CBH Talk | Brooklyn’s in the House: Exploring The Borough’s Local Hip Hop History, Part 2
The Bronx is widely credited as the birthplace of hip hop in the 70s and 80s, but there was a thriving and vibrant scene in Brooklyn as well, one less well-known but equally essential.
This 2-part series takes us back to those early Brooklyn hip hop years, when Birdel’s Records and Soul Shack on Pitkin Avenue were community fixtures, and high school rap hopefuls battled it out at Albee Square Mall hoping to someday hear their records played at the Latin Quarter or on DJ Red Alert’s radio show.
Part 2: A Conversation with Milk Dee, Daddy-O, and King of Chill
In the mid-1980s, two foundational Brooklyn rap crews emerged that forged enduring legacies in hip hop -- Stetsasonic, known as the “original live hip hop band,” and the First Priority Records crew that included label cofounder Milk Dee, his family group Audio Two, and MC Lyte. These two groups helped to solidify Brooklyn’s growing hip hop reputation in the 1980s. In the words of Stetsasonic’s Daddy-O, they “put Brooklyn on their back” in the era of gold ropes and Cazals. Join us for a conversation with Daddy-O (Stetsasonic), Milk Dee (Audio Two), and producer King of Chill (Alliance), as we journey through the golden era of Brooklyn hip hop. Moderated by Dr. Will Fulton.
To register for Part 1, a conversation with DJ Clark Kent, click HERE.
Participants
Glenn K. Bolton, widely known as Daddy-O, is an American rapper and record producer. He began his career by founding the hip-hop group Stetsasonic. He is known as an early advocate of sampling in music. In 1981, Daddy-O began his career as the lead member of the Brooklyn band Stetsasonic, which included Prince Paul. He produced and remixed songs for musical acts such as Mary J. Blige, Queen Latifah, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The B-52's, Jeffrey Osborne, Chante Moore, and Lil' Kim.
From 1994 to 1998, he was a Senior Director for MCA Records. After leaving MCA, he worked for Motown Records and various other entertainment agencies, where he helped to produce and discover talent. Acts with which he has been associated include Sonic Youth, Sublime, Barry White, They Might Be Giants, Camron, Pizzicato 5, and Third World.
In 2015, Daddy-O joined the CloudSpray team as a management and marketing consultant. In 2016, Daddy-O and his partner Lion Lindwedel (founder of True School Entertainment) formed their co-owned label, Odad Truth Records. He released his solo albums on the OTR Label with digital distribution on Chuck D's distribution company SpitDigital. The first release was #EverybodyButKRS, followed in February 2016 with The Odad, the Gun, & the Children, El Dolor De Las Calles, No Tablecloths in 2018, From My Hood 2 U in 2019, and the most recent solo release of G.O.A.T. Antidote in 2020.
Milk Dee came to prominence as half of the groundbreaking hip-hop duo Audio Two. In the late 80’s he scored with the classic hit Top Billin' which Rolling Stone Magazine lists as one of the greatest 50 hip-hop songs of all time. Top Billin’ has been sampled over 300 times across the musical spectrum by artists including Jay-Z, Kanye West, 50 cent, Mary J. Blige, Notorious B.I.G, Snoop Dogg, Ne-Yo, Black Eyed Peas and P. Diddy, to name a few.
Along with a successful rap career, Milk also has a stellar career as a producer working with artists such as MC Lyte, Janet Jackson, Mary J. Bilge and Sinead O’Connor. He also produced the multi-platinum worldwide smash single and album F*ck It (I Don’t Want You Back) by Eamon. Milk also scored the movie Hells Kitchen starring Angelina Jolie and Mekhi Phiffer. In recent years Milk started “giving back” by participating in educational programs for our youth.
King of Chill, one of the most underappreciated producers in hip hop history, crafted true Hip Hop classics for MC Lyte with Paper Thin, Stop, Look, Listen, and Cha, Cha, Cha that continue to stand the test of time. As a member of Brooklyn group Alliance and member of the First Priority Records family in the 1980s, KC produced a series of records (many while he was still in high school) that are still popular today. His approach to production was so far ahead of the curve producers are still catching up to his techniques. Currently, KC works with DJ Premier, as an integral member of his Live From HeadQCourterz team on SiriusXM.
Will Fulton is a Professor of Music at LaGuardia Community College. He is a musicologist, record producer, and DJ, and is the co-author with Dr. Patrick Rivers of the book 33 1/3: Camp Lo’s Uptown Saturday Night (Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2017). He has contributed chapters to Beyoncé: At Work, On Screen, and Online (Indiana University Press, 2021), The Oxford Handbook of Hip Hop Music (Oxford UP, 2018), The Oxford Handbook of Music and Disability Studies (Oxford UP, 2016), The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd Edition (Oxford UP, 2013), and articles to American Music Review.
He has lectured at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, and at conferences for the Society of American Music, American Musicological Society, International Musicological Society, and the American Studies Association. Before he began teaching, Will served as A&R Director for Profile Records and Slash/Warner Music. His musical compositions and productions have appeared in numerous feature films and television broadcasts, and he has produced and remixed music for Run-D.M.C., Tupac Shakur, Camp Lo, and Jay-Z. He holds a Master’s Degree in Musicology from Brooklyn College, and a PhD in Musicology from the City University of New York.
