An Interview with Boo Ski and Keith KC of Master Don’s Def Committee MC’s

Posted on Mar 13, 2012

Winter 2012

Location: In Boo Ski’s car next to Crotona Park in the Bronx.

Troy- What up my brother’s, thank you very much for your time. We are going to go like this, first things first, who was the first member of Master Don’s MC’s?

Boo Ski- You came after me right K.C.?

Keith KC- I don’t know, I know when I got down Don had your man A.J. and Tony Tee down with him.

Troy- Where were they from?

Keith KC- They were from147th street, they were from the block. I was a little n—- I wasn’t rapping or anything. Don gave me a chance to go up and rap for him and whatever. Don then tried to put me with A.J. and Tone but I didn’t mix with them. So he cut them off and started rocking with me. So once he got with me he then got with you (Boo Ski.) and…

Boo Ski- So where did Easy come from?

Keith KC- Easy was from the east side.

Boo Ski- But when did he come in?

Keith KC- Don got you first then Easy.

Boo Ski – Right because I came from The G Force.

Keith KC- Right you were with Wayne and them.

Boo Ski – Yo they wanted to jump me (G Force.) because I was going to Master Don (They both start laughing.)

Keith KC- Yeah yeah yeah I remember.

Troy- Where were G Force from, Broadway, Amsterdam and 149th street area?

Boo Ski – Nah they were from 152nd and St. Nicholas Avenue over there with Buster and Jamie O and all them n——! By the Touch of Class cab base. It was Wayne G, Duckie Dee, Tony and I forget the rest of them.

Keith KC- Your man Vance and Sweet Vee.

Boo Ski – Yeah (They both start laughing as they reminisce) Benny Hill and them n——. Yo they wanted to jump me.

Troy- So KC where were you born and raised at?

Keith KC- I was born in Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn. We lived onJerome Streetwhen we were out in Brooklyn.  By the age of 4 we moved uptown to147th street. I went to P.S. 200 on 150th street and 7th avenue.

Troy- What, the Dime? (I.S. 10)

Keith KC- Yeah but P.S. 200 was inside of the Dime. I went to 200 and then the Dime for one year. Then we moved to the Bronx, I was about 10 or 11 years old and I went to P.S. 41 up there on White Plains Road.  While me and my mother were living in the Bronx I still had family on147th street, so every weekend I would come back to the block. When I came to the block I was really hanging out with Don’s brother Johnny instead of Don. I wasn’t down with The Committee just yet, I use to hang out with his brother J Black. We was on that gorilla s—. We was wilin on n—— in the street.

Troy-I heard. (KC and Boo laugh out loud) I heard about ya’ll. What was the name of the crew ya’ll were running with?

Keith KC- The Avenue!

Troy- Right, The Avenue Boys. Was I Van still on the streets at that time? I know he was older then you guys but was he of any influence to you guys?

Keith KC- Yeah but it was a lot of wild dudes that we use to chill with and they were gangsters and we were lil n——. But they were old G’s. I Van and your man Jamie O would come down there. Bat and them n—— use to come around there too. All them dudes from four 146th street like Jay use to come around, I’m talking about them cats that later ran with Alpo.

Troy-What about Preacher?

Keith KC- Nah I heard a lot of things about him but I never seen him come through.

Troy-So your crew was Johnny, his brother Reggie and the rest of the Avenue Boys?

Keith KC- Yeah we were on that strong arming, robbing cats.

Troy- But you was still going back and forth to the Bronx, so what was the Bronx atmosphere like for you? I mean you seen hip hop up there first right?

Keith KC- Yeah yeah, like when we first moved to the Bronx I was living on 170^th street and Jessup and there was a dude over there by the name of The Disco Prince and he was nice, you know what I mean!

Troy-This was 1979.

Keith KC- Yes about 79 and I use to see him all the time. He used to d.j. in P.S. 104 Park. This is where I first seen hip hop.

Troy-So that was the first time you seen and caught the love for hip hop, but you didn’t get on the mic yet?

Keith KC- Right. So now one time I came down to Harlem to see my aunt and uncle and Master Don had a store on145th street called Fly Guys. He had all his equipment set up in there. It wasn’t his store but his equipment was in there. Now me and my twin brother Kevin use to b boy against those Bronx dudes and beat their ass. So we use to come over to the store and dance for Don. One day Don asked could me and my brother rhyme. So my brother said something and then I got on and said something and Don felt I sounded pretty good. But that was like the first time I really hung out with Don. Like I said I ran with his younger brothers Johnny and Reggie. I didn’t hang with Don because at the time Johnny and Don didn’t get along all the time.

145th street and 8th Avenue late 1980’s from the movie Paid in Full.

Sometimes they did, but a lot of times they didn’t. Surprisingly Johnny tells me one day, “Yo Don is trying to get some people to join his group.” At that time he had some girl from Lincoln Projects named Raneta down with him. She later went off to the Army or Navy so he was looking for another m.c. to fill her spot. So John was like you might want to go up there and rap for him again. So I went back to his house and rapped for him and when I finished he was like cool, but he didn’t tell me if I was down or not. I went back to doing my thing on the streets but he called me over to the house another day and this time Scorpio aka A.G. (Not Scorpio from The Furious 5) and Tony Tee was there. Don tried to get me to play with them or see how I would play with them but my sound was better than theirs. So the next time I came back he told me he cut them off and he was going to rock with me.

Troy- Just you and him?

Keith KC- Yes

Troy- Lets freeze there for a moment. Before you got with Don were you playing at other outside jams and the such?

Keith KC- Nah I just…

Troy-So how did you build your rhymes and your style?

Keith KC- Alright I had a tape of Grand Master Flash the Furious, I also had a tape of Jekyll and Hyde and I use to listen to them on the regular and that was how I got my flow.

Troy- But before you tried out for Don you never actually practiced on an audience?

Keith KC- No.

Troy-So it was just you and Don doing parties together?

Keith KC- Yeah we were doing joints, just me and Master Don. Don and me had a routine that we use to do and then this brother name Preston who was down with us, he use to go by the name Cool Jazz and he was our d.j. and me and Don use to rap.

Troy- A lot of people didn’t know that Don use to rap; they thought he only d.j.ed.

Keith KC- Don had a mean rap flow. (KC starts laughing.)

Troy- Why do you think he never continued to focus on rapping, instead turning it over to you guys?

Keith KC- Well once we broke up he did the joint with Bobby Robinson called it Pays the Cost to be the Boss.

