Purple and Black
Taking Independent and Unofficial Back

Trader Joe’s” I feel 4 u

oh. it must have been Chakha Khan.
RHINO
"You're watching the official music video for Chaka Khan - "I Feel for You" from the album 'I Feel For You' (1984). Her cover of Prince's "I Feel for You" won the GRAMMY for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. "
yeah. well. goes to show how much i know...
KADRAEKADRAE
2 years ago
Song written by PRINCE. Rap by Grandmaster Melle Mel. Harmonica by Stevie Wonder. Principal dancers in the video: Adolpho "Shabba-Doo" Quionnes, Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers, and Poppin' Taco. And, of course, featured singer Chaka Khan. Nothing but legends all around.
 
Down the internet wormhole I went, checking out the dancing legends mentioned in the previous post, not knowing any terms for hip hop: poppin, locking, etc., all coming from 'street dancing'. In case you want to spend some time investigating some hip hop dance history, I'll post a few things I looked at.
This next is about Shabba-Doo. There's a compilation clip in the article:
Adolfo Quinones, an Early Star of Street Dance, Dies at 65 [NYTimes; 1.13.21]
Boogaloo Shrimp was in a Paula Abdul video. Here he is, older, re-creating what he did:
Michael Boogaloo 'Shrimp Chambers' Recreates HIS MC Skat Kat dance Opposites Attract Paula Abdul
okay... had to watch the video:
Paula Abdul - Opposites Attract (Official Music Video)
Then, I saw this interview, partially about the video. She mentions dancing w Michael Boogaloo Shrimp Chambers:
Paula Abdul talks 'Opposites Attract' and 'Rush, Rush' [extended]
Wikipedia entry states that Michael Chambers taught Michael Jackson the moonwalk.
Michael Chambers
Bruno 'Poppin' Taco' Falcon was a choreographer for Michael Jackson and others. A compilation of dancing by Poppin' Taco:
Urban Dance Legends - Pop N Taco
Obit for Bruno 'Pop N' Taco' that includes several clips of him dancing and including a clip of 'Billie Jean':
Hip-Hop Legend Bruno 'Pop N' Taco' Falcon Dead; Taught Michael Jackson [All HipHop; 7.3.22]
One last, very bad quality video, of Shabba-doo and Boogaloo Shrimp on a French tv show:
Adolfo "Shabba-Doo" Quinones = Ozone / Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers = Turbo / TF1
Little tidbit I learned you probably already know. Wesley Snipes is in the video for MJ's Bad. Interesting beginning careers of people who are well-known names now. Oh, and Roberta Flack's voice is in there somewhere... I guess for when Daryl reads the note after arriving home? Now, you'll have to go watch 'Bad', which is linked to in the first link in this post!
 
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Rapper Grandmaster Melle Mel. Yeah. You know I know nothing about rap. Here's the Wikipedia page.
Melle Mel [on date 3.5.23]
Here's trivia I didn't know from that page: Melle Mel was part of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. There were various rifts. When they split, GM Melle Mel did a video, 'White Lines'.
Grandmaster Melle Mel - White Lines (Don't Don't Do It_ (Official Video)
The video description states 'official', and on the wikipedia pages I checked, it's always referred to as an 'unofficial' video. So, maybe the video above is the official unofficial video?!
White Lines is interesting for starring a young Laurence Fishburne and being directed by a young Spike Lee.
Another not so trivial piece of trivia from the wikipedia page:
Glover began performing in the late 1970s. He may have been the first rapper to call himself MC (master of ceremonies). Other Furious Five members included his brother The Kidd Creole (Nathaniel Glover), Scorpio (Eddie Morris), Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams) and Cowboy (Keith Wiggins).[2] While a member of the group, Cowboy created the term hip-hop while teasing a friend who had just joined the US Army, by scat singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.[3]
Did the name Hip Hop really come from mimicking 'the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers'?
I think origin stories of movements, cultural phenomena, and history can be murky, subject to the interpretation of whoever dominates as the authority. I wonder if anyone else has claimed a different source for the phenom Hip Hop.
Continuing on with following random leads, from the wikipedia page for 'White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)':
The song was co-written by Melle Mel and Sylvia Robinson. Originally, it was intended to be an ironic celebration of a cocaine-fueled party lifestyle, but it was abridged with the "don't do it" message as a concession to commercial considerations.[7]

The lines "A businessman is caught with 24 kilos / He's out on bail and out of jail and that's the way it goes" refers to car manufacturer John DeLorean, who in 1982 became entrapped in a scheme to save his company from bankruptcy using drug money.[8] Some of the lyrics in "White Lines" ("something like a phenomenon") echoed lyrics from the song "Cavern" by Liquid Liquid ("slip in and out of phenomenon"), in addition to the note-by-note appropriation of the bass line from "Cavern" with a rapping track overlaid. Sugar Hill did not get proper clearance to use "Cavern," resulting in years of lawsuits, ultimately in Liquid Liquid's favor. As a result of the $600,000 judgment against Sugar Hill, the label declared bankruptcy to circumvent paying the judgment.[3]
At the same time as I'm travelling down these roads, taking random turns here and there, I just realized that Duran Duran's cover of 'White Lines' is in the movie 'Cocaine Bear'. See General Discussion 'It's a New Year / Movie / Series ... ' post #37 [Dancelot's post], a strange convergence.
 
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