Kid Wizard (Rakim) & Biz Markie Freestyle (Mid 80's)
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good god bro this was incredible. this brother biz actually rhymed with both kane and rakim, and on top of that didn't get murdered on wax by either one
now i know biz is from L.I. but i'm saying did him and the god actually go to high school together? or was this just the spot for the performance? never heard this before and i'm legit intrigued right now, so many questions
now i know biz is from L.I. but i'm saying did him and the god actually go to high school together? or was this just the spot for the performance? never heard this before and i'm legit intrigued right now, so many questions
i dont think so.. cuz biz graduated from patchogue-medford HS in 1982, this recording from rakim wyandanch HS in 1985..
biz a few years older than ra, they wasnt in high school during the same years..
old school hiphop tapes: Wyandanch High School Jam (1985) Featuring: Biz Markie, Kid Wizard Rakim, MC Chilly Dawg, Grandwizard BMC & DJ Fantasy, Inc.
appreciate the knowledge bro
found more info from dj belal...
Long Island Rap Blog: Rakim: The Early Years (As Told By Those Present)
Jesse Serwer » Blog Archive » Wyandanch Week, Pt. 3: DJ Belal (Groove B Chill, House Party)
Groove B Chill’s 1990 LP Starting From Zero makes for a decent time capsule, but it probably doesn’t make anyone’s list of important Golden Era LPs (despite contributions from prime-era Prince Paul and Pete Rock’s first production credits). Where the group—which consisted of future actor Daryl “Chill” Mitchell (then known as Chili Dog, currently starring in Fox’s Brothers); fellow rapper Eugene “Groove” Allen; and DJ Belal Miller—quietly put their stamp on history was with their proto-New Jack Swing turn on the pre-”Symphony” posse cut “Uptown Is Kickin’ It,” and the first truly commercially successful hip-hop movie, House Party. The Hudlin brothers based the Kid ‘N Play vehicle on real stories shared with them by Daryl and Belal, and all three members were given roles in the film they were originally meant to star in. As heard on this 1985 recording at Wyandanch High School, back when Rakim was still Kid Wizard, Belal—then Grandwizard BMC—was often in his corner, with Biz Markie in tow. (It’s worth noting here that the recent emergence of this recording online is a result of this conversation with Belal, who reminded me of its existence, and the homey Oxygen’s possession of it. Once again, respeck to Ox for the upload.) Currently, Belal can be heard every Monday night on Long Island on WUSB’s “Soul-Glo Bistro.”
JS: Tell me about your involvement with Rakim.
Belal: Before I started deejaying, back in ‘83, I used to be an MC in a crew called the Almighty 5 MCs. That was my first crew. But I couldn’t MC, really. I tried doing my little rhyming thing but they were so good. Rakim was in there. He had to have been about 13. I’m a few years older than him, and I was still in school. When I say he was a child prodigy, he was a child prodigy. He didn’t act his age. We called him “Pop” because he always acted older. He was saying, “I take 7 MC’s put ‘em all in a line” when he was 13. Like how in the city they had their crews, we had ours. We just didn’t know we was just good as them. ‘Cause nobody came to Long Island. The only people that came to Long Island back in the day is Mike and Dave was doing shows with Biz, Doug E. Fresh, and Dr Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde or Masterdon Committee at the [2002] skating rink out [in Sayville]. That’s how I met Biz. I didn’t know who he was, and he came to one of my parties in Wyandanch talking about [in Biz voice], “I got Grandmaster Flash outside.”
Flyers courtesy: Oxygen
JS: Was Chill in the group with you?
Belal: No, it was different. The Almighty 5 MCs kicked me out, then I was doing a little beatbox thing [Laughs]. I ended up being with another crew called High Power 3 MCs. Then I just started deejaying. As the older guys in the neighborhood was coming out, I ended up being the cat that everybody came to. Ra would be down in my basement practicing, and Chill. We’d all do jam sessions in my basement. Ra was in another group called the Love Brothers that was a carbon copy of the Cold Crush Brothers. They’d do their routines at my man Snake’s house. We was all bouncing from house to house, where our parents would let us rock at. But that was all over L.I. Each town had that.
Prince Paul, before he was with Stetsasonic, was like my nemesis. Amityville was saying he was the best, but Wyandanch was saying I was the best. Same with Brentwood, and Diamond J. And Midnite Express, the crew Biz used to rock with. Parrish Smith’s brother, Smitty D, came from that clique. In Coram, you had Mechanic, who was big out there that Biz used to rock with. I’m forgetting another part of Long Island, North Babylon, where you had Freddie Foxxx. He was part of Royal Nation, and then they came out with a little record as Supreme Force, which was guys who used to be part of Royal Nation. Everybody broke off from their little crews and started doing they own thing. So, me and Chill were by ourselves doing parties, but when battles came up I’d ask Biz and Ra to rock with me. And that’s what you hear on the CD that Oxygen and Biz have, of us all rocking at the [Wyandanch] high school.
JS: Were you performing together just in Wyandanch, or all over?
Belal: I remember being in Brentwood at a little house party and Smitty’s group, the Rock Squad came down. From Wyandanch, it was just me and Ra and some people who weren’t MCs. And Ra tore them up by himself. He did the whole “Seven MCs in a line” routine then. His whole style was so different. The moment I knew how good he was was when Biz took us to [Harlem] to a battle. Doug E. Fresh and Rob Base was there. Doug E was Biz’s nemesis. He used to totally diss Biz. And he did it that night. They said, “Y’all know this beatbox called Biz?” and he said, “The ugly kid.” Biz used to go from school to school. I mean, he was known everywhere in New York before he did a record. But they would treat him so bad.
