8/11/2023 0 Comments Edwin neal interviewYou were behind the boards for songs by Tupac and Biggie and Junior Mafia. OKP: I didn't know that you produced for so many people, Ed. OKP: How did you deal with all the girls? Every school I went to was within walking distance. OKP: What did the kids in school say when you were going on tour with these big-time artists? My lifestyle in Flatbush groomed me for this and to not be distracted by everything. It was just really about paying attention. SE: I was already accustomed to a fast pace from living on the Ave. OKP: You were 16 at the time in a burgeoning culture known as hip-hop. OKP: Anything crazy happen? You don't have to name names. One of my first tours was with Public Enemy and LL Cool J and it was just the experience being in an arena playing for thousands of people. Just to be on tour with them was amazing. I was like if they can get big like that and make that kind of money I want to do that too. I saw Run-DMC's success and I said I can do that. Being on stage with Run-DMC on the same tour-that was a vision, a premonition when I was younger. Were there any memorable moments or funny stories? OKP: Talk about your first tour touring with Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Slick Rick, Run-DMC, Queen Latifah, and Big Daddy Kane. At some point, they stopped beating him up ‘cause he was cool he got some passage to go to school. I guess at some point they just let him ride. There were a lot of people getting beat up. SE: The only person that was there at Erasmus when I was there was Queen Pen and Michael Rappaport. Were there any artists there when you were there? There were a bunch of artists that came out of Erasmus like Clive Davis and Barbra Streisand. When I heard them that's where I said I like this. Records like Jimmy Spicer’s “Super Rhyme,” Sugar Hill Gang, Soul Sonic Force, Kurtis Blow, Melle Mel. Who influenced you in terms of storytelling? I know you talked about studying limericks in school on the episode. Special Ed: Around that time they had records out and they were the closest thing to rapping. Okayplayer: You talked about in the Unsung episode how Jamaican artist Yellowman and hip-hop artist Jimmy Spicer influenced you. Special Ed talked to Okayplayer ahead of the airing of his Unsung episode about rapping, producing for Biggie and Tupac, and today’s hip-hop, among other topics. WATCH: Special Ed Link With Monie Love, Dana Dane, Chubb Rock & More To Form "The Alumni"Īfter suing his label, Profile Records, for what he claims was fudging numbers and withholding money from him, he says he was blackballed, and they were shelving his projects. But after his second album, Legal, and his third album, Revelations, he largely disappeared from the scene, with the exception of the 1994 hit “Crooklyn Dodgers” for the soundtrack of Spike Lee’s film, Crooklyn. His first album, Youngest in Charge, with the help of producer Hitman Howie Tee and DJ Akshun, vaulted into the R&B Top 10 and would go gold. I gotta frog, a dog with a solid gold bone" Kinda fond of Honda scooters, got seventy-four Got twenty, that's plenty yet I still want more, My name is Special Ed and I'm a super-duper star Make a million dollars every record that I cut and, With clever rhymes that belied his age, he hit the scene with his first single, “I Got it Made,” with a video of his friends dancing in front of his Brooklyn High School in Flatbush: READ: The Flatbush Flavors Of Hip-Hop's "Youngest In Charge," Special EdĮd hopes this Sunday’s episode (May 27) of TV One’s Unsung, where he’s the featured subject, will school young folks who don’t fully understand his contribution to hip-hop. But that didn’t get him into the consciousness of millennials. But most millennials only know who he is from Rick Ross’s cover of his classic hit, “I’m the Magnificent,” a reggae-influenced cut, featuring a loop from the Rocksteady classic “(007) Shantytown.” Even Shaquille O’Neal would cover his club anthem, “I Got it Made,” on his album Shaq-Fu: Da Return. The only solo rap artist that had made noise at such a young age at the time was LL Cool J at age 17 with his first single on Def Jam “I Need a Beat.” Special Ed was so young that signing him at age 15 had to be sanctioned by the courts.Ī master of the flow, Ed would go on to release two albums and go multi-platinum before the age of 18. In 1989, Edward Archer, better known as Special Ed, a Jamaican teenage heartthrob with a curly-haired flattop hit the rap scene at the tender age of 15. Image courtesy of Special Ed Edward Archer, better known as Special Ed, spoke with Ericka Blount about his Unsung episode, his rise to the top, working with B.I.G.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |