Friday, May 30, 2014

The crew with the Juice

Keep It Oldskool  Presents Artists Profile 
   The Juice Crew
The Juice Crew

  In this era of Maybach Music,Young Money,The Apple Dumpling Gang (not a real crew but could be) It is a given that a crew of M.Cs hang and bang together. It is rare though that  ALL of the MCs in the clique are lethal. During the 80s one the most potent crews/super groups was the Juice Crew.  The Juice Crew was the creation of Legendary Producer Marley Marl and manager Tyrone "Fly Ty" Williams. The origins of the Juice Crew was an "answer record" by 15 year old Roxanne Shante. Taking a hugely popular UTFO song like "Roxanne Roxanne" and recording an answer "Roxanne's Revenge" was all the catalyst that Marley needed to branch out and start building a crew.

 

His 2nd recruit was MC Shan. Shan was the Kangol and Puma wearing fly talker from Queensbridge Projects. He burst on to the seen dissing his Queens counterpart LL Cool J. It was the B-side single of the LL dis that got Shan really noticed. "The Bridge" was an ode to "where THEY came from" The Juice Crew began to form and soon two of the greatest MCs to ever do it would be become part of the family.
MC Shan

With the crew rounding into form Shante's beat boxer and sometimes MC Biz Markie joined the fold. Biz Markie was the quintessential party M.C. A Biz Markie song was going to be 2 things a lot of fun and a beat that you could dance to. Fly Ty had signed a distribution deal with Warner Brothers and created Cold Chillin' Records. Both M.C Shan and Biz Markie debut albums were released by Cold Chillin'.
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A writer of some Biz Markie songs and being a homie from Brooklyn, Big Daddy Kane became a member of the Juice Crew. Kane was a rapper who could rhyme in any style you wanted. He offered rapid fire delivery or smooth lyrics. Kane was also the ladies man of the Juice Crew as most of the ladies loved Big Daddy Kane. 

Another all time great M.C that joined the crew was Kool G Rap. G Rap's DJ (Polo) was on friendly terms with Marley Marl mentor and WHBI-FM (NYC) radio personality Mr. Magic. That association allowed Kool G Rap and DJ Polo to record in his studio "Its a Demo" From that initial meeting Marley requested that G Rap join the collective.
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Rounding the original lineup was  Master Ace, Craig G and Tragedy. They were every bit a part of the crew and all were very good M.Cs in their own right. It was through no fault of theirs that they were sometimes overshadowed. 
mastaace.jpg craig
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With the Juice Crew set, Marley set about to let the world know that he was with "the crew with the Juice" The Juice Crew boasted some of the hottest M.Cs in the game. When they came together to do songs it was well you know, a Symphony. With the release of "In Control Volume 1" in 1988 Marley had an album with songs composed of almost exclusively by Juice Crew members.The album's stand out song was "The Symphony"  although the track did not feature Shante or Shan it is mentioned as one of the greatest posse cuts of all time. 





During the time the Juice Crew were ascending to the top of Hip Hop, they had a serious challenge in the form a crew from the Bronx. Boogie Down Productions whose front man was all time great M.C Krs One did not take kindly to Juice Crew affiliate Mr Magic not playing their demo. This started the Shan vs Krs One battle songs dissing each other. From "The Bridge is Over" to "Kill that Noise" this battle on wax launched the career of Krs One.
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Like all great things the crew did break up. One of the last songs that featured most of the Juice Crew was 1991s "Symphony Part 2" . At that point Hip Hop was changing and most of the crew went their own way. The crew breaking up doesn't take away from that even today the Juice Crew is one of Hip Hop's greatest crews ever put together. Every crew since then rightly or wrongly is compared to the Juice Crew. Some measure up and some do not. The Juice Crew's legacy is that all crews do not have to be top heavy (meaning there is one standout M.C. and the rest are just along for the ride)



Juice Crew Members albums and the years they came out
Albums listed are only the ones made while Juice Crew members
These albums were either Cold Chillin' releases or were produced by 
Marley Marl

Roxanne Shante 
Bad Sister (1989)

MC Shan
Down By Law  (1987)
Born to be Wild (1988

Biz Markie
Goin' Off  (1988)
The Biz Never Sleeps (1989)

Big Daddy Kane
Long Live the Kane (1988)
It's a Big Daddy Thing (1989)

Kool G Rap and DJ Polo
 Road to the Riches (1989)

Master Ace
Take a Look Around (1990)

Craig G
The Kingpin (1989)

Tragedy 
 Intelligent Hoodlum (1990)







KEEP IT OLDSKOOL 
juice crew 540x360 Video: Masters of Ceremony @ Radio City Music Hall, NYC

Is it cool ?

