The summer of 1985. A good one for music in general – but a great one as far as so-called rap records went. At that point with the exception of Run DMC most rap was still underground. Even UTFO’s Roxanne, Roxanne and the one million replies that it spawned were still considered underground. L.L. Cool J wasn’t a star yet, in fact his first record – I Need A Beat was barely a year old. The last days of the Sugar Hill Records dynasty were upon us, and the splintered Furious 5 had just released Step Off – undoubtedly one of two last good records on that monumental label. In Virginia everybody had a cousin or uncle in New York who would tape music from Red Alerts show on Kiss 98 or Marley Marl’s on WBLS, and send the tapes down. One day I was sittin’ in front of my man Jimmy Walker’s house (R.I.P) and he had a tape with the new Treacherous 3 joint called Gotta Rock. This joint started with the 3 harmonizing to the melody of We Will Rock You by Queen, and what followed were three of the most innovative and groundbreaking verses of the time. After getting a dub of this joint, I HAD to cop the vinyl on my next trip to the record store. On the bus that week my man Sean kept reciting the part of Moe Dee’s rhyme where he said “my rhymes are intricately woven, like Beethoven”. Ironically I found that part to be dope as well. Now, unless you were there at the time and understand the context of what rhyme styles were at the time you won’t get it. And context is an important thing, because if you young enough that you weren’t born when Rakim came out , then you won’t understand his importance to this art form. You may listen now , and peep that he can rhyme – but you didn’t hear what the game was BEFORE him , to have a good gauge of how he restructured the whole rhyme patterns and cadence for Emcees. Ok , so I got way off subject , but one can’t talk Moe Dee without talking Rakim. So getting back…….I copped the vinyl, and to my delight it has a song on the flip called Turn It Up. It was just Moe Dee on this song, and it’s the prototype for what L.L. and Rakim and many others would become. See this is what I hate about this rap shit. People get so involved in the hook, and beats to a song – that they don’t peep lyrical skills and relevance of shit. Man im a scientist with this lyrical shit. I breaks it down……Ok im all over the place….. on Gotta Rock Moe Dee said so much fly shit , that I will just embed the song into this piece. When I speak context – and I will be speaking it a lot you have to listen to what everyone else was sayin in 1985. Run Dmc had Krush Groove 3 aka Darryl & Joe in 1985. Probably one of their best records ever – certainly the best record on the King Of Rock LP. Now Run Dmc was known for style. Their substance was cool , but that shit that kids call swagger now is what Run and D had. If you listen to Gotta Rock alongside any 1985 song it’s so superior! The other stand out thing on Gotta Rock is Special K. Again – I hate this about the rap shit, because K is miles above his contemporaries. I first noticed the complexity of his lyrics on Feel The Heart Beat. K is a beast – just listen to Its Yours by his brother T La Rock. I started appreciating his verse from Gotta Rock more in the last ten years. The shit is so abstract that I think it probably tops Moe Dee’s in retrospect. I have an incomplete Special K interview where he told me that verse came to him in a dream. Melle Mel says that White Lines came to him in a dream. What the fuck do these cats eat before goin to bed? I gotta get whatever it is. I started this originally to praise this record , that the general public didn’t hear – and that even real Hip Hop dudes of the time may have missed. But this context thing is buggin’ me. So between school , family and general life stuff – im gonna out together playlists here at the Foundation , of every decade in the 80s. The top records for each decade. That will give you a framework of what you had to work with. Recorded Hip Hop is 30 years old now. We have heard so much , that some stuff don’t still sound as fly perhaps as it did then. So in closing , and getting back to the Gotta Rock 12”. Turn It Up did a few things. If nothing else - it established that Moe Dee can hold it down solo & it showed you who fathered Rakim , L.L. Cool j & T La Rocks styles (a fact that they don’t deny). For those of us that caught it – there was no question when we heard Eric B Is President / My Melody who Rakim was influenced by. This was changed the game for cats that knew what was up lyrically. This joint had a profound effect on me as a listener and fan, but more importantly as an Emcee. I had to go back to the drawing board and change my shit up. Thank God ……. JayQuan September 2010
