We’re not being late on this, we were just waiting for our boy Andrew Emery to write this entry for The Guardian. Needless to say it’s a terrible loss. We’re sure most people who read Fat Lace, especially those from the U.K. will appreciate Derek B played a significant part in our mid-eighties hop-hop education.

Original Guardian coverage HERE and HERE.

Derek B paved the way for UK hip-hop

The Bad Young Brother was doomed to commercial failure, but won something more valuable for the fledgling UK rap scene in the 80s – respect.

With Dizzee Rascal seemingly a national treasure, and the likes of Tinchy Stryder, N-Dubz and Chipmunk becoming household names, you could fool yourself into thinking that British rap had always been around and selling ringtones by the thousand. But in the mid-to-late 80s, any notion of a domestic rap scene entering the popular consciousness was a sick joke. The only rappers in 1987 that anyone other than the cognoscenti cared about were American giants such as Run DMC, the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J. Derek B, a London born and bred rapper and DJ who died this weekend of a heart attack at just 44, did his best to break into that league, and while he was ultimately doomed to failure, his moderate success blazed a trail in a quiet, English way.

B, real name Derek Boland, was a pirate DJ who found himself rapping when a compilation he was putting together for the UK rap label Music of Life in 1986 was a track short. He stepped up to the mic and carved himself out a niche that saw him become the first UK rapper to break into the charts. After a couple of early singles, Good Groove reached No 16 in 1988, propelling Derek B on to Top of the Pops, and his album Bullet From a Gun garnered critical acclaim. But the rapper found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place – or, more accurately, between a rap audience who felt his fake American accent made him an outsider in UK hip-hop circles, and a pop crowd who weren’t ready for MCs with London accents.

Still, in addition to taking homegrown urban music on to BBC1 (and, who can forget, co-writing the Anfield Rap), Derek B also succeeded in serving notice to the American rap fraternity that London was on the rise. He might not have the cachet among rap aficionados that other UK groups such as Hijack, Demon Boyz and Katch 22 command, but in 1988, the only people in the London rap world that Americans had even heard of were Derek B and Tim Westwood.

Derek B’s career came to a sudden end; his first album was also his last. This lack of longevity was probably due to a lack of core support from British rap fans. In the late 80s, there was almost a civil war in UK rap between those who aped America in a bid to match its achievements, and those who were determined to represent British reality, sales be damned. It was this schism – and the latter camp undoubtedly triumphed – that paved the way for today’s breed of confident lyricists. How you rap is no longer an issue for the likes of Sway, Wiley, Mike Skinner and Speech DeBelle; a local accent is a given. And Americans are no longer shy about giving UK artists respect and record deals. But without Derek B, the Bad Young Brother, the chasm between the two continents might have been that much wider, and UK hip-hop may never have escaped its humble origins.

Check this all star line up who came together to remember Sir Juice. The audio says it all. R.I.P.

[See post to listen to audio]

Not many DJ’s can claim to have been name checked by Biggie and Nas on record and with that said it was incredibly sad to hear the legendary radio personality Mr. Magic aka Sir Juice passed on October 2nd 2009. As active fans of hip-hop since the early 80’s, here at Fat Lace we can proudly say we grew up listening to C90’s of early New York radio from Red Alert to Mr. Magic, that’s how we discovered some of the most amazing records we still have in our collections and reminisce about on this site today. Mr. Magic’s radio shows are a part of our music education. We didn’t have live access to LWR or the Capital Rap Show, we usually heard those on cassette too, so we usually got our first listens to the classics from tapes we acquired from friends in New York.

In case you missed it the first time around we had the great pleasure of interviewing the man himself just over a year ago. You can read the full story HERE and we sincerely hope that you do. We also interviewed another Mr. Magic expert, Will C. Find that HERE and you should also read Will’s blog post on Magic HERE.

We trawled through our archives and picked out our favourite Mr. Magic show, one where we heard some of our favourite tracks for the first time by the likes of Glamorous, Deuces Wild and many more. It’s classic material so felt it’s only right we share it with you Fat Lace die hards.

Mr. Magic WBLS 1988

or download HERE

Sorry if we’re a little late in relaying our condolences to DJ AM’s friends and family but we were waiting for a more personal photo rather than googling some library shot. Fat Lace homie stromie DJ Mighty Mi of The High & Mighty just sent us this. AM’s contribution to Hip-Hop culture and the art of DJing is unparalleled. The reason we posted this photo was to let you know just that and how deep in the game AM was. Here’s an extract from an interview from 2005 which breaks down his origins as an original member and beat boxer for the group that later became The High & Mighty, Mighty Mi himself being directly responsible for AM becoming a DJ.

