Big Daddy Kane
Real Name: Antonio Hardy
D.O.B.: September 10, 1968 Brooklyn, NY
Label(s): Cold Chillin’/Reprise/Warner Bros. Records
Big Daddy Kane is today regarded as a legendary lyricist and rap icon of Brooklyn New York and across the global community of hip-hop. Faded by rising stars and seasons of ever changing faces of the rap genre, his image is continually remodelled through the post-generation of artists. Kane stood tall in custom designed suits with a creamy chocolate complexion and hi-top faded haircut giving him a majestic aura and oozing coolness that left him forever immortalized as an iconic sex symbol and the original ladies man. A playboy who gave the rap industry sex appeal, Kane was a smooth operator in the old school of rap music.
Kane, (King Asiatic Nobody Equals) grew up in the notorious section of Brooklyn, in Bed-Stuy. Kane was educated first hand in the rapidly expanding culture, embracing hip-hop for his own disposal of. He found strong influence in the lyrical proficiency of Grandmaster Caz from the Cold Crush Brothers. As a late teenager he joined the local group called the Juice Crew headed by legendary Marley Marl. He was a writer for many peers in the game, Biz Markie and Roxanne Shante who who were Juice Crew members also. He solely wrote the majority of lyrics for Biz Markie he opened his vocal abilities on Biz’s track, ‘Just Rhymin’ with Biz’ soon to be a mere glimpse of the Kane’s ferocious flurry of poetry.
His first single dropped early 1987 called ‘Raw’ a nonstop barrage of abuse upon the mic without a pause for breath, Kane had proven he had what it takes and beyond and stole centre spotlight from the Juice Crew only to pursue a solo identity. He soon dropped his second single forcing us to recognize another facet to his repertoire by way of a smooth, silk wrapped performance, ‘Ain’t No Half Steppin’’. Hank Shocklee of the Bomb Squad had said, “Kane is like a Jedi rapper.” This side of Kane showed he was not always showing off a hyperactive rap to dominate but sincerely proclaimed his reign over his peers through whispered lyrics,
“Competition I just devour/Like a pit bull against a Chihuahua” and the boastful “Steppin’ to me that’s a wrong move/ So what you on huh?/Dope or dog food.”
His delivery was confident and composed. At this heightened climax of Kane’s career strolled the stage with an Islamic militant equanimity providing his young black market proud guidance. His alignment with the Five Percent nation of Islam meant he was to represent a pro-black mystique barring all distractions his lifestyle serves. This black midnight stature only placated the women with untapped sexuality. Kane was swallowed whole by this new branch of fame. He began wearing tailored designer suits and sipping champagne dripping with females off his arms. By the time his third single ‘Set it Off’ was out he was the new archetype of a ladies man. Gossip of selling out and crossing over to R&B contemporary music, his subject matter was swerving from political rebellion to ‘All Of Me’ collaborating with the late, great Barry White with very soft sweet lyrics to the ladies. The altitude of his downfall steadily decreased with an off-side project with singer, Madonna and her infamous sex book displaying his shiny black booty in nude shots. Together with photo shoots with Playgirl magazine, this was not the pro-black stance that gave him his Malcolm X reputation in the rap community.
The 90’s saw Kane heavily overshadowed by the emerging hardcore gangsta rap category dominance. Later album, ‘Looks Like a Job For…’ was an acclaimed release for 1993 but never did he surpass the greatness of his reign over the golden age of hip-hop from 1986 to ’89. By 1996 Kane was still touring to crowds of old school appreciation and working on several projects with DJs sampling old hip-hop and had appeared in Mario Van Peeble’s western Blaxploitation movie, ‘Posse’. During 1996 Kane had been rumoured to be joining the Death Row label heading their east coast New York venture alongside Wu Tang Clan and Rakim. Kane had worked with Death Row star, Tupac and Kam on the track, ‘Wherever U Are’.
In 2002 Kane was working alongside underground alternative DJs Alchemist and DJ Babu who produced his latest solo release, ‘The Man, The Icon’. Big Daddy Kane is remembered for his influence on today’s rap music allowing the marketability of sex appeal to invade the business of hip-hop music. The dopest rhyme spitter and ghost writer from the golden age, and the original Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy philosophy, all due respect and Long Live the Kane.
