They’ve never been in trouble, to my knowledge.” “I was totally outdone when I heard it,” said former Pop Art head Lawrence Goodman at the time of their arrest. But their lives took a violent and dark turn when both men conspired to rob a PNC Bank, and the resulting firefight ended with one policewoman dead, Steady B incarcerated for life, and Cool C sentenced to death. By 1996, both Steady B and Cool C were working odd jobs around Philadelphia and plotting petty crimes. (Countin’ Endless Bank) before that also fizzled. Through a deal with Atlantic, Cool C and Steady B got major distribution, but as their albums flopped in the early 1990s, they were both dropped.īoth rappers teamed with DJ Ultimate Eaze to form the short-lived trio C.E.B. The animosity toward the Juice Crew stemmed from Marley Marl’s early affiliation with Pop Art, but the Queens-based producer would leave the small label to launch Cold Chillin’. Pop Art was a pillar of Philly rap, and the Hilltop Hustlers crew seemed primed for big things. It made Steady B and Cool C local legends in their hometown, and they were releasing singles on the famed Pop Art label. The Hilltop Hustlers consistently took shots at contemporaries, from LL COOL J to the Juice Crew. Along with Cool C, B broke through to the Yo! MTV Raps audience with singles like “Serious” and “Girls Gonna Getcha.” Offering a more street-oriented take on Philly rap, Steady B and the Hilltop Hustlers crew were making major noise in the late 1980s. Photos: David Corio/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Steady thought, ‘OK, I’m gonna come out my ass and battle him.’ The only way I can describe that moment - you ever see Good Will Hunting? You know the scene in the bar, where the smartass college guy is trying to name some stats, then Matt Damon just busts his ass? That was Will Smith.” “ He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper had just come out that Tuesday, and Steady B and Will happened to be in the studio at the same time. Questlove would later recall a battle between the Fresh Prince and Philly underground legend Steady B. The formula led to chart-topping hits like “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and “Brand New Funk” a Grammy win for their second album, He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper and of course, a hit TV show in 1990. The duo became one of the biggest rap acts of the late 1980s, on the strength of commercial-friendly story songs that set Will’s undeniable charm against Jeff’s infectious production. Jazzy Jeff and the teenage Will Smith would immediately hit it off and within months, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince had their first single out. “I was really big in the city as a DJ and Will was in a crew in a section of the city in Wynnefield,” Jeff Townes told Drink Champs in 2019. DJ Jazzy Jeff recruited the 17-year-old Fresh Prince to rap for him after his usual MC didn’t make it to a gig. The inroads were made but paled in comparison to the success that was coming from a pop-friendly duo with a decidedly lighthearted image. The controversy notwithstanding, Breeze landed on MC Hammer’s Bust It Records in the early 1990s. Breeze founded his own label and dropped one of Philly’s most notorious singles - 1986’s “Discombobulatorbubalator” - a song banned for racist lyrics about Asians and Chinese food. But West Philadelphian MC Breeze was a contemporary of Schoolly D’s who built his own noteworthy legacy in the City of Brotherly Love. Schoolly D became the first Philly rapper to really gain notoriety outside the city, and he remains the most recognizable figure from the city’s early Hip-Hop days. (What Does It Mean?)” that catapulted Schoolly D to the forefront of what would later be dubbed “gangsta rap.” The hyperkinetic 12-inch featured D rapping about the notorious Park Side Killers. Lady B’s single was the first shot that would open up the door for a wave of Philly acts to emerge in the 1980s. If you ask Afrika Bambaataa and the Black Spades how they birthed this Hip-Hop thing, toasting and rapping over these breakbeats, it was because we felt ostracized and we decided to do our own thing, in our own way.”Īnd Philly had to do things its own way. So Hip-Hop kinda created its own thing in the streets and in the courtyards of the projects. Hip-Hop was a transition out of disco, and some would say - and I might tend to agree - that certain folks weren’t welcome in discos. “I had came out of high school and started hanging out with World B. “The first time I heard Hip-Hop was in Brownsville, Brooklyn,” she said this year. Lady B was 18 years old and spinning records on WHAT in Philly when she dropped “To the Beat Y’all” in 1979.
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