Troy- Right I know about that cut but with all these tapes I got it’s you guys doing all the rhyming.

Keith KC- You got to get this tape from Gangster G where Don is leading the routines the way Pebbles does for us. It was me, Master Don, Boo Ski, Gangster Gee and Cool Jazz on the wheels of steel. Master Don is leading the routines just like Pebbles and that joint is crazy.

Troy-So once Don put you on who was next?

Keith KC- Well Boo Ski was next and then I believe Easy E from the east side.

Troy- So Boo Ski where were you born and raised at?

Boo Ski- I was born in the Bronx up on214th Street White PlainsRoad. At the age of two my family moved to Harlem on 112th street, between seventh and St. Nicholas Avenue. I went to P.S. 9 on 89th Street. From Harlem we moved back to the Bronx to Edenwald projects when I was about 11 or 12 years old. In 1979 we moved out of Edenwald projects back toHarlem.

EDENWALD PROJECTS

Troy-So before your family moved back to Harlem did you get a chance to see the birth of hip hop up there?

Boo Ski- Well up in Edenwald that territory was Breakout and Baron’s, along with the Funky 4 mc’s. I use to like going to the park down in the Valley when our mother use to let us go to the park. I use to see them on the mic and say, “Oh wow these guys are nice.” They would have their mics on stands. It influenced me but I was still young like 13 years old.

Troy- You didn’t touch the mic yet?

Boo Ski- No, but these guys from the projects tried to get a little crew together. The d.j.’s name was Spike, his real name was Paul. It was me, my man Stomach and another guy. We tried to put some routines together but nothing worked out with that. I then moved out of the Bronx like I said back to Harlem and we first stopped at 150th street and St. Nicholas Avenue. This is where I met Wayne G of The G Force and the rest of his crew. I went to George Washington High School; I later went to Park West high School also in mid town Manhattan.

Troy- What’s the age difference between you and your brother Gangster G?

Boo Ski- I am two years older.

Troy- Are there any other brothers and sisters?

Boo Ski- I am the oldest of 10 children. My mother had two sets of twins. I myself have 14 children of my own.

Troy- (Me and KC said, “What, wow!”)

Keith KC- You was going hard early! (KC starts laughing.)

Boo Ski- I have two sets of twins included.

Troy- Okay good for you, God bless you. Alright Boo Ski you are now on 108th street after you left 150th street how did you meet Master Don?

Boo Ski- I bumped into Master Don when I was with Wayne G. Wayne G’s crew was called The G Force Crew. We did parties here and there; place’s like the Battle Grounds, (153rd Street and Amsterdam avenue.) the Dome on 145th Street and Bradhurst Avenue. We also did party’s at the Trinity Church on 155th street between Amsterdam and Broadway.

Troy- Next to the cemetery?

Boo Ski- Yeah. So we rapping and singing and we were suppose to get paid but somebody said we weren’t going to get paid. I didn’t think I was going to get much, but we did a lot of rapping that night. I didn’t have that many rhymes at that time anyway. I guess they just liked my voice. Plus I drew a lot of attention because I hung out with a lot of guys that were what you say bad boys who did bad things! So I was hanging out with them one night and after the party they said get that n—–! I was like what. (All three of us laugh.) “Get that n—–” yo I ran out of my sneaker, I ran so fast.

Troy- Yo your own crew was talking about get you?

Boo Ski- Yes , I don’t know who told them, but somebody told them Master Don wanted to take me from the G Force. At the time I never met Master Don. I heard of him but never met him. So I was like damn and ran home. So the next day when I seen them they was like, “Yo we heard this kid wanted to take you from us and blah blah blah.”  I told them I don’t even know who he is. They said he’s from 147th street, a dude name Master Don and he got a crew etc etc. I said I am not messing with you guys no more. I was like ya’ll was going to try and jump me and I ain’t down with that. So later on I walked over to 147th street and I heard somebody say, “Yo Master Don.” See Don knew me, but I didn’t know him. He must have heard me from somewhere, I don’t know. So we talked and he said why don’t you come over and try out and that was how I got with Master Don.

Young lady and Master Don.

Troy- So as far as those guys chasing you to jump you, you said you ran with thugs didn’t you think about getting with your crew and bringing it back to them?

Boo Ski- Nah because those dudes coming at me were with Buster and Jamie O. (KC starts laughing and Boo Ski laughs with him) The cats I was running with were mediocre compared to Buster and Jamie O. I just left it alone and we all made peace.

Troy- What’s up with Jamie O today?

Boo Ski- He passed away.

Troy- Okay God Bless him. So KC how many brothers and sisters do you have?

Keith KC- I have four brothers and one sister that passed away.

Troy- Sorry to hear that. Did anybody in your family also try and get on the mic like you?

Keith KC- Well my twin brother Kevin I use to bring out with me when I was doing my rap thing. He was rapping before me so you can say he was my inspiration. But once I started to rap a little while later he stopped.

Troy- He continued to break dance?

Keith KC- Nah he got on some gorilla s—! (We both start laughing.) Kev is a gorilla but he is chilling now in Orlando. He owns a barber shop down there getting some money. I left something out earlier. When we first got down with Master Don I was down with Jay Black. We had our own little crew called the Crowd Pleasers. It was me, Jay Black, Cool Jazz, Alley, Lil Ice and Eric from the block. We were like the little crew and Master Don had the big crew.

Troy- Alright fellas the crew is not totally put together at that time but what did the hip hop world look like to you guys. I am going to give you an example first. Growing up in the Grant Projects they use to bring the music out right into the basketball courts or the baseball field  which is inside of our projects. We could hear it through our apartment windows, even my mother knew they were out there. So I would make my way to the park and it would be jammed pack with people. You would see some dudes walking or standing right where they were at acting like they are d.j.ing going through the motions with their hands and just hyped by the music.

There would be stacks of girls standing right here looking fine and then there are those thug ass dudes standing over there on the other side waiting to start something and mess up the jam. (KC says yeah yeah yeah.) But everybody was trying to be fly or super cool but not so cool that they were corny. Now to get pass that rope you had to be a fresh dressed brother, you couldn’t be a bum.

Keith KC- And you had to be somebody in the hood.

Troy- Right you had to have a name or some type of character about yourself or you knew someone who was down.

Keith KC- You had to be a mc, d.j. or gangster n—-!

Troy- So how did that hip hop become deep love for you?

