Big Daddy Kane in the Mirror
March 31, 2009 | Category: Old School
KANE, ENABLED
Rap legend Big Daddy Kane on Brooklyn
swagger and the Biz Markie bump
by MORGAN STEIKER
When you think of the number of remarkable MCs born and bred in Brooklyn, the list can go on and on. Biggie, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, O.D.B., Boot Camp and M.O.P. are just the first ones that come to mind. And then, of course, there’s the pioneer of them all, from whom they all took a little something—Big Daddy Kane.
Weighing in on the factors of his borough’s stamp on great rap talent, Kane sees it through a clear lens. “It’s the swagger,†he says over the phone. “I think the fact that the Bronx and Harlem came up with the origins of hip hop put them in a b-boy mentality. Whereas in Brooklyn, they didn’t really grow up around the origins of it, so it didn’t penetrate or get into them that much. They just incorporated it into their regular Brooklyn style, which is normally some grimy stuff or some pimp shit.â€
And that’s right where Kane found his own unique style, a balance between a rugged, battle-rhyming mentality and smooth, lady-pleasing strut. This was back in a time when you had to battle on the streets to make a name for yourself in rap.
“I started rapping in the summer of ’82, which is when I graduated from junior high and went to high school. At that point in time, everybody was still caught up in the early ’80s Kool Moe Dee and Melle Mel flow. A lot of rappers were using big words. It was the type of thing where the crowd would be looking at them in amazement, like they were learning something. But when I was rhyming, people would be turning around to each other, laughing and going, ‘Woooh! Did you hear what shorty just said?’ Really just tripping on the stuff that was being said instead of trying to focus.â€
In 1984, Kane was still in high school when he met a funny character who beatboxed and went by the name of Biz Markie. He also happened to be part of one of the hottest hip hop teams in New York at the time, the Juice Crew.
“When I met Biz, he really started convincing me that I could do this. If it wasn’t for him, I would’ve never had a career. He’s the one who brought me into the Juice Crew, against pretty much everybody’s will. The day finally came when they decided that I needed to make a song, so I went in the studio and recorded a track called ‘Get Into It,’ and another song called ‘Something Funky.’ Then there was a third song where it was me, Biz and these two girls called Frik N Frak in the session, freestyling over the same beat. Marley [Marl] played that one on the air and everybody thought it was a record and went crazy, started calling and requesting it. The record was getting a buzz and everybody was loving it, but there was one problem—everybody thought it was Biz’s song.
“So I was sitting there, broke as hell, not doing any shows, with a hot record on the radio. I went to the label owner, complaining about how I had to have a record of my own, with just me on it, and so I finally went in and did ‘Raw.’ And once ‘Raw’ took off, we had to do an album, which became Long Live the Kane.â€
That’s how Kane’s reign began, and it’s lasted long enough to be celebrated today, 20 years later.
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Click Here for the newspaper article
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