Roxanne’s Revenge: Roxanne Shanté – 1984
Hey, y’all! ceetay here! Okay, let’s cut to my lame excuse. I had to move
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Yo, ho, ho! How’s it going! Enjoyed your Thanksgiving? You know… Thanksgiving. The holiday between Halloween and Christmas that doesn’t get much shine because no one can profit from it…? until it turns midnight then the freaks come out night!? Man, Whodini missed a golden, maybe platinum opportunity to make a Christmas version of that song. Sorry, got a little unfocused there. Yeah, where was I? Right! The Rap Waveback Machine is all set for our next trip.
Which year are we going to next? Guess what? Back to 1985! Told you we’d go back there, didn’t I? There’s too much ground to cover. Too many things happened at the same time, like the top rockers and rappers, including Run DMC, The Fat Boys, Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow and Afrika Bambaataa, taking a stand against South African apartheid and declared they ain’t gonna play Sun City. So, grab as many Garbage Pail Kids cards as you can, we’re going to: 1985.
Ready? Hit that play button!
If the title of this post reminds you of a certain Kurtis Blow song that claimed those words were played out, well, think again. ‘Cause this ain’t 1979. That record’s six years behind. I’m focusing on Cut Master DC’s The Night Before Christmas. I’ve literally listened to this song since I first heard it. No joke! Whenever Black Friday invades my peace of mind like any Youtuber’s apology video, I get a sudden urge to tap my Christmas playlist on my iPhone and play The Night Before Christmas on repeat. Every year. I guess that’s the blessing and curse of a holiday song. They tend to stick with you. Yet it still doesn’t explain why I gravitate to this song more than the historic Kurtis Blow’s Christmas Rappin’ or the universally remembered Run DMC joint, Christmas In Hollis. Make no mistake, I love those songs, too. But The Night Before Christmas has become my favorite Christmas Rap record.
The way this track was arranged, I can tell it had a DJ’s perspective. What do I mean? Remember The Adventures of Grand Master Flash On The Wheels of Steel by the aforementioned DJ? That record took you on a journey. Record after record, cut after cut. Night Before Christmas had a similar musical flow. The execution, however, produced a different result.
All the elements in this track was perfectly mixed like a Chocolate Souffle. Its ingredients were held down by a funky drum beat foundation. It allowed an equal measure of synthesized Christmas melodies to alternate between DC’s rhymes and his scratches featuring Alvin and The Chipmunks. Each element danced between the hardcore beats required to move the crowd with playful, whimsical tunes that were fit for holiday celebrations.
When I first heard Cut Master DC scratching Here Comes Santa Claus and The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late), it was sooo fresh to hear Alvin, Simon and Theodore’s voices used in another musical context that felt genuine. It’s the same way I felt when the “Good Times” cast sang We Wish You A Merry Christmas in a soulful, R&B style. Cut Master DC brought the Chipmunks to the streets of Brooklyn and recorded it onto wax.
Just because Cut Master DC didn’t use “DJ” in his name, didn’t mean he wasn’t one. Having a DJ who scratched as well as recited rhymes was becoming a rarity. It’s like a Baseball Pitcher routinely hitting home runs. Or a Quarterback bum rushing defensive tackles and constantly scoring touchdowns. After six years, Rap continued growing strong. Record labels were paying more attention to the potential financial rewards the new genre could generate for them. As a result, the nature of rap crews began to change. MCs were elevated more to the spotlight, while DJs were pushed more to the background.
Despite that, Cut Master DC followed in the footsteps of Hip Hop pioneer Grandmaster Caz, one of the first (if not the first) DJ who could rhyme at the same time. Cut Master DC came on the scene, to prove he was nice on the mic with his debut single That’s Life. He then cemented his emcee skills with his biggest hit and instant classic Brooklyn’s In the House, just when The Borough Wars were heating up. With Night Before Christmas, he decided to flex his DJ skills more, making Cut Master DC one of the most well rounded rap artists in the mid-eighties.