Keith KC- Well in the beginning it was just fun to me. I use to see the dudes d.j.ing and rapping and I was like wow. But I remember clearly one night when I was with Don and the crew and we were down by the Renaissance and your man Grand Master Flash and the Furious 5 were playing down there, but at this time I was too little to get in.

Renaissance Ballroom then and now.

I had to be about 11 or 12. So they didn’t let me in but Don and the rest of the crew went in, I stayed out front. Flash use to run with those Black Door dudes and one of them said “Yo little dude you want to go upstairs?” I was like yeah. So he said “f— it n— go ahead go up there.”Yo when I went up there… yo the s— was so packed I couldn’t find Don, I couldn’t find anybody.

Grand Master Flash

But I could see that stage and Grand Master Flash was on that stage doing that joint Flash is on the beat box and when I saw that I fell in love with hip hop. I said yo I am going to be just like those n—— up there. Yo that’s my word Rahiem singing that s— and those n—- is going in and Flash on that beat box rocking. That is the craziest s— I had ever seen.

Grand Master Flash and The Furious 5

Troy- That’s a good one KC. Flash and The Furious m.c.s opened up the door for a lot of people. It seems like every time I ask that question people refer to Flash and his MC’s.

Keith KC- Yes, yo that was the illest s– I had ever seen or heard in my life.

Troy- It was jammed packed?

Keith KC- Yes and everybody’s attention was to that stage and that was the day I fell in love with hip-hop. I rocked with Master Don a little bit but I was a kid at the time. At that time I really didn’t get the full feeling of what this s— is about until I went inside that joint, you know what I mean!

Troy- Okay, Boo Ski when did that love of hip hop over take you?

Boo Ski- When I seen Breakout, Baron and The Funky Four in the park. Just to see them harmonize with the echo I was like these n—- is nice. (Boo Ski says it very dramatic when he gets to the word nice.) I was like ain’t nobody nicer then these n—–! (KC starts laughing.) And see during those days my mother wasn’t letting me go anywhere but to that 112 Park, I couldn’t go anywhere else unless I snuck off. And my mom’s was notorious, so I wasn’t sneaking off. (We all start laughing.)

So I really didn’t have too much time to see other crews so that was like my basic home group that I loved seeing. Then one day I took my mother’s radio out with the cassette player and tried to tape the jam. Her radio only had one speaker but it could still record. Man my mom’s came looking for me for her radio. She said “Boy you got my radio.” And then she starts hollering for me. She was like Joe jr., Joe Jr!” (We all laughing hard.) My mother says to me when I get in the house go get my radio. I said your radio is in the room. I said I didn’t have your radio. She said stop lying. See because the batteries were so hot she knew I had it.

But what happen was I recorded over one of her tapes. I think it was the Temptations or Gladys Knight and the Pips. (In the background you hear KC say, “Ah man.”) I put the tissue in the holes so it could record. “Get em off” (We burst out laughing because we all know that means take off your clothes for that whooping.)  “Get em off” Ah man. So DJ Breakout and Baron were like heaven for me, that was it. They were real professional.

Troy- So KC what was it about Don and his skills as a Dj that impressed you?

Keith KC- Well he was one of the best that ever lived it. He was nice and his skill was dropping that needle. He dropped that needle right on it. (This blump sound is to give the impression of a needle dropping.) blump cut, blump cut, blump cut. He is not spinning anything back. He dropped that needle right on it. Yo he was nice with that needle dropping. But Don was nice and he knew he was nice and he didn’t care! He would challenge anybody any where for nothing, just to say he beat them.

Troy- So who were some of the Dj’s that challenged him? Even if they were no names.

Keith KC- Nobody wanted to challenge him.

Troy- Well who was some of the guys he challenged?

Keith KC- Well there was Ty Ski that was down with those Romantic Four dudes.

Troy- I have that tape and you guys battled them in Rucker Park. (155th street 8th avenue.)

Keith KC- Well Don and Ty Ski use to go at it all the time about who was the best. And those Romantic Four dudes were beneath us at that time, but Don just wanted to battle somebody.

Troy- I got you. So where were they from?

Keith KC- They was from the Polo Grounds.

Troy- I didn’t know that. So I guess that’s why you battled them across the street from the Polo Grounds, inside of The Rucker Park. So they must have had the whole Polo Grounds out there trying to support them!

Keith KC- That’s right their whole crowd was out there and we coming from a 147th street.

Troy- So what about other d.j.’s like Barry Bee, B Fats, Darrell C?

Keith KC- He was better than all of them dudes I can say that myself. But Barry Bee tried to get at him that night and that wasn’t Don’s best night. Don dropped the head phones on the turntable and we were over there by Lincoln projects where they had all their peoples. The table we had was messed up. Plus Don didn’t have his equipment, he is cutting on other peoples set. So it wasn’t Don’s best night. Barry Bee probably practiced for weeks for that day.

Troy- Do you have any props you want to give Barry Bee?

Keith KC- Yo Barry Bee is my dude, him and Doug.

Troy- But what I am saying is as far as a D.j. Barry is still pretty nice.

Keith KC- Yes, no question about it. He got his style from Master Don. I am referring to his cutting style. If you hear Barry Bee cutting without nobody saying his name or anything you would think that was Master Don. So that’s where Barry got his style from.

Troy- What about Master Don lyrically?

Keith KC- Don was nice, his flow was like Moe Dee and the rest of the Treacherous. Don had a real fast flow, he use to rock like them.

Boo Ski- I thought the world of Don! When I got down with them I said, “Damn if we do any parties we are going to get money because this dude is nice.” (All three of us laugh.) I said this is crazy you know what I am saying! After a while it really wasn’t about the money it was about enjoyment because I met mad chicks, I took mad chicks out and we went to different places with the Crash Crew and others and we spent many nights at hotels.

Troy- This is before records?

Boo Ski- Yeah, I just liked going to different places and seeing different people man. So yeah Don was definitely crazy on the wheels. He could cut with slippers or sneakers on his hands. Cut with one hand behind his back, he was crazy with it. I was like this dude is nice with one hand, he was better than other dj’s using two hands.

Keith KC- A lot of the cuts you seen dudes do they got from Don!

Troy- So was there any other props he used while d.j.ing?

Keith KC- Well mainly he used his British Walkers, he would cut with his British Walkers. (KC starts laughing.)

Troy- So he would actually have his hands in the British Walkers moving the fader on the mixer…

British Walkers from Sham Browns collection

Keith KC- …lifting the needles, dropping the needles…yo it was crazy.(KC laughs some more.)

Boo Ski- With his fingers in and his thumbs out! (We all start laughing.)

