Whodini

Yeah.

I heard Rapper's Delight, and then I, I, I used to be fond of Whodini.

Mm-hmm.

I can't rap nothing.

Yeah.

The only really, the only really big rap ballad was, uh, Homeboys in Family, Whodini with, um, One Love.

And let me, this, what year was this? Was this '80 ...

'86.

Okay

... 'cause he was doing a tribute concert for, uh, Prince Markie Dee, uh, Buff Love, and, um, Ecstasy from Whodini to celebrate their lives, and he wants to start, you know, something to give back to the community there.

So at, uh, Grisham Park, where they went to school at, their-

Mm

Man, that sound like some bullshit." I guess I was work- used to the nursery rhyme and, you know, more rhyming.

You know, like, Sugarhill, uh, Fat Boys, fucking, uh, Whodini, them.

They was doing mostly rhyming, and he was turning that stuff to the gangster rap.

Then, uh, I went to the pen in, like, '85, and, uh, about '86, '87, this shit hit at Cruisin' Down the Street in My '64.

Yeah.

Um, so, like, Run DMC, LL, Whodini, Beastie Boys-

Yep

... uh, EPMD, Eric B., Rakim-

Like, it's there." 'Cause I'd seen them play for Black audiences before, and it was like a mixed response.

But when they played at the Apollo, because they'd done a little tour with Whodini and Run-DMC, they had figured it out by then.

So when they played the Apollo, they tore that motherfucker up, and I was like, "These guys are gonna be famous." And I had proximity to-- I knew Run, I'm, you know, I knew Run-DMC a little bit.

I met them, and I knew Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen and the pe- people around them, and I was like, "This is a real thing." And I'd always kind of harbored an idea of somehow being in the music business, so when it was in front of me, um, I hold, I held onto their belt loops and I went for a ride.

I mean, the Apollo had the Sandman, right? They'd pull you off the fucking stage if you sucked.

So it wasn't an amateur night.

They were playing with Run-DMC and I think Whodini, but I could be wrong, and it was, um, certainly Whodini.

Maybe Run-DMC wasn't on the bill, but I think they were.

... you know, the inner city kids would bring in Doug E.

Fresh, and Whodini, and Sugarhill Gang, and Egyptian Lover, and all these awesome songs, and that I was completely unaware of, you know, playing "Lucky Star" by Madonna and all the shit that was big then, Prince of course.

And, um, as time went on, I fell in love with Public Enemy, and I went and saw them at First Avenue, and I was really disappointed.

Um, they, they performed along with their album that they had on a turntable on stage, Terminator X.