Cartoon Characters were beginning to make their way onto musical breaks or well placed sound effects, giving listeners a unique twist to latch onto. Some producers used techniques that made the voices easier to manipulate within a complexed beat pattern. A few months after The Night Before Christmas, Marley Marl produced both MC Shan’s records in 1986 that featured cartoon voices. (Looney Tunes) Foghorn Leghorn was used in Beat Biter and (The Jetsons) George Jetson was used for the Jane, Stop This Crazy Thing hook. R&B group, Full Force, produced The Real Roxanne’s Bang Zoom (Let’s Go-Go) in the same year (1986). It included (Looney Tunes) Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny’s voices. How Cut Master DC produced Night Before Christmas was different. He chose to mix the Chipmunk voices in a way people would expect to hear a DJ scratch during a house Christmas party or at a nightclub. I’m not saying one option was better than the other. I’m just mentioning the difference in how cartoon voices were used.
Why cartoon characters? Who knows? I think it was all in the spirit of experimentation. The drive to discover something strange that elevates the artform. That’s why the first few years of recorded Rap were pivotal. The genre had room to breathe, explore and challenge itself repeatedly. “The Night Before Christmas” was an example of this and why I continue listening to it every Christmas season.
Alright, you ready to come back to the 21st Century? Let’s go before 2023 gets added into the time travel almanac.
Aaaannddd… we’re back. Will we return to 1985, again? Not for a while. I need a break. By the way, were you humming along to Chicago Bears’ Superbowl Shuffle? Not the greatest tunes of all time, but I’ll admit, it’s fun to watch them pretending to play instruments. Oh, before I forget, Cut Master DC did a follow-up Christmas track a year later called, Santa’s Beat Box. Not better than “Night Before Christmas”, but it’s still well worth checking out.
In between much needed time travel arrangements, and maintenance, ceetay’s off-time consists of sitcom TV watching, Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream eating and gathering thoughts and information about old school music that have been either forgotten or buried under mountains of predatory corporate copyright claims. If you ever find yourself standing close enough, you might catch ceetay muttering, “If creativity is not allowed to be inspired by its history, culture will inevitably lose its meaning.”
Yo, ho, ho! How’s it going! Enjoyed your Thanksgiving? You know… Thanksgiving. The holiday between Halloween and Christmas that doesn’t get much shine because no one can profit from it…? until it turns midnight then the freaks come out night!? Man, Whodini missed a golden, maybe platinum opportunity to make a Christmas version of that song. Sorry, got a little unfocused there. Yeah, where was I? Right! The Rap Waveback Machine is all set for our next trip.
Which year are we going to next? Guess what? Back to 1985! Told you we’d go back there, didn’t I? There’s too much ground to cover. Too many things happened at the same time, like the top rockers and rappers, including Run DMC, The Fat Boys, Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow and Afrika Bambaataa, taking a stand against South African apartheid and declared they ain’t gonna play Sun City. So, grab as many Garbage Pail Kids cards as you can, we’re going to: 1985.
Ready? Hit that play button!
If the title of this post reminds you of a certain Kurtis Blow song that claimed those words were played out, well, think again. ‘Cause this ain’t 1979. That record’s six years behind. I’m focusing on Cut Master DC’s The Night Before Christmas. I’ve literally listened to this song since I first heard it. No joke! Whenever Black Friday invades my peace of mind like any Youtuber’s apology video, I get a sudden urge to tap my Christmas playlist on my iPhone and play The Night Before Christmas on repeat. Every year. I guess that’s the blessing and curse of a holiday song. They tend to stick with you. Yet it still doesn’t explain why I gravitate to this song more than the historic Kurtis Blow’s Christmas Rappin’ or the universally remembered Run DMC joint, Christmas In Hollis. Make no mistake, I love those songs, too. But The Night Before Christmas has become my favorite Christmas Rap record.
The way this track was arranged, I can tell it had a DJ’s perspective. What do I mean? Remember The Adventures of Grand Master Flash On The Wheels of Steel by the aforementioned DJ? That record took you on a journey. Record after record, cut after cut. Night Before Christmas had a similar musical flow. The execution, however, produced a different result.