Keith KC- Yo it was crazy and they loved it.

Boo Ski- The crowd would be flipping. You would hear people say to others, “Yo go up to the front and see him!”

Keith KC- Yo don’t even let Don get started.

Boo Ski- Yo when Don got hot, he would be hot. He didn’t want to stop when he got hot. People just passing him records, records after records and he just cutting them up. Don was the man.

Keith KC- I swear I wish Don was still here.

Boo Ski- From a Manhattan prospective Don was nice. If he wasn’t the top d.j. he was one of the top d.j.’s.

Troy- So after Don how would you rate the other Harlem D.j.’s?

Boo Ski- Well Spivey was alright.

Keith KC- Spivey was nice.

Boo Ski- He was nice but he couldn’t mess with Don.

Keith KC- Nah but known of them could. But the only one that had enough skills and nerve to battle Don was Barry Bee. The rest of them wouldn’t even try it.

Boo Ski- See the other guys were good dj’s but they didn’t have the finesse that Don had. Don had finesse; he would make the crowd say, “Oh wow!” While other cats just cut. jigger jigger jigger. (Boo Ski is mimicking a d.j. scratching a record with his voice.) But what Don was doing with the quickness and the one hand was crowd pleasing.

Troy- A lot of times he was doing all this while you guys were on the mic! He wouldn’t lose the beat or anything?

Boo Ski- At times it might skip a beat…

Keith KC- Yeah it will skip a beat…

Boo Ski- But the majority of times he was on beat and if he messed up he would get right back on point.

Troy- So where would you guys position him between Flash and Theodore?

Keith KC- I think Don was better than Flash and Theodore. The only guy I can think of from that era that may have beaten Don would be Rocking Rob. That’s the only one.

Breakout, D.J.A.J. and Rockin Rob.

D.J. Rockin Rob

Troy- That’s some big time props you gave Rocking Rob. I got some tapes of Rocking Rob that are ill. (tape 192 and 193.)

Keith KC- He is the only one I think would have taken out Master Don back in that time. I don’t think Flash or Theodore or any of them dudes could have!

Boo Ski- We did a party one night and Flash came. It was on 125th street between Madison or Lenox avenue and Flash came with a couple of his m.c.’s and Flash got on the table and did a little cutting up and stuff like that and he was nice. Flash for his era was nice.

Keith KC- Flash was definitely one of the best no question about that.

Troy- Okay. What part did Renny Rock play in the Def Committee?

Keith KC- Renny was Don’s homeboy. Renny was a part of the crew but not on the front line.

B Fats and Renny Rock.

Troy- So Kool Jazz had more play than Renny Rock?

Keith KC- Yeah, Kool Jazz was on the front line.

Boo Ski- Kool Jazz was nice too

Keith KC- Yo Kool Jazz would drink those bottles and go in!

Troy- Some Old E! (We all start laughing.)

Keith KC- (KC is still laughing.) Hell yeah, and he would go in.

Troy- What block did he come out of?

Keith KC- He was from Amsterdam projects down on 65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

Troy- Over by King high school and the old Brandies high school known as the Annex.

Boo Ski- Right

Troy- I wonder how Don found him all the way down there!

Keith KC- Before I got on with Don he used to do a lot of parties down there in the Amsterdam projects. So Don was the one that bought Kool Jazz uptown.

Troy- Okay KC What high school did you go to?

Keith KC- I went to Evander High school.

Boo Ski- I went to like four high schools. I went to Park West, George Washington…

Troy- Was that because you were moving from apartment to apartment?

Boo Ski- That was because I was messing up!

Keith KC- (KC joking around with Boo Ski makes his voice sound like an authoritive figure.) “We going to send you up to Washington!”

Boo Ski- I wanted to sell loose joints, I didn’t want to go to skills school. The only thing I was going to school for was gym. You know what I mean, I was being a follower as well. Which lead me to destruction.

Troy- I feel you, I drove the same car to madness. So who came on next Pebblee Poo or Gangster Gee?

Keith KC- Gangster came next.

Troy- How did he come on?

Boo Ski- I bought him up to the house. My brother use to be in our house writing rhymes and I told Don about him. Don said bring your brother up. We started doing a few things and before I knew it my brother was down writing rhymes and routines.

Troy- So what was the earliest year all three of you guys were together with Master Don? I ask that question because the earliest tape I have is 1980 which was at the Terrace Ballroom on 125th street between Madison and 5th avenue.

KC- In 1979 Don was putting all this together. By New Years of 1980 the crew was together.

Boo Ski- And we were called the Turn it out Three m.c.’s!

Troy- So ya’ll called your selves the Turn it out Three m.c.’s but the Def Committee was the actual name?

Keith KC- The Def Committee was the name of all of us and the three of us m.c.’s were called the Turn it out three m.c.’s.

Boo Ski- Right.

Troy- So that was three of you guys but what about Pebble’s?

Keith KC- Pebbles didn’t get there yet. I think Pebbles came in 1981.

Gangster Gee and Pebblee Poo

Troy- How did she get on?

KC- She was nice. She use to be in those female m.c. battles and she use to shut them down! Nobody messed with her. So her and Don was kicking it one night and Don asked me one day what do you think about putting her down with the group. I was like hell yeah, put her down, she is nice.

Boo Ski- And that bought us out a little bit more because it bought more flavor to the mix.

Troy- Okay fellas lets change lanes for a minute. How hard was it really to bring music out into the streets back then?

Keith KC- Oh man!

Boo Ski- Don knew a lot of people; I knew a lot of people. The Cigar Mob knew us. We had people from the East side that knew us. So we had a lot of security. Even Wayne G and them would come around. “Yo, Yo what up ya’ll good! Yo we good.” Buster and Jamie O would come around. So we knew a lot of people.

Keith KC- Plus I would bring my people from Bronxwood Avenue down and we use to be deep up in those parties.

Troy- KC was your people from the Bronx a gang?

Keith KC- Yeah they were called the Gunhill Mob. They were from the Gunhill projects. I use to run with them when I was living on 215th street and Bronxwood. Also the dudes from 219th street and cats from 225th street were with me. It was like one big crew up there and sometimes I would come down there and bring all of them with me.

Troy- Damn. (KC laughs.)

KC- We never had any static at any party because they already knew the deal. When dudes use to do our flyers first they use to put our picture, but then your man Phase 2 started putting a silhouette with a bunch of people because that was how many people we use to come down there with. It’s was a mob of dudes. They stopped showing our picture, they said when these dudes come they come with a whole truck load.