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

WILLIE

REST IN PEACE MAYA ANGELOU 

"Willie" 1977 (Richard Pryor Special NBC) 

    Her soliloquy starts at the 7:29 mark 


  


Lets Do It

   VIDEO OF THE DAY
 

Friday, May 23, 2014

It's working

Let's get this party started

Keep it Oldskool remembers those parties in the parks in the late 70s and early 80s there was no drama, no violence just "love peace the hot chick and her niece". Here are some of those songs that even now when you hear now, you flashback to wearing a pair of Jordache jeans ,some Pumas and original Izod shirt. The songs were 7 and 8 minutes long sometimes and nobody minded or cared.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five    "Superrapin" 1979


   Radiance Feat RC La Rock  "The Micstro" 1980



    Spoonie G "Love Rap" 1979
 


    The Jonzun Crew "Pac Jam" 1983
  

   Sugarhill Gang "8th Wonder" 1980

      Planet Patrol "Play at your own risk" 1982
  


 West Street Mob "Break Dance Electric Boogie"   1983
 

   Funky Four +1 more  "Its the Joint" 1980


   

2 BAGS PLEASE

    VIDEOS OF THE DAY 

    

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

You can't unsee these

Keep It Oldskool  remembers some of the most awful shows
ever created. How many will you admit have watched. The first one even though it was
made in 1996 We had to mention it because it was just plain AWFUL

    Homeboys in Outterspace UPN 1996
      
     Cop Rock ABC 1990
  

        AUTOMAN NBC 1983
   
       
      The Master NBC 1984
  
    
   The Man from Atlantis NBC 1977 
      

   Small Wonder Syndicated 1985-1989
   
  There will be more KEEP IT OLDSKOOL




Blink and you missed it

  Do you remember 80s television? There seemed to be a new show every week.
Most of the new shows only lasted 2-3 episodes. Some of the shows had actors who would one day become quite famous. Keep It Oldskool remembers some 
of the shows that were "here today gone tomorrow" (and in some cases"here today gone today") 




  The Renegades ABC 1983 (Patrick Swayze)  

    The Powers of Mathew Star NBC 1982 (Louis Gossett Jr)
    
      Enos CBS 1980
  
     Voyagers ABC 1982
 

    Whiz Kids CBS 1984

     The Phoenix ABC 1982
  
    Street Hawk ABC 1985
 

 How many (if an) do you remember?   More to come
  KEEP IT OLDSKOOL




  
   

Loves gonna


 
VIDEO OF THE DAY 

Friday, May 16, 2014

Knowing is half

KEEP IT OLDSKOOL PRESENTS 
How we learned

As a young man of 43 I remember the days when in addition to school,
there were things that helped us kids learn but in a fun way. 
From Schoolhouse Rock to the "Knowing is half the battle" interludes during 
the GI-Joe cartoon television series and of course Sesame Street and 
the Electric Company kids learned and were entertained at the same time.

    Knowing is half the battle


       IT ROCKS
  
 

   HEY YOU GUYS 

      OPEN SESAME 
 
  

 KEEP IT OLDSKOOL 

Got to keep on

VIDEO OF THE DAY 

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

GET THE

VIDEO OF THE DAY


(Back story Pharaohe Monch did not get clearance for  Akira Ifukube sample "Gojira Tai Mosura". The lesson is ALWAYS GET SAMPLE CLEARANCE ) 




Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Gatcha/Battle/Force

KEEP IT OLDSKOOL PRESENTS

WHAT WE LOVED TO WATCH ..and where it came
from.

    Battle of the Planets 1978-1985

Battle of the Planets  featured G-Force ( Mark, Jason,Princess, Tiny and Keyop) the show was a dubbed version of a Japanese show called Science Ninja Team Gatchaman The show had to be pared down from the Japanese version which had transgender characters and a lot of profanity.  Each G-Force member had their own special vehicle (except Tiny) Princess had a motorcycle, Jason had a race car, Keyop had a submersible tank-like vehicle and Mark had a jet. They flew in a spacecraft known as the Phoenix  


    G-Force Guardians of Space 1986

 G-Force Guardians of Space was another version of Gatchaman that dispensed with a lot of the blatant Star Wars references that Battle of the Planets had featured.Also dubbed,the team was still named G-Force but either intentionally or not seemed to have names of mystery writers and porn stars. (Ace Goodheart, Dirk Darling, Agatha June, Pee Wee and Hoot Owl) 
  Science Ninja Team Gatchaman 1972-1974 

  Science Ninja Team Gatchaman the original TV show gave back stories on the team and featured more adult themed story lines.The characters were named Ken Washio, Jo Asakura, Jun,Jinpei and Ryu Nakanishi. There was even a live action Gatchaman movie that was released in Japan in 2013 Now I was a big fan of the early TV shows but I had no idea until today that there was a live action movie until today doing research.

Gatchaman 2013 Live Action Movie

As a youth I had no idea that my favorite show was a dubbed version of a 6 year old Japanese adult TV show. But as always when dealing with OLDSKOOL you learn something new about something old every day.


KEEP IT OLDSKOOL
Zoltar Battle of the Planets Keye Luke