I only had the chance to see him once, a little over a year ago. He did a show with Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh. (Best show I've ever been to - and only $8!) As BSides said, nothing fancy - no tricky doubles, transforming or anything like that, just a dope selection.
Pretty much went through year by year...."remember this shit...1986..." and on thru "1993...y'all love this shit right here." And we all did. Crowd was singing along to all this songs he was playing.
He closed with 'Just A Friend' and forgot the third verse. He's on stage saying the extent of 'Yo, I don't remember this verse anymore....la la la, la la la, la la la la la la la .... You, you got what I n-e-e-e-d!"
I was rolling at that fact that he 'la la la'd' his way through the last verse. Dude was cool, signed some mix cd's I bought, shook my hand, and that was that!
that track is great! real eerie. about 8 years ago, a friend used it as the soundtrack to his black and white silent short film that he made for the new york film academy school. i played the main character who ends up chopping up his folks. yikes. anyway, its' funny that biz is asking about this song because i know he ended up sampling it but i don't think it ever got cleared. THES, needless to say, the mp3 of this conversation makes me real happy and if you need the mp3, let me know.
also, a hint - it was rated one of the worst pop songs ever.
Yo, cas... don't put up a pic of the record or the title of it, mane! Secret squirrel that schitt, hommie! SECRET SQUIRREL THAT SCHITT!
I mean, in my experience your not gonna catch him rocking doubles or something,
I think I saw him with doubles. Nothing impressive, but sometimes he takes his tank top off and uses his stomach to switch the crossfader. Saw that at central park summer stage a few years back.
This guy I used to work with made me laugh once, he said he was out at a club on Long Island and Biz was djing that night. He's like "maaan, I'm in there partying, he's playing shit everyone loves and got everyone dancing, all of a sudden out of nowhere he throws on the theme from Sesame Street".
Then Biz stands (literally) on stage while the crowd sings all of the lyrics to Just a Friend. he didn't say a single line. DOPE.
haha - I was there - the Hackney Marshes one, that set was amazing, peeps got real amped and I got peeps started chanting "MAKE THE MUSIC" like it was a footie (soccer) match....
Thes - I did actually bump into you PUTS dudes too, along with Dave from De La who I called "Trugoy" - he was not impressed
Aww! this thread is great. The Marshes indeed. I think it was Essentials Festival 2001? God what a show. Almost the whole original P-funk line-up was there too.
Okay, one of my favorite Biz stories - one that literally had me on the floor holding my gut - went something like this... According to Biz (mind you, it's ALWAYS so much better when he tells it), he was at some big rap concert in Canada in the early 90's. Other than Q-Tip, I forget who he said was there, Gangstarr maybe? Anyway, apparently Sade is backstage (yes, that Sade). So naturally everybody is all in awe. Biz goes right up to her and asks her if she'd be down to do a collabo on a song. She politely declines, citing that "she doesn't do those kinds of records" or something like that (okay, maybe it wasn't so polite). Without missing a beat, Biz then asks Sade "Do you mind if I do something?" Before "What?" can fully come out of those lovely lips of hers, Biz proceeds to take his right hand and (quoting Biz) "palm the shit out of that big ass forehead of hers!" Yes, apparently, Biz, for whatever reason, shook Sade's forehead with his palm for a good 4-5 seconds. "Sorry, but I've ALWAYS wanted to do that." says Biz. "I understand." Sade answered back. One can only imagine the looks of utter disbelief on the faces of Q-Tip & co.
This is the dopest thread ever. has anyone seen "Breath Control" the beat boxing doc. I saw it at the philly film fest a couple years ago. There were some good biz moments in there.
a few years ago biz did a show in cologne (at the time when he started to work with groove attack) and he was djing, rapping (just a friend was done by the crowd too), doing the beatbox holding the mic on his head, using his skull for resonance and stuff. incredible!!! at one point he stopped the music, went in front of the stage and said something like "yo, u german people are number 1" and made a little hitler greeting. i couldnt believe my eyes , but it was still comedy. he then proceeded dropping Kraftwerks "mensch-maschine"
i bet tony tripletrouble remmebers this too. Biz was djing a party at Vassar in Poughkeepsie in the cafeteria which was also where they had shows sometimes. on his rider he had "carton of milk" among other hospitality items and he was about an hour late to spin the party but he wouldn't get on until he got his carton of milk. so a student went over to the beverage station and got him two 22 oz glasses of whole milk and he drank them both down one after the other, then djed. i remember Ben BSK was shooting film of the show. i wonder if he still has a tape of that.