Troy- So what was your connection to the Cigar Mob that came from my projects as well as Lincoln Projects?

Boo Ski- They was with the Crash Crew but I knew a lot of them as well as Don knew a lot of them. Every time you tried to give a party they were in the area or the community.

Troy- One of the members of the Cigar Mob was Rayvon’s brother.

Boo Ski- Baby Rock?

Keith KC- Nah Nick. Nick is Rayvon’s brother. (Nickey Dee.) Baby Rock is some other dude down with them. I use to have mad drama with Baby Rock but we never came to blows. We ended up becoming cool because I started messing with this girl name Bonita and he was messing with her friend and one night I came over to Bonita’s house and he was there with his girl. So the two girls are the ones that got us to be cool. Then me and Baby Rock got cool, but in the beginning it was drama with them Cigar Mob dudes!

Boo Ski- We had a party one night and two of the Cigar Mob dudes tried to jump my brother on stage. They was like “Yo he told the police on us on 59th street when we was trying to do something.” I was like, “What the hell are ya’ll talking about my brother didn’t do any dumb thing like that.”

Keith KC- Yeah I remember that.

Boo Ski- I squashed it but they were trying to mess with my brother…

Keith KC-  Nah them dudes use to get on that bull but I didn’t give a damn, we would go in there with them guns and I be in the party with two I didn’t care!

Master Don and his boys.

Boo Ski- Don had the suit case with the shotgun!

Keith KC- (KC burst out laughing.) Yep!

Boo Ski- Security was alright and like I said we knew a lot of people.

Keith KC- We didn’t need security, so many people use to ride with us. It wasn’t like we had a certain…”okay this is our security.”

Boo Ski- Right we didn’t have any specific security, dudes just knew us.

Keith KC- Yeah people knew us and they would ride with us.

Troy- Yeah but I thought the boys from The Avenue was running with ya’ll or Johnny and his crew.

Keith KC- Yeah, yeah you know. They use to run with Don for every party he did.

Troy- Now what about Don and B Fats and his Sapphire crew? When I talked to B Fats he told me that there were times him and Don did not get along because he felt Don was an arrogant dude at times.

Keith KC – Yep.

Troy- B Fats told me there were times people from his crew would shoot up Dons speakers.

B Fats                                    Gusto                   Unknown 

Keith KC- (KC sucks his teeth and is about to speak.)

Troy- Let me finish. And there were times you guys would come at him as well. Then the next day or a couple weeks later ya’ll were cool again and start partying again. And of course beef would jump off again.

Keith KC- Yo they had little wack beefs but it never went pass a conversation.

Boo Ski- Well when I was down I know no speakers ever got shot up.

Keith KC- Hell no we wasn’t having that. B Fats and them never shot up Don’s speakers.

Troy- So how cool where you guys with the Sapphire crew?

Keith KC- We was cool. Your man Mr. Troy was my man. (They both start laughing.)

Troy- Mr. Troy made it home after doing 20 plus years.

Keith KC- He was a real gangster too! I use to go around his house to see him and he would have big ass bricks of cocaine open on the table. I was like what the hell! Somebody’s knocking on the door and he’s fixing them up. (We all laughing loud.)

Troy- Off the brick?

Keith KC- Yeah off the brick and I’m like wow and I was like a little kid Troy. I looked up to him because he was an O.G. rap dude and I was a little kid.

Troy- Yeah but he only had you by a couple of years.

Keith KC- Yeah but he was older than me.

Troy- I understand what you was saying, he was a live wire. Sometimes there’s only a one year difference but a dude seems like he is 20 years wiser.

Keith KC- I’m telling you. He was doing extra stuff that was unheard of.

Troy- So you guys got along pretty good with the Sapphire crew?

Keith KC- Yeah we was good. It never escaladed to a point where we were shooting and all that because we was not having it and cats knew it. Only one time Don got into some beef with them G Force dudes. Bam Boo and them jumped him. See I was there that whole night and Bam Boo waited until I left before he did that. He caught Don down there by himself.

Troy- Why did Bam Boo do that to Don at all?

Keith KC- I don’t know and he would not tell me about it. And Bam Boo was on 147th street the next day after he did that move. I ran up on him and asked him, “Yo why you did that!” He was like, “Listen man that thing between me and Don was between me and him and I didn’t want to involve known of ya’ll in that so I waited until ya’ll left before I did that, but that was between me and him and he knows why I did it.” When I asked Don about it he wouldn’t talk about it either. So okay that’s a personnel thing between ya’ll and I am going to leave it there.

Troy- So it was a one on one or did he get jumped?

Keith KC- No one on one, he got jumped.

Troy- Bam Boo was also caught up in that shootout up at the Savoy Manor in the Bronx?

Keith KC- Right some dudes were shooting at the Crash Crew and Bam Boo caught one in the mouth.

Troy- Now back in those days your main spot for rocking in the summer was 147th street in front of that center.

Keith KC- Yes in front of the Charma school.

Troy- How did ya’ll do that because that is a very skinny block and traffic use to continue to drive through?

Keith KC- Well we would lock the street down in the day time but at night time they would make us take the police barricades away and people still wouldn’t leave. The street would still be packed and cars would be inching, trying to drive through with a million people there. (Troy is laughing his head off.)

Troy- So what was your main spot in the winter time.

Keith KC- We did a lot of spots. 201, Randy’s Place.

Boo SKi- B and B.

Troy- Where was B&B?

Boo Ski- On the eastside. Like a 122nd or 123rd and 3rd avenue. They call it the Karate club now.

Troy- So where was the C&C?

Keith KC- That was on 125th and Lenox.

Boo Ski- Next to the Lenox Lounge, upstairs.

Troy- Now what about the one on 125th between Madison and 5th avenue? The sign today looks like a Masonic temple.

Boo Ski- That’s the Terrace Ball room.

Troy- So that is the Terrace ballroom. Today it’s another name for it, Trowel & Square Ballroom. The spot is on the second floor.

125th street Madison avenue.

Keith KC- Right.

Troy- Well that’s the tape I have with you guys at the Terrace Ballroom and Master Don brings out the Beat box and the beat box sounds very full. It sounded a step above Flash’s beat box to be honest.

Keith KC- Yeah, yeah!

Troy- Yeah Don’s was nice and I guess all the beat boxes were nice because everybody started getting one once Flash got his. Okay so you guys are slowly getting it together but a battle comes up and you guys are suppose to see the Crash Crew! What was that all about?