Discography:
- 1988 Long Live the Kane (Cold Chillin’)
- 1989 It’s a Big Daddy Thing
- 1990 Taste of Chocolate
- 1991 Prince of Darkness
- 1993 Looks Like a Job For…
- 1994 Daddy’s Home
- 1998 Veteranz Day
- 2002 The Man, The Icon (Produced by Alchemist & DJ Babu)
- 2003 Any Type of Way (12” single produced by DJ Premier)
Début Album: “Long Live the Kane” Review
By Martin A. Berrios If you really know your Rap music then you’re surely aware that The Notorious B.I.G. or dare I say it, Jay-Z didn’t architect the infamous Brooklyn swagger that made the borough famous. They couldn’t have; the formula was already created and perfected in 1988. Point blank Big Daddy Kane is the Don Corleone of what those two legends would later embody. From the jewellery game, the braggadocio charisma, the gear, the women; Kane set the blueprint that hundreds of rappers would later trace. Originally released on June 21st 1988, Long Live The Kane would be a stunning début. Kane would indeed dwarf his previous lyrical efforts with one of the greatest flows ever heard on “Set It Off.” Additionally, his single “Ain’t No Half Steppin’” would go down as one of the best records of all time. Sonically Marley Marl held down the entire effort with the beats. His funk heavy samples harmonized with Kane’s cadences perfectly; adding that needed energy to keep up with the speedy bars. The assistance from DJ Mister Cee and his two dancers Scoob and Scrap Lover would make his cipher complete. With the twenty year anniversary of Long Live The Kane upon us, we speak to the man himself. King Asiatic Nobody’s Equal gives us a run-down on this classic; track by boastful track. Read and learn Rap chumps.“Long Live The Kane”
Produced By Marley Marl Big Daddy Kane: That was a song that I wanted to do because a friend of Mister Cee’s presented us with that sample (“Hey, Last Minute” by The Meters). We went through the mills with us trying to convince them to give it to us; they finally gave it to us. That whole time period I had been writing to it. We went and laid it down. Mister Cee had this idea of these scratches he wanted to do; we pretty much had to pitch it. We swung over to Marley’s and dumped it. Just the title alone just set the tone for the album. Once we did it we knew it was going to be the name of the album.“Raw (Remix)”
Produced By Marley Marl Big Daddy Kane: That was like really my breakout song; that came before the album and before I got the deal with Warner Brothers. When Warner Brothers picked up Cold Chillin’, they only wanted [MC] Shan, [Roxanne] Shante’, and they would take Biz [Markie]. Then Fly Ty put out “Raw” on Prism Records and once they saw how good it was doing independently they said “We’ll take him too and put it in this movie we got coming out called Colors.” With “Raw” it was the type of situation where I just did the joint with Biz (“Just Rhymin’ With Biz”), and it was hot in the streets and it had a nice buzz. But the only thing was people would see me coming around with Biz and doing shows but Biz started off the song and introduced it. It seemed like it was his song. What was happening I had a new song but I wasn’t getting any work because everyone thinks its Biz’s song. So I was telling Ty please let me put another single out and I guess he got tired of me asking and told me “Aight get in the studio.” I went to see my man JC who used to work at Downstairs Records. He was like “Yo these new James Brown imports came in.” He played the Bobby Byrd joint (“Hot Pants…I’m Coming, I’m Coming, I’m Coming”) and I was like give me that one right there. I bought two copies and came and showed them to Mister Cee. I told him I want the part with the off beat snare. There was a chick I was talking to in Albany Projects and she was getting tired of me going to the studio. She was like “Why don’t you chill here, I got records here that might be beats.” So I’m looking through her stuff and heard the horns from “Mama Feelgood” with Lyn Collins and I was like I need that for “Raw.” I took it to Marley’s house. When he heard it he was like “This is the Juice Crew, this ain’t Public Enemy, what’s up with all the noisy sh*t?” But it all worked out.“Set It Off”
Produced By Marley Marl Big Daddy Kane: Honestly I was like in this James Brown zone like “Sex Machine.” I wanted to do that whole can I count it off type of thing with a Rap song. I started rhyming before even the beat even dropped. That was the idea. I was so stuck on the idea that I had dropped two verses before we realized we didn’t have a hook (Chuckles). But it sounded dope as is.“The Day You’re Mine”
