From the depths of hell… Rammell. A classic slice of hip hop from 1983, Rammellzee was already a face on the downtown NYC scene, a graffiti artist with appearances in two seminal hip-hop movies (Style Wars and Wild Style) under his belt, when he persuaded up & coming artist Jean Michel Basquiat to pay for a recording session, originally meant to feature Basquiat.
“Basquiat had nothing to do with that record, man,” says Ramellzee. “Yo, the dude tried to hand me a piece of paper and wanted me to say what he wrote. I crushed the shit up and threw it on the floor. I said we gotto go gangsta style, doggy style on the street corner and we went for it. I started talking like a pimp and he’s (K-Rob) the kid coming home from school. That’s the story behind the record. It was (Al) Diaz who did the beats and everything. That boy (Basquiat), all he did was give up the money. That’s just people pimpin’ a dude to make sure something stays alive that they’ve been lyin’ about for years to keep alive.”
Ending up with a producer credit (yes, he did produce the track, or, no, he did nothing, depending on who Rammellzee was talking to), Basquiat did however contribute sleeve artwork, making the original a valuable piece of art, sought after as much for the cover as the music inside. As much of reflection of NYC’s no-wave scene as the hip-hop of the time, Beat Bop winds through 10 minutes of live hip hop, vocals dropping in & out, Rammellzee’s nasal whine always cutting through, the echoing sound of the city always present. The final product is something that seemed far removed from the hip-hop making it’s way out of NYC at the time, but it’s influence is still felt, and it still sounds fresh today. RIP Rammellzee.
Rammellzee vs K-Rob – Beat Bop
Rammellzee onstage in Wild Style
Live at the Rhythm Lounge, Hollywood, 1983.
Article: Ben Lewis – designs stuff while thinking about music too much.