Keith KC- Nobody would ever battle us because they knew, you know what I am saying, we are going to go in there and destroy cats! We were scheduled to battle Magnificent 7 one night. Johnny Wa and Rayvon. They pulled out and said nah we not going to battle. See the whole thing was we were on the come up, nobody wanted to lose their face to us. We were going to battle the Crash Crew and they pulled out. We were going to battle The Force mc’s and they pulled out.

(Rayvon said this didn’t happen. KC says Gangster G has it on tape. I have not heard the tape before this story got to the press. Stevie Dee says he does not remember this either but there is a flyer to a upcoming battle between the two crews.)

Troy- Was it scheduled with a flyer to see the Crash Crew?

Keith KC- It was scheduled on a flyer to see the Crash Crew in a battle at I.S. 201 and they got their but they didn’t want to battle either.

Troy- So both crews were there and the Crash did not want to get on?

Keith KC- They did not get on.

Troy- Did ya’ll get on?

Keith KC- We got on and did our set any way.

Troy- What bought on the possible battle with the Force M.C.’s?

Keith KC- We were supposed to battle them at Harlem World and they pulled out.

Boo Ski- I remember that.

Troy- So what bought on the battle?

Keith KC- I really can’t tell you but whenever we were about to battle someone it was always because of Don. Don wanted to battle everybody. He wants to shut down…

Boo Ski- He wants to let everybody know his m.c.’s are nice.

Keith KC- That’s right.

Troy- So nobody really battled ya’ll even though you guys were chasing cats. But what about major crews like Treacherous 3, Fearless Four etc.

Keith KC- Crews wouldn’t battle us.

Troy- Now did you actually hear Don step to these major crews and say, “Yo we want to see ya’ll. “

Keith KC- Well not to them but…

Boo Ski- Nah.

Keith KC- We were always cool with the Treacherous 3 as well as the Fearless Four.

Troy- What about the Disco Four?

Keith KC- We was cool with them too. Don had different beefs with B Fats and them, but whatever, we were mainly cool with them. And they wouldn’t battle us, they knew they would lose. I mean our show was so tight at that time anybody, whoever messed with us knew that they would lose Troy. They would pop that junk, “Yeah we are going to battle ya’ll.” But when it’s time to battle we there and we waiting.

Boo Ski- And the thing with Don is don’t miss practice! When you get there you’re going to practice for 2 hours. You’re going to practice your routines until it’s down pact, and you’re not leaving. If you’re late for practice you’re going to get fined.

Troy- What was the fine?

Boo Ski- I don’t remember five or ten dollars. So when we do a party and its time to get paid and we get $25 or $35 we only getting paid 10 or 15 dollars because we got fined.

Keith KC- (KC is laughing.)

Boo Ski- I was madder than a mother. What’s ten dollars today but back then, oh my goodness! (KC laughs some more in agreement.)

Troy- So how much did you guys rehearse, 7 days a week?

Boo SKi- Once a week for 2 or 3 hours.

Troy- In Don’s house?

Keith KC- Yeah.

Boo Ski- Right in Don’s mothers living room with four mic stands up.

Keith KC- Don would take all the couches and stuff out the living room and it would be a big stage in there. The microphones are set up and we in there rapping, singing and dancing.

Troy- At the same token are there times the entire group is sitting in the living trying to put routines together. Like do all of ya’ll have a pen in your hand and you’re thinking…

Keith KC- Don made all of the routines. We never had to write a routine. The only thing we had to write was our own rhymes.

Boo Ski- I think my brother made a few. But it was mostly Don and my brother Gangster that wrote the routines. I should say the singing routines my brother wrote.

Keith KC- That’s right.

Troy- Lyrically for your selves how did you go about writing your own rhymes? Did you guys sit amongst your selves and talk about maybe adding this and taking this out of each other’s rhymes?

Keith KC- I use to write my rhymes at home, alone.

Boo Ski- Me too.

Keith KC- And then I would come up there when I got something new. I use to like to pop up with new joints.

Boo Ski- I basically stuck with what I had and every once and a while I would write a rhyme or two.

Keith KC- But Gangster G was the writer he had mad rhymes.

Troy- Did Gangster ever write rhymes for any of ya’ll.

Boo Ski- No we wrote our own lines.

Keith KC- G had books and books of rhymes.

Boo Ski- My brother would sit home and write. He will do routines and say listen to this here, or do you like this one.

Keith KC- G was the main writer out of us as mc’s. I’ll write a rhyme now and then but I was busy in the street doing wild sh–!   But G, he lived it. He was the Will I Am of our group.

Troy- That’s a good example. So you guys lived it but how did you view the Bronx m.c.’s such as the Cold Crush, Fantastic and Furious, who at that time was probably on the road because they were doing all those records. But you still had CC4, Fantastic, Cosmic and Soul Sonic Force and Funky. So how did you guys feel about those Bronx crews?

Keith KC- We wanted to be like them. The crews in Manhattan we weren’t worried about. The dudes in the Bronx were making the money.

Troy- But how did you look at them lyrically?

Boo Ski- I liked Caz of the Cold Crush he was the intelligent rapper. He will do the routines and they will follow behind, he was the man as far as that crew. I liked the other guys but when he rapped people listened. Even though other guys rapped lyrically and they rap about funny stuff street stuff whatever, but Caz really brings it to you. He is like a Moe Dee. I liked to listen to those two guys rap. (KC is in agreement.)

Troy- What about Mel?

Keith KC- Mele Mel is nice.

Boo Ski- I love Mel. I tried to go to those parties back then but my mom’s wasn’t having it.

Troy- What about Dota Rock of the Fantastic 5?

Boo Ski- Dota Rock was good.

Keith KC- Dot was okay.

Boo Ski- I liked Whipper Whip.

Keith KC- Out of Fantastic the best two to me was Kev and Rob.

Troy- Those guys were the originals, starting from the L Brothers days.

Keith KC- Yeah them dudes were nice.

Troy- Okay so you are looking more at Kev’s showmanship, and Rob definitely had some rhymes. But in my opinion it was always Dot that was the best lyrically because he had longer interesting rhymes.

Troy- Did you guys play any clubs in the Bronx or did ya’ll mostly stay in Manhattan?

Keith KC- We played the Bronx. We did the T- Connection a couple of times. We did the Ecstasy Garage as well as the Skate Palace.  We also did the Webster P.A.L..

Troy- So how did they receive ya’ll in the Bronx?

Keith KC- They loved us.

Boo Ski- Plus we were something different.