Produced By Marley Marl Big Daddy Kane: I wanted to do one of those love Rap type of joints. I think I kind of made a mistake on that one; not with the song but I should have let TJ Swan do the chorus. I think me and Swan were beefing at the time, we were upset at each other. So I said f*** it, I’ll sing it myself when I should have just let Swan do his thing. It would have sounded a whole lot better for what he was doing for that time period.“On The Bugged Tip”
Produced By Marley Marl Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, it’s like I was still stuck in the late seventies and early eighties Hip-Hop; real strong. Still blasting my Cold Crush tapes, still blasting my Treacherous Three tapes, Force MC’s. That was my zone and I really wanted to do something like that.“Ain’ No Half Steppin’”
Produced By Marley Marl Big Daddy Kane: I never talked about the video like this before but I’m going to keep it real for you since this is the twenty year special. Dog, that grey suit, that was my graduation suit that I never wore and it was tight on me! Like that had the most Kanye fit that was ever known to mankind! Because when I graduated from high school Biz had a show in Camden New Jersey and I was chasing that paper. You could send that diploma to my mother’s house, f*** that I’m out. When I finally got to wear the suit it was in the “Ain’t No Half Steppin’” video and that sh*t was fitting me snug as hell; like real tight. If you look at it again it was real uncomfortable! [In regards to the six samples that were used] By the time we added “U.F.O.” (ESG) Marley was tripping. He was like “Aight man look, how much sh*t you going to put in there?” he thought it started too sound cluttered. We were beefing at the boards. He wanted the sample lower and I wanted higher. Every time someone turned around he would lower it and when he wasn’t looking I would put it back up. It was that type of thing going on. I was just feeling all of that, the sample was crazy. I remember at park jams when they used to play “U.F.O,” they wouldn’t even let the beat play. They would just throw the siren part and go to another song. That was the memory in head and that’s what I wanted in that song.“I’ll Take You There”
Produced By Marley Marl Big Daddy Kane: That was the first joint I did with Marley. That was before everything else. I came to Marley’s house and Marley talked to me with the chain on the door saying Biz ain’t here. I was coming to bring some lyrics to Biz and he wouldn’t let me in. So I was like just give Biz these lyrics and he was like “You writing for Biz?” Then he invited me in. He asked me to spit something and I spit something and he was digging it. Then he found “I’ll Take You There” Staple Singers sample. I told him I was in a crew called The Debonair 3 in high school and we had a routine to that. He was like “Let’s mess with it.” When he heard the part of the record where it said “Big daddy,” he was like “Ahhh.” He put the whole thing together. I didn’t perform that record live a lot. That used to be my intro; I used to just spit the first four bars then go into my other joints.“Just Rhymin’ With Biz”
Produced By Marley Marl Big Daddy Kane: Well what happened was I did a song called “Somethin’ Funky.” Biz was in the studio that night and so was this female group called Frick N Frack. After I finished we all just wanted to rhyme. They said they dug the beat so me, Biz and Frick N Frack kicked some freestyle rhymes off the beat. Biz started it off, then I went then they went. It was like Marley played “Somethin’ Funky” the following week on WBLS. Then he played “Rhymin’ With Biz,” and people were calling the following night asking for the Biz record. It was around the time that Frick N Frack were about to come to Cold Chillin’ and the deal didn’t work out so they had to take them off. That’s why the song ends so crazy (“Do I come off? Yup.”) Because I introduced them next and we had to shut it off right there. That was basically it. It was a mistake; that freestyle ended up becoming a song.“Mister Cee’s Master Plan”
Produced By Marley Marl Big Daddy Kane: Mister Cee was always to me that talented dude that would find the strangest sh*t in the world to cut up or find the strangest way to coordinate scratches. Playing block parties he had ways of coordinating scratches. There’s a Bambatta song that says “Al G rock on.” But with that echo effect it sounds like he is really saying “LG,” and those were his projects, Lafayette Gardens. So he would play that and the people would go crazy. That was him. He put it all together and it was his master plan. I just wrote a verse to it.“Word To The Mother (Land)”
