo only
Origin: US

Side A

  1. Pump Me Up [6:34]
  2. Get Down With Your Get Down [4:45]
  3. Super Grit [5:31]

Side B

  1. Get Down With Your Get Down (Instrumental) [4:45]
  2. Trouble Funk Live – Drop The Bomb [12:08]
Side A
Side B

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]]> Kool Kyle & Billy Bill https://hiphopbebop.com/kool-kyle-billy-bill-discography/ Sat, 22 Jun 2019 18:59:59 +0000 https://hiphopbebop.com/?page_id=8437 Kool Kyle & Billy Bill Members: Kool Kyle, Billy Bill Kool Kyle & Billy Bill (William Waring) were, and still...

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Kool Kyle & Billy Bill

Members: Kool Kyle, Billy Bill

Kool Kyle & Billy Bill (William Waring) were, and still are, very close friends.

They met at The Disco Fever and constantly bumped ideas off each other. Eventually, inspired by Sir Joe Quarterman’s (I Got) So Much Trouble On My Mind, the duo penned Trouble and backed it with Old School which was written and recorded in one take in the studio. The track was engineered by Dave Ogrin and produced by Kurtis Blow, Danny ‘Nitro’ Harris (RIP) and Steve Breck.

Picture of Kool Kyle and Billy Bill together in 2018. Image taken from Billy Bill's Facebook page

Trouble

Label: Profile Records
Year: 1985
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

  1. Trouble [6:20]
  2. The Old School [4:15]

Side B

  1. Trouble (Instrumental) [6:30]
  2. The Old School (Instrumental) [4:05]

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]]> Davy DMX https://hiphopbebop.com/davy-dmx-discography/ Fri, 21 Jun 2019 21:43:08 +0000 https://hiphopbebop.com/?page_id=8372 Davy DMX Member Of: Orange Krush After moving to Hollis, Queens at a young age, Davy DMX (David Reeves Jr.)...

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Davy DMX

Member Of: Orange Krush

After moving to Hollis, Queens at a young age, Davy DMX (David Reeves Jr.) taught himself to play the guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards before perfecting his turntable skills and replacing DJ Run as Kurtis Blow‘s DJ. He took his name from the Oberheim Drum Machine.

He formed the group, Orange Krush, with bassist Larry Smith (R.I.P.) and drummer Trevor Gale. The group only had one release, “Action”, which featured R&B vocalist Alyson Williams but they also played a major role in some of hip hop’s early releases, most notably by providing the music for Run DMC‘s first albums, Run DMC and King Of Rock.

Before his debut solo release, Davy also provided backing vocals for several releases from Kurtis Blow and produced tracks by Spoonie Gee, Spyder C, and Output.

There are also a couple of notable Record Store Day 7″ reissues that aren’t pictured: RSD 2014 saw the release of One For The Treble plus The DMX Will Rock and RSD 2019 saw edits of One For The Treble issued on blue vinyl.

Black & white image of Davy DMX

One For The Treble (Fresh)

Label: Tuff City / CBS Associated Records
Year: 1984
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

  1. One For The Treble (Fresh) (Vocal Mix) [6:32]

Side B

  1. One For The Treble (Fresh) (Instrumental) [5:46]
  2. Bonus Beats [1:48]
Side A
Side B

Label: Ol’ Skool Flava / Tuff City
Year: 1995
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

  1. One For The Treble

Side B

  1. Davy’s Scratch

Notes: Reissued on Tuff City’s subsidiary label, One For The Treble, is slightly shorter than the original release. It is backed with the previously unreleased Davy’s Scratch which doesn’t have the best sound quality but is possibly the original demo for Have You Seen Davy which was released on Def Jam in 1987.

Side A
Side B

The DMX Will Rock

Label: Tuff City
Year: 1985
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

  1. The DMX Will Rock (Scratch Mix) [4:32]
  2. The DMX Will Rock (Rap Mix featuring Leonie J and Sweet Tee) [5:32]
  3. Bonus Beats [2:05]

Side B

  1. The DMX Will Rock (Scratch Instrumental) [4:32]
  2. The DMX Will Rock (Rap Instrumental) [3:45]

Notes: This release features an electro instrumental plus alternative rap version which featured Queens natives, Leonie J and Sweet Tee. Leonie was the female counterpart to Jerome Prister in Output before appearing on this track rapping in a British accent and Sweet Tee went on to sign with Profile Records and release a number of singles and an album.

There are two label variations for this release, one of which has the Scratch Mix and one which doesn’t. Despite this, musically, both pressings are the same. Both pressings, however, have different track times to those printed on the labels, therefore, I’ve noted the actual times in the tracklist above.

Scratch Mix Side A
Scratch Mix Side B
Side A
Side B

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]]> Disco 3 https://hiphopbebop.com/disco-3-discography/ https://hiphopbebop.com/disco-3-discography/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2016 22:42:57 +0000 https://hiphopbebop.com/?p=2094 Disco 3 Members: Prince Markie Dee, Kool Rock-Ski, Buff Love Alias: The Fat Boys Prince Markie Dee (Mark Morales), Kool...

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Disco 3

Members: Prince Markie Dee, Kool Rock-Ski, Buff Love

Alias: The Fat Boys

Prince Markie Dee (Mark Morales), Kool Rock-Ski (Damon Wimbley) and Buff Love aka The Human Beat Box (Darren Robinson), collectively known as the Disco 3, were discovered after entering a talent show at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in 1983. ‘The Tin Pan Apple After Dark Dance & Rap Contest’ was sponsored by Coca-Cola and hosted on the night by WBLS’s, Mr Magic.

The Disco 3 won the competition, gaining a recording contract in the process. The promoter and owner of Tin Pan Apple, Charles Stettler, took on the role of manager for the group and in 1983 they released their debut single, ‘Reality’, produced by legendary jazz fusion artist James Mason.

For the group’s second release, ‘Fat Boys’, Charles introduced the group to Kurtis Blow, who handled the production while his good friend, William Waring helped with the lyrics. The promotional release featured the track ‘International Love’ which wasn’t included on the standard release. Copies also included a lyric sheet.

disco 3
disco 3 fat boys promo insert front

Reality

Label: Sutra Records
Year: 1983
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

  1. Reality (Beat Version) [6:58]

Side B

  1. Reality (Music Version) [7:18]
  2. Reality (Instrumental Version) [4:24]
Side A
Side B

Fat Boys

Label: Sutra Records
Year: 1984
Format: 12″ Promo Only
Origin: US

Side A

  1. Fat Boys [6:50]
  2. Human Beat Box [2:16]

Side B

  1. Fat Boys (Instrumental) [6:50]
  2. International Love [4:12]

Notes: This promo only release also includes the track, International Love.

Side A promo only
Side B promo only including 'International Love'

Label: Sutra Records
Year: 1984
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

  1. Fat Boys [6:50]
  2. Human Beat Box [2:16]

Side B

  1. Fat Boys (Instrumental) [6:50]
Side A
Side B

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