Legends of Hip-Hop

Today's Lecture: The Fat Boys



Swaying away from the ever-popular gold chains, hard rhymes, and sucker mc bashing of their times, the Fat Boys were the first definitive alternative rap group. Instead of rhyming about how ill they were, this rap outfit flowed about the joys of eating and human beatboxing. Before there was Rahzel or even Biz Markie, there was a man named Buff the Human Beat Box - the first human beat box to widely spread the newfound art form. With his trademark "breathe" beating, Buff brought the beat machine to a new level (and plenty of samples for rap later on). The two other mcs, Prince Markie Dee and Kool Rock-Ski, had effective rapping techniques that flowed in a most uniform fashion with praising various joys such as ketchup and macaroni. Their fly styles (jumpsuits, fat laces on the kicks) also went on to influence the style of the bigger hip-hoppers (such as Heavy D).

And who could ever forget the "All You Can Eat" montogue in the now-classic film-peice Krush Groove? All there is to say about the crew formerly known Disco Three is that their timeless facination of food (which in today's terms is far from dated) changed the face of rap forever. Hell, they even finished up their career with making one of the first rap-operas. Entitled "On and On", the album spawned such conceptual ideas for future rappers/djs (such as Prince Paul's "A Prince Among Theives" and the various Dan the Automater-produced albums). They even got to collaborate with the Beach Boys.

Another thing that must be stated is Buff's untimely death of a heart attack should be more known. I hear crap about Biggie, Tupac, and even Big Pun every year, but not Buff the Human Beat Box! May he rest in peace and his soul live eternally.