All the elements in this track was perfectly mixed like a Chocolate Souffle. Its ingredients were held down by a funky drum beat foundation. It allowed an equal measure of synthesized Christmas melodies to alternate between DC’s rhymes and his scratches featuring Alvin and The Chipmunks. Each element danced between the hardcore beats required to move the crowd with playful, whimsical tunes that were fit for holiday celebrations.
When I first heard Cut Master DC scratching Here Comes Santa Claus and The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late), it was sooo fresh to hear Alvin, Simon and Theodore’s voices used in another musical context that felt genuine. It’s the same way I felt when the “Good Times” cast sang We Wish You A Merry Christmas in a soulful, R&B style. Cut Master DC brought the Chipmunks to the streets of Brooklyn and recorded it onto wax.
Just because Cut Master DC didn’t use “DJ” in his name, didn’t mean he wasn’t one. Having a DJ who scratched as well as recited rhymes was becoming a rarity. It’s like a Baseball Pitcher routinely hitting home runs. Or a Quarterback bum rushing defensive tackles and constantly scoring touchdowns. After six years, Rap continued growing strong. Record labels were paying more attention to the potential financial rewards the new genre could generate for them. As a result, the nature of rap crews began to change. MCs were elevated more to the spotlight, while DJs were pushed more to the background.
Despite that, Cut Master DC followed in the footsteps of Hip Hop pioneer Grandmaster Caz, one of the first (if not the first) DJ who could rhyme at the same time. Cut Master DC came on the scene, to prove he was nice on the mic with his debut single That’s Life. He then cemented his emcee skills with his biggest hit and instant classic Brooklyn’s In the House, just when The Borough Wars were heating up. With Night Before Christmas, he decided to flex his DJ skills more, making Cut Master DC one of the most well rounded rap artists in the mid-eighties.
Cartoon Characters were beginning to make their way onto musical breaks or well placed sound effects, giving listeners a unique twist to latch onto. Some producers used techniques that made the voices easier to manipulate within a complexed beat pattern. A few months after The Night Before Christmas, Marley Marl produced both MC Shan’s records in 1986 that featured cartoon voices. (Looney Tunes) Foghorn Leghorn was used in Beat Biter and (The Jetsons) George Jetson was used for the Jane, Stop This Crazy Thing hook. R&B group, Full Force, produced The Real Roxanne’s Bang Zoom (Let’s Go-Go) in the same year (1986). It included (Looney Tunes) Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny’s voices. How Cut Master DC produced Night Before Christmas was different. He chose to mix the Chipmunk voices in a way people would expect to hear a DJ scratch during a house Christmas party or at a nightclub. I’m not saying one option was better than the other. I’m just mentioning the difference in how cartoon voices were used.
Why cartoon characters? Who knows? I think it was all in the spirit of experimentation. The drive to discover something strange that elevates the artform. That’s why the first few years of recorded Rap were pivotal. The genre had room to breathe, explore and challenge itself repeatedly. “The Night Before Christmas” was an example of this and why I continue listening to it every Christmas season.
Alright, you ready to come back to the 21st Century? Let’s go before 2023 gets added into the time travel almanac.
Aaaannddd… we’re back. Will we return to 1985, again? Not for a while. I need a break. By the way, were you humming along to Chicago Bears’ Superbowl Shuffle? Not the greatest tunes of all time, but I’ll admit, it’s fun to watch them pretending to play instruments. Oh, before I forget, Cut Master DC did a follow-up Christmas track a year later called, Santa’s Beat Box. Not better than “Night Before Christmas”, but it’s still well worth checking out.
In between much needed time travel arrangements, and maintenance, ceetay’s off-time consists of sitcom TV watching, Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream eating and gathering thoughts and information about old school music that have been either forgotten or buried under mountains of predatory corporate copyright claims. If you ever find yourself standing close enough, you might catch ceetay muttering, “If creativity is not allowed to be inspired by its history, culture will inevitably lose its meaning.
Hey, y’all! ceetay here! Okay, let’s cut to my lame excuse. I had to move
Wassup! ceetay here, the Doc Brown to your Marty McFly. Okay, I’ll just cut to