R.I.P. to a true talent, we only wish he could have made it to the UK more.

Full Story: HERE

Extract:

The Hundreds: When did u start DJing? DJ AM: Around ’85?…I started first messing around. I grew up in Philly, and Mighty Mi (from the High and Mighty – he’s another shoe collector) – we grew up together and he had turntables at his house and it was the same group as High and Mighty with Mi, Eon as MC Magnum, and I was AMG the Human Lindrum. I was the beatboxer.

One of our mans has snuck a Tony D tribute onto The Guardian’s blog. Something for them to read after they’ve finished reading about Alexander Chancellor’s latest sojourn in Tuscany and Zoe Williams banging on inanely about her next fucking baby. Of course, the comments of some of their users are more useless than some of the ones we get (not the ones you write though, you’re dope) – we like the dude here being Mr Italian and correcting the spelling of Depula. Motherfucker, we knew Tony, that’s how he spelled it.

We just heard legendary producer Anthony Depula aka Tony D died in a tragic car accident. The full news report can be found HERE. More information and a full obituary coming shortly. Read our recent and last ever interview with the legendary hip-hop figure HERE.

A heartfelt R.I.P. to a man that help shaped the direction of hip-hip.

More coverage HERE. We urge you to visit his myspace and leave a message for his family HERE.

Our second BIG post today is dedicated to the Devil’s Son. He was sadly killed ten years ago and if The Guardian thinks Biggie was bad, they’d have a field day with L Corleone’s lyrics. Rather than a load of posthumous musings we’d like to give you a treat, L’s first 12″ in all it’s glory. We’re making it public domain although legally it’s not.

Download in full HERE.

Devil’s Son Vocal

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Devil’s Son Instrumental

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Our first BIG post today is dedicated to the Notorious one. We’ve not seen the film, nor do we particularly want to see it. Really, what’s the point? Maybe we’ve grown up and have zero interest in a modern portrayal of BIG, we felt his records in ‘94, by ‘96 we were done. He was a dope rapper and will always be remembered for that but it’s hard to intellectualise him as an artist. Despite his greatness, let’s face it, the real story behind his death is actually more intriguing than Biggie as an individual. We’ll stick to nerding out with some obscure vinyl only highlights or as we more famously did in Issue #2 of Fat Lace Magazine, perform an autopsy on him. Before he was killed might we add.

OK, maybe we’ll probe a little deeper in his defence. In our comments section we were alerted to this article from The Guardian online. The piece obviously written from a ‘Eurocentric’ view point does raise some interesting issues but misses the point entirely, that rap is entertainment. Biggie is often placed on a pedestal but Biggie as a character was portrayed by the actor Christopher Wallace. He was probably an occasional drug dealer at worst before he rapped, nothing more. He was then exploited like most artists, only then enabling his lyrical fantasies to become reality. Scarface was put on a pedestal but we’ll bet money that the Harlem born Al Pacino was a small time hustler of sorts at some point in his life before the papes came. When Rudy Giuliani became mayor of New York we’re certain the Mafia didn’t suddenly stop their prostitution rackets because they had a high profile role model. The Guardian piece just demonises Rap. It’s no better than a tabloid headline about Snoop. Sure, the self-esteem of many African Americans and beyond just got a shot in the arm and that will reap dividends but you can’t blame the actions of Biggie and the generations of young Black men before him on the fact that America didn’t have a Black President. America has a Black President now so suddenly people won’t shoot each other and health care will be free. Yeah right. Notorious is an appreciation of a great entertainer, a fairly poor appreciation by all accounts but an appreciation nonetheless and as we all know martyrdom amplifies the achievements of all great human beings. The 2Pac feature length will no doubt come. Now if Obama’s position manifests real societal change that will be welcomed by all but we’ll still want to be entertained. We’ll still take De La Soul and Geto Boys in equal measures.

Now the nerd-out…

Party & Bullshit (Album Version)

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Party & Bullshit (Puffy Mix)

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Party & Bullshit (Lord Finesse Mix)

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More B.I.G. after the jump….

Pudgee feat B.I.G. & Lord Tariq ‘Think Big’ (test pressing only release)

[See post to listen to audio]

Da Brat feat B.I.G. – ‘Dirty B Side’

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