Keith KC of The Def Committee

Keith KC of The Def Committee

Keith KC- We were a breath of fresh air to them in the Bronx because they were used to seeing Cold Crush, Fantastic, Flash and Breakout and them. When we come there we shut it down. It was a time when we were in the Skating Palace over there by where Cablevision is today. It was some type of m.c. battle or convention or something like that and we were there. At the end of the battle it was us and Cold Crush, and we came up there ready. We made two sets of routines so we were ready just in case we had to battle it out with someone. We had a whole other set of routines for them. So we get up there and the crowd is Cold Crush because that’s there spot and everybody knows them, but they were loving us too because we were new and different. So they said, “It’s a tie between Def Committee and Cold Crush, do ya’ll want to battle it out or are we going to give one trophy to ya’ll and one trophy to them?” You know Master Don, “The hell with it, let’s battle it out.” (KC starts laughing.) Okay. They ended up saying no and giving Cold Crush a trophy and gave us a trophy.

Troy- So who said no?

Keith KC- They did.

Troy- Cold Crush?

Keith KC- Yeah,

(To the Reader, when I asked J.D.L. about this he laughed out loud and said impossible, we can battle right now!)

Troy- Damn. You remember this Boo Ski?

Boo Ski- Nah I…

Keith KC- You probably wasn’t there; this might have been the time of Johnny Dee.

The Def Committee with Johnny Dee and with out Boo SKi

Boo Ski- A lot of these parties even when I was with the crew I was more of the quieter guy. If I have to do something I am going to do my routine at the party and after that I am going to the crowd. I am not trying to be Mr. Agitate this or that. Just do my part and I am done and get my lil change whatever is there and I am gone with a chick I just met or I’m going home.

Troy- So Don was always amped?

Keith KC- Don stayed in the middle of conflict. (We all laughed.) He lived for that! “I’ll battle anybody, any one of ya’ll” and he will throw us right in the middle of it. Come on we going to get them!

Troy- So what bought on that beef between The Def Committee and Doug E. Fresh and The Get Fresh Crew, especially between Don and Barry?

Barry Bee          Doug E. Fresh       and Chill Will

Keith KC- I really don’t know what happen between them. It was Doug and Don talking and beefing about each other etc etc etc. To me I think Doug was on the come up. We were in his way. Like I said earlier we had Harlem on lock, we were Manhattans number one group.

Troy- So you guys were over the Treacherous Three, as well as Crash Crew?

Keith KC- Yes we were over them, Crash Crew, Fearless Four…

Troy- But what or who said ya’ll were number one?

Keith KC- That was the ranking they gave us.

Troy- Who gave it to ya’ll?

Keith KC- Mike and Dave

Troy- What?

Keith KC- Mike and Dave were doing all the parties in Harlem and they rated us number one.

Troy- Did Mike and Dave say it to you personally or did they say it over the mic in front of the crowd?

Keith KC- He said it on the mic. “This is the number one crew coming out of Manhattan. And on every flyer after that he rated us the number one crew in Manhattan, Master Don and the Def Committee M.C.’s.

Boo Ski- I remember one time we went somewhere with Mike and Dave and we were supposed to do a show with them. Pebbles got sick because of some gas leak. We didn’t perform with Pebbles. We were staying at the Marriott or the Hilton.

Troy- Moe Dee told me about this. He said him and the Treach as well as Pebbles and some other legends past out and almost died.

Boo Ski- The Crash Crew was with us also. I know we took the train down to 34th street and we took a bus out to Jersey. In fact we didn’t get any money. I happened to have some food stamps on me and went to the supermarket and bought some food. (We all burst out laughing.) Matter fact God blessed me because I did some bull crap, I didn’t have any food stamps. There was a man on the train dead a sleep. He had some food stamps sticking out his pants and when the train said ding I said dong. (Boo Ski is mimicking himself with his hand pulling back in front of us.) I had the stamps and it’s a good thing, well not a good thing, because it could have been a bad thing because the police could have been there. But then it was a good thing because no one had any money! We had just enough money to get back. No eating money, nothing. Mike and Dave had no money nothing. We didn’t’ do any show. I went to the store and we ate lovely.

Troy- So ya’ll didn’t do the show because of them getting sick. But If they had done the show ya’ll would have had money!

Boo Ski- Right.

Troy- Okay so back to Doug vs. The Def Committee. Were you there for that battle?

Boo Ski- Nah I was in the crowd but Johnny was down by that time.

Keith KC- Yeah it was on between Don and Doug but on the real Doug was my man. So I figured maybe he will let this go on the strength of me and him! So I say to him you know I am down with Don and if I have to choose a side you know which way I am going. Later on Doug was trying to get me to get down with the Get Fresh Crew.

Troy- What?

Keith KC- Yeah, Doug was trying to get me down with the Get Fresh Crew and Stevie Dee was trying to get my down with the Force MC’s too.

Troy- I didn’t know that.

Keith KC- Dudes were trying to drag me from Don. But Don was the one that bought me in, my loyalty was to him.

Troy- So how did Doug present himself to you about that?

Keith KC- This was a little bit after Def Committee broke up.

Troy- Why did you guys break up?

Keith KC- Once that Funk Box came out and we started getting that money everybody started changing. When people get that money in their hands they change. Johnny and Gangster wanted to do their own Hollywood rock and roll thing.

Troy- Those two formed the group The Marauders. Gee gave me a tape with them doing it, I heard it.

Boo Ski- The day Don and them signed the contract with Bobby Robinson they were sitting in Don’s living room and they called me and asked when am I leaving the house. I said I am on my way now. I was hanging out in the streets by this time too much.

Boo Ski- I got in a cab and got to Don’s apartment and I listened to the door and said to myself I ain’t going in there.

Troy- Why not?

Boo Ski- The streets had me bad, so I knew I knew it wouldn’t work. As well I knew it was the end of my relationship with Don, as far as the group was concern. They had Johnny Dee come in, whatever.

Troy- Where did ya’ll find Johnny Dee at?

Keith KC- On the East side. Johnny Dee use to hang out with TKA. Those were his boys.

Boo Ski- We use to go to their house on the second floor and play.

Keith KC- Yeah and they had mad equipment.

Troy- What did TKA stand for?

Keith KC- Tony, KL and A Bee. Those were the three dudes and I think they were doing a lot of work with Spectra too. Then they got on with that Dance music and they blew up.

Troy- So where are they from over on the east side?

Boo Ski- Over on 123rd 124th street, something like that.

