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.
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.
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.
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