Oh snap, what year was this? I must've been away at school or something, there's no way I would've missed Biz running through town.
One other thing that Biz likes to do is describe records that he says he's looking for and doesn't know what it is, but really he does have the record and he's just testing you / playing games with you. I have no doubts that he has this record he's describing on the clip. Dude is too funny.
Yeah man, one time Biz called me up and told me he was coming to town and wanted to spend a bunch of money and asked for all these records. So I go dig them all out and show up at his hotel room and he looks at them and says: "Oh I have all these" "I just wanted to see if you did" !!!!!!!!!!! He had this funny ass little kid goofy grin on his face when he said it.
This guy I used to work with made me laugh once, he said he was out at a club on Long Island and Biz was djing that night. He's like "maaan, I'm in there partying, he's playing shit everyone loves and got everyone dancing, all of a sudden out of nowhere he throws on the theme from Sesame Street".
haha yeah...back in '96 at another university cafeteria show where the crowd was quite milquetoast Biz shows up, spins the all the b-boy classics and everybody is like
then he shifts gear and screams something to the effect of "aww man I'm gonna take you back to SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS" and sped through scooby doo, gilligan's island, theme from dallas, greatest american hero. the crowd went bananas.
BONUS BEAT: he djed the entire set without headphones
I mean, in my experience your not gonna catch him rocking doubles or something, hes more likely to play the theme from cheers on 45 and sing along with it really loud. Then afterwards hold up the cheers theme 45, tell you how rare it is, and then show you how he has 4 of them.
still, i think hes pretty hilarious.
FYI the night Biz broke my friend's headphones he was rocking doubles of b-boy stuff for a big portion of the set. He also did a lot of microphone talk and sing a long tunes too for like the last half. I like hearing him play a lot...
My boss was a recording engineer back in the 80's.. I was picking his brain one day, and found out he engineered on a lot of Biz's sessions. Biz would give him his BIZ ring to wear while he was working the board. He'd always ask Biz if he wanted to do a second take, and he'd be like "This is Hiphop, Freddy! Ain't no second takes in hiphop." I need to ask him if he has any flicks..
Biz proceeds to take his right hand and (quoting Biz) "palm the shit out of that big ass forehead of hers!" Yes, apparently, Biz, for whatever reason, shook Sade's forehead with his palm for a good 4-5 seconds.
Plaese to have graemlin of Biz hand palming Sade's forehead...
as funny as this is going to sound (maybe), biz is one of my all-time top emcees. its just his delivery mixed with the beats. the lyrics sometimes dont even matter... its just Biz! all those crazy stories of his record collection (and collecting in general) made me like dude even more.
the funniest thing is is that ive missed seeing Biz perform 7 times!!! and shows all over the country (ny, cali, texas, louisiana, etc). hes the last emcee that ive ever wanted to meet (i had a list when i was in HS and by working in the music industry for 10yrs i crossed every name off that list but Biz's).
anyway... love all the stories... makes dude seem even realer to me...
I'm chilling with Biz & Stretch Armstrong outside of Soul Kitchen when it was at Wetlands (circa 94-95) talking rock breaks. I'm certifable little dude at the time, but have a bunch of prog & german shit so I drop the Shi-bu-ba record and he says "got it" then he says "what about obivous rock breaks?" I look at him like "you mean like Walk this Way & Big Beat??" the he says Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man." I just stare at him , say let's go back in and peep what Frankie's rocking and spend the next ten years playing every copy of that song I see to find that record....
as funny as this is going to sound (maybe), biz is one of my all-time top emcees. its just his delivery mixed with the beats. the lyrics sometimes dont even matter... its just Biz! all those crazy stories of his record collection (and collecting in general) made me like dude even more.
the funniest thing is is that ive missed seeing Biz perform 7 times!!! and shows all over the country (ny, cali, texas, louisiana, etc). hes the last emcee that ive ever wanted to meet (i had a list when i was in HS and by working in the music industry for 10yrs i crossed every name off that list but Biz's).
anyway... love all the stories... makes dude seem even realer to me...
