Back in '88, when Jay was selling weight, and P was a ballerina my favorite emcee/rapper was KRS-One. Dude still remains in my top ten list of all time. With the support of Boogie Down Productions helmed by the late DJ Scott La Rock and tutored by beat meister Ced Gee of Ultra Magnetic fame, Kris Parker single handedly destroyed the borough of Queens with classic shots "South Bronx" and "The Bridge Is Over" fired at MC Shan, Mr. Magic and the legendary Juice Crew. He was strategically smart enough to keep stray shots away from Big Daddy Kane and Kool Gee Rap though, cause that would'a been some real beef for that ass. Anyways, dude was an effin monster. That Jamaican spice he added to his rhyming established the fact that he repped firmly the upper echelons of Hip Hop. Even though he claimed the South Bronx, his swag was sooo Brooklyn. You do know he's from BK? My man Jo who grew up with him was telling me that the first time he heard "South Bronx", he was surprised that Kris was running with the Bx so heavy, but it made sense since he was hanging there during his early to late teen years. Dude's shows were not to be effed with either. Stagemanship, breath control, song repertoire, throwing fat dude from PM Dawn off the effin stage, KRS-One epitomized the essence of what Hip Hop was to a then young nation.
Dude was a walking enigma though. When he started treading too hard on that edutainment, teacher ish, he started losing me. He also let Puff Daddy murda him on his own shit. But the illest shit of all time that he pulled was when he came out rocking Ms. Melodie.
I know love be blind and beggars can't be choosers, especially since dude WAS homeless once, and chick DID look like she could be hella warm and comfy during those cold ass New York winters from years back, but I'm saying. I know how it is to hit off a she-beastie now and then, but DAMN homie, you can't really be claiming that. Of course all this childish superficiality would be irrelevant if she could rock the mike, but girl girl was also a bit hard on the ears as well. Still and all, she was able to get a solo album out of dude, drop that god awful "Live On Stage" single and video and was fortunate enough to spit amongst legends on that classic "Self Destruction" joint.
I guess, what I'm trying to say is that for the past 15 years or so, I've been wondering what was that whole effin' thing about? How and where did KRS and Melodie meet? How did they hook up? When did they get married? Did she favor chicken, beef, goat or ham? How soon after he started dropping science and garnering the attention of female groupies world wide did dude wake up and start thinking of ways to get as far away as possible from his broad broad? Did Chubb Rock have a twin sister? And why hasn't D-Nice interviewed her in his "True Hip Hop Stories" video series yet, him also being an integral part of that whole BDP movement? His video series is crazy dope though.
If any of ya'll know the deal, please let me know the sordid facts. Better yet, if you know where Melodie is these days, holla at yer boy. I really want to interview ole girl, you know, get her side of the story and post that shit up. Eff around and I'ma start my own "Shit Behind The True Hip Hop Stories" series, dead serious!
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KRS is one of the illest emcees evah, but dude caught some sort of chemical imbalance somewhere between Edutainment and his "Temple of Hip Hop" ambitions. I saw him at SOB's in '04 and he Destroyed the joint. Speaking of Edutainment and Ms Melodie's Live on Stage though.. I have (had?) the Edutainment live album and cot-damn does her voice make you want to rinse your ears out with drain-o. It would be good to know where she be at and if it was that the poon was good enough to merit letting her hold the mic.
ReplyDeleteAs a pre-teen on the west coast when Self Dest. came out, I figured she was official based on her apperarance on that track alone. She was looking all stately, like the queen of Zamunda or something. Thought she was a big artist in NY. Her never making much of a blip on the radar after, I guess I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteI guess I kind of felt the same way about Just-Ice (who had the fly outfit in the SD video btw), but apparently he had some sort of following, right?
Where is Redhead Kingpin?
dameSTATUS
I think KRS ONE explained everything in the song "Love's Gonna Get "Cha".
ReplyDelete^^ Funny. I used to rep Redhead back in the day, worked on his last album. He made MAD loot on production, then took a break to count his stacks. Haven't seen nor heard from him in a while.
ReplyDeleteCJ - Didn't he drop her somewhere post-Edutainment and was rolling with some chick named Simone or something as wifey?? I'm suprised the folks over at UNKUT haven't had an interview with her. They've unearthed some real "Where are they now" cats.
ReplyDeleteMDP aka 40 Diesel.
CJ: Hot off the presses, possible material for ya.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_01_29_DA_intern_booted_after_arrest:_Cops:_Law_ace__bar_don_t_mix/
Crazily enough, I picked her as the person to get thrown under the bus in the upcoming faux KRS One biopic. Don't forget about her equally untalented sister Harmony that got a solo album and managed to appear on Edutainment. She NEARLY ruined "7 DJ's"! "Poundcake" was super wack, who told this chick she could sing OR rhyme?
ReplyDeleteOne.
"I know love be blind and beggars can't be choosers, especially since dude WAS homeless once, and chick DID look like she could be hella warm and comfy during those cold ass New York winters from years back, but I'm saying."
ReplyDeleteHilarious CJ. This had me rollin'.
This is one for the ages (lol), I've wondered about how KRS and Ms. Melodie hooked up too. To the cat from the West who posted as "Anonymous"...I see you know a little something about Just-Ice, you were intelligent enough to talk greasy anonymously. Just-Ice will split your wig fa real, fa real. Check his resume nigga.
ReplyDelete^ For real re: Just-Ice. Straight up killer. I was in D.C. when he came down for Howard homecoming ('87 or '88), literally KILLED someone in their dorm room, was all up in the Washington Post, and BOUNCED free as a butterfly. That knicca right there is the old school prototype of HARDBODY. The first rapper with a real body count. The reggae dude Super Cat also bodied someone in Brookln and skated. Hmmm. That sounds like a great post. Might have to check with Robbie on this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm just about to write a piece of Just for a magazine. Just Ice > Freddie Foxxx in terms of gully status.
ReplyDeleteI know about Just Ice but that would be a great post. And this one is just nah right....never understood the whole Ms Melody thing either...
ReplyDeleteI love the blog and I think you're a great writer but for the love of God, if there's a word you don't feel comfortable using DON'T USE IT. Find another way to say what you're saying! Eff is possibly the most annoying shit I've ever read and you use it once a paragraph.
ReplyDeleteRobbie is attached to the word gully like he feeds seagulls in his back yard with birdseed filled with staples and gunpowder.
ReplyDeleteKRS & Miss Melodie were MARRIED. I can't get past that.
ReplyDelete^ Love is stronger than pride like that.
ReplyDelete