(From Take A Look Around album; 1990)
Boggles my mind that the brilliance of Me & The Biz was an accidental masta stroke - the song is a glorified reference track which ended up being released because Biz Markie and Marley Marl both refused to be in the same studio to record Biz's vocals. Masta Ace says he thinks the song would have been a bigger hit if Biz had appeared on it; perhaps, but it would have lost what makes it such a unique song, and Rap would be poorer without the Biz Markie puppet which was created especially for the video. Real talk, though - how'd everyone involved go to the trouble of making a Biz puppet, decking it out with the video's best outfit, and then do the song itself dirty by editing out the entire third verse? You bet that makes me real mad, don't it.
Crazy visions, BOOM: Ace pays tribute to The Diabolical by recording Me & The Biz part 2. There's no need to find a new beat because it's scientifically impossible to come up with a better backdrop for Ace's Bizisms than that Cymande sample.
Total classic.
ReplyDeleteThat bit where Ace says "shhhh, I'm the Biz and it's great to be alive" now makes me emotional.
ReplyDeleteGreat song, it's lovely. I remember looking at the album's track list and being confused by Biz Markie not appearing on this song.
ReplyDeleteSo for the uninitiated: was this a reference track which was then promoted to full song status, or did Ace write the Biz part when he heard he wasn't coming to the studio?
The former. Biz and Marley had issues at this point, which is why they refused to be in the same studio together.
ReplyDeleteMasta Ace should drop some new music.
ReplyDelete@anonymous he dropped an album with Marco Polo a couple of years ago called a Breuklen Story I thought it was a snooze fest but you might like it.
ReplyDeleteLast Masta Ace song I liked was Revolution's Bout To Start from Top Shelf 8/8/88. Top 3 song on that album, in fact.
ReplyDelete