Mr. Magic Week # 7 (Sunday)- "Full Circle"

We're gonna finish off Mr. Magic where we began on two different levels... sort of.  

First off, way back, probably a year or two ago at this point, before "Down The Dial" dropped, I let a real special clip get out there into internet land.  Transferred from one of those classic tapes from the vaults of Starrlite (and featured on the "Down The Dial" poster) is the oldest cassette salvaged from her collection.  A tape of the Mr. Magic Disco Showcase 1981 (that's right, BEFORE the Rap Attack).  This is before Magic's radio show had even integrated entirely into hip hop.  I mean, at this time, there weren't even enough Rap 12"s to fill an entire slot on WHBI. Like I said in "New York Class,"

"Before the skill was saturated / he couldn't fill his format with rap, he played / funk and jazz and rock and roll / Ty or Starrlite'd tape the show / this is the Disco Showcase if you know / predates Rap Attack and In Control..."

Yeah that's right, I just quoted myself.  Check the entire track here.  Beat is by my main man Raydar Ellis.  Don't make the mistake of sleeping on him.

Will C. - "New York Class" (Produced by Raydar Ellis)

Raydar just put out an  exceptional album as a tag team alongside Quite Nyce of Radix. Cop "Champs Vs. The League" here.

To hear a clip from the Disco Showcase is always a gem.  I really truly treasure this one.  It's from October 10, 1981.  A BIG night in hip hop history.  Magic drops the sciend::

"See actually I just got back from the lower east side amphitheater, and by the way they were filming a motion picture to come out next year called 'Wild Style.' And it's about a graffiti artist from New York City.  Well, what we were doing tonight, we were filming a scene, as I said down in the lower east side of Manhattan, and I ran into a whole lot of super listeners by the way...

... The show included The Cold Crush Brothers, who furnished the sound system, and a special thank you to Charlie Chase and Tony Tone.  We also heard from Busy Bee and DJ AJ, the Fantastic Romantic 5 MCs with DJ Theodore.  We also heard from Double Trouble, and I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa Lee, an up and coming star.  One of the few female rappers here in New York City.  Special congratulations to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, who put on a fantastic show!"

Ridiculous.  Damn, I really wish the Flash and the Furious footage made it onto the film.   Can't remember if it was a contractual thing with Sugar Hill and the amount of dough they wanted, or that some of the footage was damaged from that night, or a combination of both.  

Check... it... out

Mr. Magic Disco Showcase-  October 10, 1981

Also ill to hear the show intro over Grover Washington's "Mr. Magic."  This is taking it wayyyy back.  A great experience just to hear how things were back then, how he spoke... all that. 

 

On another note of ending where we started, as promised I said I have a little curveball to revisit the first Magic post concerning the infamous Public Enemy dis on the Rap Attack.  This clip is from June 3rd, 1987.  "Don't Believe the Hype" is pumping from the radio show and Sir Juice states:

"I must say, the most intelligent thing I ever heard from a rap record- 'don't believe the hype.'  DEFINITELY sounds like a winner.  'Bout 23 minutes in front of 11 o'clock in the P.M.  Public Enemy in effect, I'm proud of you guys!  What can I tell you."

Who knows what inspired this.  This just goes to show you, you never know what to expect on that show.  Classic.

Rap Attack- June 3, 1987- (Magic Bigging Up P.E.)

Yo, so like a wise man once said:

“That about does it for yours truly until I return to burn tomorrow night starting at 9 o’clock in the PM. Anyone driving in a car, please proceed with a little extra safety and care. Super listeners, whenever you do your homework, always do it to the best of your ability and also remember that persistence always overcomes resistance. Any fool can learn from his own mistakes, but it takes a wise man, a wise guy like you, to learn from the mistakes made by others. Quick reminder to be yourself or you might find yourself by yourself, and that is definitely no fun. Just ask sister station from down the dial…”

A couple times I thought this Mr. Magic week was gonna be the death of me.  Particularly tonight, fresh off of my fair share of Easter Dinner glasses of wine.  I'm gonna go ahead and call it a success, even know technically it's 12:33 Monday morning right now.

Stick around and keep checking this blog.  As we close out Mr. Magic week,  we're gonna move on to a lot more interesting stuff.  I don't know why I say we.  It's just me... maybe this shit is making me crack up already.  Uh oh...

Stay tuned!

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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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