Cosign
All of this is a tribute to how incredibly REAL dude is. Biz as an MC is tops for me too, not for any other reason than I FEEL it. that's the only way I can explain it, I can't really justify it. It just feels like "that's it, that's hip hop..damn"
BONEHEAD move #1: Biz asked me for beats and I never sent any. (I think I was too self conscious or something, but I dug up the address and I am going to send him some stuff)
Biz told me another story that if I remember correctly involved him travelling, alone (and still rather unknown), to another part of NY to battle Buffy at a beatbox competition that was rigged in Buff's favor. Well, as biz recounts, he started doing all his funky breakbeat beatboxes and the crowd straight fronted on him. Biz disses Buff and "his I'm hungry shit" and the crowd or at least one of the crews gets furious and chases him out of the club and "across some tracks". I could just imagine a crowd chasing a young unknown biz down the street.
I almost forgot- that last time I spoke to Biz on the phone, while running down a list of exclusive unreleased joints he has on tape, he tells me he has a version of "The Symphony" featuring him, Kane, KRS-One and Chuck D! Dude is TOO FUNNY.
I'm chilling with Biz & Stretch Armstrong outside of Soul Kitchen when it was at Wetlands (circa 94-95) talking rock breaks. I'm certifable little dude at the time
wait a minute... you and jeff were teaching me the digging game in 94/95 and i was a little dude then... how could YOU be a little dude teaching me at that time? im confused... youre not sensei material afterall... im crushed.
wait a minute... you and jeff were teaching me the digging game in 94/95 and i was a little dude then... how could YOU be a little dude teaching me at that time? im confused... youre not sensei material afterall... im crushed.
to re-phrase: In comparasion to Bizmarke I was a little dude.....
yep, its the one with "get thy bearings", green cover with some flower on it. only good donovan record imo...there are some cool coverversions of "hurdy gurdy" floating around though
yep, its the one with "get thy bearings", green cover with some flower on it. only good donovan record imo...there are some cool coverversions of "hurdy gurdy" floating around though
to clarify: when Biz said Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man he meant the song and not get thy bearings. Supposedly there is a version of the title track with drums on the intro and not the obvious dollar-bin common album everyone should already have.
Comments
I only had the chance to see him once, a little over a year ago. He did a show with Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh. (Best show I've ever been to - and only $8!) As BSides said, nothing fancy - no tricky doubles, transforming or anything like that, just a dope selection.
Pretty much went through year by year...."remember this shit...1986..." and on thru "1993...y'all love this shit right here." And we all did. Crowd was singing along to all this songs he was playing.
He closed with 'Just A Friend' and forgot the third verse. He's on stage saying the extent of 'Yo, I don't remember this verse anymore....la la la, la la la, la la la la la la la .... You, you got what I n-e-e-e-d!"
I was rolling at that fact that he 'la la la'd' his way through the last verse. Dude was cool, signed some mix cd's I bought, shook my hand, and that was that!
anyway, its' funny that biz is asking about this song because i know he ended up sampling it but i don't think it ever got cleared. THES, needless to say, the mp3 of this conversation makes me real happy and if you need the mp3, let me know.
also, a hint - it was rated one of the worst pop songs ever.
I think I saw him with doubles. Nothing impressive, but sometimes he takes his tank top off and uses his stomach to switch the crossfader. Saw that at central park summer stage a few years back.
by the way, this thread is
This guy I used to work with made me laugh once, he said he was out at a club on Long Island and Biz was djing that night. He's like "maaan, I'm in there partying, he's playing shit everyone loves and got everyone dancing, all of a sudden out of nowhere he throws on the theme from Sesame Street".
haha - I was there - the Hackney Marshes one, that set was amazing, peeps got real amped and I got peeps started chanting "MAKE THE MUSIC" like it was a footie (soccer) match....
Thes - I did actually bump into you PUTS dudes too, along with Dave from De La who I called "Trugoy" - he was not impressed
peace
RD
Okay, one of my favorite Biz stories - one that literally had me on the floor holding my gut - went something like this...
According to Biz (mind you, it's ALWAYS so much better when he tells it), he was at some big rap concert in Canada in the early 90's. Other than Q-Tip, I forget who he said was there, Gangstarr maybe?
Anyway, apparently Sade is backstage (yes, that Sade). So naturally everybody is all in awe. Biz goes right up to her and asks her if she'd be down to
do a collabo on a song. She politely declines, citing that "she doesn't do those kinds of records" or something like that (okay, maybe it wasn't so polite).
Without missing a beat, Biz then asks Sade "Do you mind if I do something?" Before "What?" can fully come out of those lovely lips of hers, Biz proceeds to take his right hand
and (quoting Biz) "palm the shit out of that big ass forehead of hers!"