Me and Ra got so mad when [Doug E. Fresh] said that. We were like, “We’re gonna kill these fools,” and we did. Ra did his [lyrics from] “Check Out My Melody.” And they were still on that “bawitdaba” shyt. Their jaws just dropped. Doug E. and them, to this day they still remember that. And Ra will tell you that was the first time he knew he was good. And that’s when I found out I was good, because I was as good as Barry Bee with the tricks. That gave us a lot of confidence when we left. We were like, “We can’t be touched, if we only could be seen.” I met Eric B. at my house. Eric came out here on some “I’m the man, I’m with WBLS.” Yeah, he was with WBLS alright. He was a phone guy with BLS! But he was fronting like he was BLS. He came to [close Rakim associate and future EPMD bodyguard] Alvin Toney, and asked him who was the best around here.
JS: So did you have an actual group with Biz, Ra and Chill?
Belal: Chill was more of a hype man before hype men was out. He’d hype up the crowd and say, “Here come the cavalry.” And that would be Ra and Biz. And it was a done deal. I was the DJ rocking behind all these dudes, doing the quick cuts before cats was doing them around here. Like Chill said, Long Island stabilized hip-hop. We wasn’t the first ones, but when those little cliques started coming out like EPMD, De La? With Ra, it happened so quick. Eric used to come to my parties with his white leather jacket and these tight Lee pants. We looked as him like an outsider. All the sudden, he started hanging with Ra. Ra used to play baritone sax in the Wyandanch high school band. I played the bass drum. The producer Nate Tinsley, too, we all was in that band together. Our band director was from Southern University so he taught us their stuff that was unprecedented for Long Island. Ra’s brother used to be one of the band teachers.
JS: Which brother was this?
Belal: We just called him Mr. Griffin, I think his name was Ronnie? Ra’s other brother, Stevie Blast, played the keyboards on most of Paid in Full. When Ra first got his records for “Eric B. is President,” he came running to the band bus like, “Yo I got my records.” And we was like, “What? How?” He gave me two, and I still got one of those originals. We were sitting there going, you and Biz? Cause Biz had just done one with Roxanne Shante. When Biz was saying, “I made my record,” we was like get outta here. Cause Biz was known for lying all the time.
JS: So was that the end of your working with Ra?
Belal: I was deejaying for Ra for about a year, fairly recently. But, I used to be the DJ at this club Entourage in Bay Shore, and I asked him to come and do [”Eric B. is President”] that week it came out. But the following week, it was a done deal. They played the record on Mr. Magic’s Rap Attack. Me and Eric got into it that night. He wanted to get paid $1,000. We only making $400, so I said, “I’ll give you $250.” Nobody knew the record yet, for another week. Eric had beef with me and Chill for the longest. He almost got jumped at Wyandanch Day messing with me. I felt bad in a way ’cause Ra was young. Eric was older, he knew the game a little. I know Ra didn’t make the money he was supposed to, like publishing money on [Paid in Full]. He was driving a Mercedes, but Eric was driving a Rolls. At first, people wasn’t even giving Rakim credit. DJs and people were saying that’s an “Eric B.” record. In Wyandanch, we were like what are you talking about?
JS: Rakim and Eric B.’s relationship ended badly. So you’re saying it was always like that?
Belal: Ra never liked Eric. He couldn’t even have a full conversation about him. Eric was arrogant, and Ra is quiet and cool. People don’t know, Ra used to deejay. Eric didn’t do no cuts on Paid in Full. Well, the stuff that don’t sound good, that’s the stuff he did. If it sound good, Ra did it. Eric was just the guy that put Ra out there. He gets credit for that. But I remember going to concerts with Ra, and Eric’s on the DAT tape, fronting like he’s cutting on stage. That was unheard of back then. Now, you can get away with that Milli Vanilli shyt.
JS: Why did he come to Long Island? There were plenty of nice rappers in his own backyard in Queens…
Belal: I dont know why. Man, we was gullible. If somebody came from the city, we gave ‘em respect. All Ra did on [Paid in Full] was take the beats he used to rock with me and these guys, Cool Breeze and Teddy. We used to rock “I Got Soul,” “Funky Penguin.” “Don’t Look Any Further” was Ra’s favorite record. All he did was say, “This is what I’m used to rocking with”, and they built the album. He had all the rhymes already. When we heard the album, we was like, “This is the same stuff he’s been doing.” We didn’t realize he was so ahead of his time. We wasn’t thinking he was better than Kool Moe Dee.
JS: You were about to tell me before how you hooked up with Biz…
Belal: Biz was one of my best friends. As a rapper, he used to bite at times but it was his delivery. That night we went to that battle in Harlem, this guy Kid West was there, and Biz will tell you he didn’t bite off of Kid West, but he did. But when it came to the beatbox, Doug E. Fresh couldn’t touch Biz. He would literally blow your speakers if you didn’t have good ones. His voice had so much bass. He can’t do it like that no more. Biz is the first person I ever seen do the beatbox, actually. When he came to Wyandanch Day. We thought he was retarded. That had to be about ‘84.
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