It’s November y’all! A weird, difficult and very odd year has raced by. November, like the other months is a very busy month for music history — and for birthdays. Let’s get to it.
- Kool and the Gang co-founder Ronald Bell was born 75 years ago on November 1
- Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen celebrated his 63rd birthday on November 1
- Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ frontman Anthony Kiedis celebrated his 64th birthday on November 1
- Mobb Deep‘s Prodigy was born 52 years ago on November 2
- ONYX’s Sticky Fingaz celebrated his 53rd birthday on November 3
As a child of the 80s, I grew up listening to — and of course, admiring — the acts that helped hip-hop achieve mainstream success domestically and internationally. I was a huge Run DMC and LL Cool J fan. (Queens in the building after all, right?) Sadly though, you don’t hear a lot about The Fat Boys. But they were instrumental in hip-hop’s ascendance and global dominance: they were in the preeminent hip-hop movie of its time, Krush Groove 1987’s Crushin’ went Platinum while three others went at least Gold — and they were the first hip-hop act to actually star in their own movie, Disordelies. And they were fun. Watching the videos now, I’m reminded of a New York that I can’t get back.
I actually saw Disorderlies in the movie theater. Admittedly, it’s not a classic of cinema but I’m not sure where hip-hop would be without its release.
Kool Rock-Ski, the last remaining member of The Fat Boys celebrates his 60th birthday today. Yes, that’s right y’all — 60! Happy birthday, brother1 And thank you for your contributions to hip hop!
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