Yes, apparently, Biz, for whatever reason, shook Sade's forehead with his palm for a good 4-5 seconds.
"Sorry, but I've ALWAYS wanted to do that." says Biz. "I understand." Sade answered back.
One can only imagine the looks of utter disbelief on the faces of Q-Tip & co.
It doesn't even matter if this is true or not... just picture this scenario. Funny shit, mane. More, plaese!!!
a few years ago biz did a show in cologne (at the time when he started to work with groove attack) and he was djing, rapping (just a friend was done by the crowd too), doing the beatbox holding the mic on his head, using his skull for resonance and stuff. incredible!!! at one point he stopped the music, went in front of the stage and said something like "yo, u german people are number 1" and made a little hitler greeting. i couldnt believe my eyes , but it was still comedy. he then proceeded dropping Kraftwerks "mensch-maschine"
1995 or 96
Yeah man, one time Biz called me up and told me he was coming to town and wanted to spend a bunch of money and asked for all these records. So I go dig them all out and show up at his hotel room and he looks at them and says: "Oh I have all these" "I just wanted to see if you did" !!!!!!!!!!! He had this funny ass little kid goofy grin on his face when he said it.
haha yeah...back in '96 at another university cafeteria show where the crowd was quite milquetoast Biz shows up, spins the all the b-boy classics and everybody is like
then he shifts gear and screams something to the effect of "aww man I'm gonna take you back to SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS" and sped through scooby doo, gilligan's island, theme from dallas, greatest american hero. the crowd went bananas.
BONUS BEAT: he djed the entire set without headphones
FYI the night Biz broke my friend's headphones he was rocking doubles of b-boy stuff for a big portion of the set. He also did a lot of microphone talk and sing a long tunes too for like the last half. I like hearing him play a lot...
it took him over 5 years of work ,
but he scored a portion of my collection
I need to ask him if he has any flicks..
Plaese to have graemlin of Biz hand palming Sade's forehead...
With phrase above as balloon...
Danke sch??n...
I remember once he called Traxx lookin' for a certain someone. The convo went like this:
Me: Traxx
Biz: Let me talk to *******
Me: He's busy with a customer right now, can I get him to call you back?
Biz: Tell him it's Biz
Me: Alright
10 mins l8r...
Me: Traxx
Biz: Y0 it's Biz, he is free yet?
Me: One sec..
I'm not sure if he asked for it (But I think he did), but I do know he got a sealed OG Main Source - Think/Atom 12" off that certain someone.
And, that McNugget grease on the mixer story gave me a serious OCD attack.
the funniest thing is is that ive missed seeing Biz perform 7 times!!! and shows all over the country (ny, cali, texas, louisiana, etc). hes the last emcee that ive ever wanted to meet (i had a list when i was in HS and by working in the music industry for 10yrs i crossed every name off that list but Biz's).
anyway... love all the stories... makes dude seem even realer to me...
Cosign
All of this is a tribute to how incredibly REAL dude is. Biz as an MC is tops for me too, not for any other reason than I FEEL it. that's the only way I can explain it, I can't really justify it. It just feels like "that's it, that's hip hop..damn"
BONEHEAD move #1: Biz asked me for beats and I never sent any. (I think I was too self conscious or something, but I dug up the address and I am going to send him some stuff)
Biz told me another story that if I remember correctly involved him travelling, alone (and still rather unknown), to another part of NY to battle Buffy at a beatbox competition that was rigged in Buff's favor. Well, as biz recounts, he started doing all his funky breakbeat beatboxes and the crowd straight fronted on him. Biz disses Buff and "his I'm hungry shit" and the crowd or at least one of the crews gets furious and chases him out of the club and "across some tracks". I could just imagine a crowd chasing a young unknown biz down the street.
and does anyone have THIS one????
wait a minute... you and jeff were teaching me the digging game in 94/95 and i was a little dude then... how could YOU be a little dude teaching me at that time? im confused... youre not sensei material afterall... im crushed.
to re-phrase: In comparasion to Bizmarke I was a little dude.....
why you gotta be blowing up the spot anyway?????
yep, its the one with "get thy bearings", green cover with some flower on it. only good donovan record imo...there are some cool coverversions of "hurdy gurdy" floating around though
to clarify: when Biz said Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man he meant the song and not get thy bearings. Supposedly there is a version of the title track with drums on the intro and not the obvious dollar-bin common album everyone should already have.