Mr. Magic Week # 1 (Monday) - "Who He Callin' A Sucker, Man?"

Down The Dial begins with an excerpt from the February 21st, 1987 "Rap Attack" show. This particular broadcast is somewhat legendary for being sampled on the classic Public Enemy album, It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. A night where Magic was talking "ish" even more than usual, he guaranteed there would be "No more music by the suckers," which you can hear sampled and looped at the beginning of "Cold Lampin' With Flavor." I chose to kick off Down The Dial with a short piece of Magic's infamous dis, not because it is Sir Juice's finest moment, but because it is indeed one of his most interesting and talked about. As we all know, Public Enemy would go on to be one of the greatest rap groups of all time. Woops.

Recently I noticed my man Jorun had posted a reconstructed piece of this show to share online. I figured I'd grab a larger chunk than I originally used on Down The Dial and share the highlight of this fascinating February '87 show, expanded from about 1 and 1/2 minutes on my mix to about 14 minutes here.

The clip begins with Magic getting warmed up on the dis tip, speaking his mind a little bit and bigging up his DJ, Marley Marl:

"Check it out super listeners, the funny thing about it is, everyone who wants to be a professional DJ or announcer like yours truly has a whole lot to say, but they're not getting paid... ain't got a pot to uh... do it in, and the things that you hear on our program, you'll hear it on their wannabe program in a couple of days.

Often imitated but never duplicated, there is only one original 'Rap Attack'. It's right here on the state of fresh- WBLS."

Marley then gets into mixing Kool G Rap and DJ Polo's "It's A Demo" before flexing his abilities over an extended "Public Enemy Number One" set. Peep the "What? Red WHO??" Red Alert dis drops also playing a couple times over the beat. THEN, seemingly out of nowhere, the infamous "*needle skipping* IiiIIIi Don't Like it at all, I don't Like it!" drop plays over the now-classic PE beat, and the infamous words are said by Magic. A big night in hip hop history, no doubt.

(side trivia note... I believe I was told by Magic that Mike C of the Fearless Four is the voice on the "iiiII Don't Like it Drop." I might be the only person on Earth who cares about this though, so moving on)...

Just listen. More to come tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and let's not get too serious. I like to share this one for a little relief

TJ Swan Rap Attack Drop:

It's always funny to look back at negative reviews on things that are now widely considered works of art. Magic wasn't the only individual giving PE flack. Just check out this "Public Nuisance" Melody Maker article from December 12, 1987 HERE.

Damn, I wonder if Simon Reynolds ever switched his opinion. I know Magic did (more on this Sunday).

Sorry, Chuckie D. PE will go on to get their radio revenge on the P-Fine show, a PE interview where Flavor Flav would take shots at Magic. They would also later sample a small piece of the interview right at the end of "Fear Of A Black Planet."

"Okay talk to me about the future of Public Enemy."

"Future of Public Enemy got a - "

Alright enough rambling, enjoy the audio. Besides, I wasn't there at 'BLS that night, so any actual insight into what was going on or who's feelings were really hurt would just be me pretending I know something I don't. Just enjoy it for what it is... peace!

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