Troy- Over by Wagner Projects, or Taino Towers on 2nd avenue?

Keith KC- Yeah from over by Wagner projects.

Boo Ski- Not Taino Towers?

Keith KC- Not Taino either but over by them.

Troy- Did Johnny make that record with TKA?

Keith KC- Nah he didn’t do it. But Mark Anthony is Johnny Dee’s cousin. So Johnny been running with him as of late.

Troy- Okay.

Keith KC- So Johnny right about now don’t care about no hip hop, he is getting that good Mark Anthony money right about now.

Troy- So back to Doug E Fresh. Doug keeps saying on the tape ya’ll keep messing with Barry Bee. That’s what it seems like, but Don went at Barry and ya’ll went at Doug.

Keith KC- Don didn’t go at Barry. Don never went at Barry. Don use to always tell Barry, “Okay you good, but everything you got you got from me.” Doug wanted to go at Don because he didn’t like the fact Don was always putting your boy Barry on blast, you know what I am saying. So he went at Don. And Don told me “Yo these dudes might try something so you better be ready for them.” I wasn’t paying that madness no mind.

Troy- Ready for what? Like somebody might put their hands on you?

Keith KC- Nah be ready to battle these dudes or whatever. So like I said I paid that no mind. First of all I was like Doug E. Fresh and them were beneath us, they want our spot. So forget them I’m not even stressing that. Plus Doug is my man. I don’t even think he is going to do that because of me. But he didn’t care he said the hell with it and he went there with it. But G was ready for Doug. G tore Doug up Troy.

Troy- He said “And those corduroys!” (KC starts laughing.)

Keith KC- G lit his ass up and that was good because every time if we do have to confront somebody I am always the one that had to get him. “Alright K go get em!” I was Don’s pit bull, rock wilder. This time it was G, which was good.

Troy- I heard you tried to do a couple of rhymes.

Keith KC- Yeah I did but you know what I said, no, I don’t need this. (KC laughs.)

Troy- Did Doug ever get on the mic and say anything.

Keith KC- Yeah Doug said some fly rhyme first.

Troy- Well I bring that up because the tape doesn’t have him saying anything before or after ya’ll, he is just speaking on Barry’s part.

Keith KC- He said some slick rhyme first about Don and then us and then G got on and that was that. Barry didn’t mess up on his cuts so it was a good look for him that day. Don was cutting on somebody else’s set once again because we didn’t have our own equipment. So it wasn’t a good day for Don. So Barry beat Don and Gangster beat Doug and that’s how we’ll sum that up.

Troy- And nothing was said after that?

Keith KC- Nothing was said after that, it was a done deal. And the only reason he beat Don was because those head phones fell, and that was the only flaw in Don’s show.

Troy- When you listen to the tape you hear Don say that was a mistake of the cut.

Keith KC- That was Johnny saying that.

Troy- I didn’t know that. So during the time of Wild Style and Beat street where were you guys? did anybody come to ya’ll about that?

Keith KC- They always go to them cats in the Bronx when they do those movies. I guess when they went to them they said we ain’t got to use the Def Committee and I guess they felt that way because we would have went in there and out shined them and they know that. Ya’ll put us on any screen, any stage, anything, it’s going to get shut down and they know so. They didn’t’ want us in there but they stole our beat and used it!

Troy- What are you referring to?

Keith KC- Okay in Beat street remember when they were in the abandon building trying to have the party and duke was hooking up the equipment and then he says okay here’s a funky beat. That’s the beat to Funk Box!

Troy- I didn’t realize that.

Keith KC- Yeah they want to use our music but not use us because they know we will out shine them. But our music was undeniable.

Troy- So Boo Ski how did you feel when you seen Beat Street?

Boo Ski- I didn’t really care let bygones be bygones. I wasn’t with the group any more.

Troy- No when I ask that question I mean how did you feel watching it, where you entertained was it a good look for hip hop.

Boo Ski- I always give props where props are due. That was a nice thing done there. As far as The Def Committee not in it, it didn’t bother me because I was no longer with them when it came out. Whenever Funk Box was made that’s when I was out of the group. What year was that?

Troy- 1982

Keith KC- 1982 we made it, but it didn’t come out till 1983.

Boo Ski- So after 82 I was done with Master Don and the Def Committee. So anything after 1982 I can’t speak about.

Troy- So you broke away from the crew but where there times you ever had love for it where you wanted to get back into it.

Boo Ski- I always said if somebody got sick and they needed another m.c. or something like that I will perform.

Troy- So are there times you did come back?

Boo Ski- No.

Troy- Never one time like travel with them on the road?

Boo Ski- No, I was kind of tight with them because they didn’t say my name on the record. (KC starts laughing.) No, “Boo Ski rock the house” nothing, those bums!. (We all start laughing.) But that’s what it was, that’s what it was! I think Don was really upset with me.

Keith KC- Yeah Don was tight with you because he really didn’t want to bring anybody else into the crew.

Boo Ski- Especially the time I put into it.

Keith KC- I mean the crew we had was tight and he really didn’t want to bring anybody in.

Boo Ski- And it didn’t sound like…I like the record but I didn’t like it because Johnny was on it, I would have sounded better, but the heck with it, what’s done is done.

Troy- But how did ya’ll guys feel about the battle between Moe and Busy Bee? Where ya’ll at Harlem World that night?

Keith KC- I was there that night!

Boo Ski- I was there also.

Keith KC- I came down with my dudes from Bronxwood Avenue. We was sitting up top skied, smoked out on some trees, wilen out chilling with Busy Bee before he got on! (KC laughs.) So like I said we were there and Busy Bee talking crazy about him being the best mc. etc etc. So he broke out from us and went down stairs and was popping more to other people. I guess him and Moe Dee got into it in the back because it wasn’t scheduled on the flyer to be a battle between the two of them.

Troy- Exactly.

Keith KC- They got into it a beef downstairs because Harlem World had that downstairs and everybody use to go down there and chill…

Troy- Hold up let me set this up for you. Moe was actually a judge for that night’s battle and when Busy was doing all that talking about him being the greatest Moe was watching…

Keith KC- Right.

Troy- Somebody said to Busy well what about Moe, and Busy said anybody! So when Busy finished his set Moe turned to Charlie Rock and said put me on next! Charlie Rock said what, you serious?

Boo Ski- Yo when Busy got off and Moe got on and said,

“Excuse me party people,

I don’t mean to be bold

but put that bob did bob bull s— on hold!”

It was a rap after that. (KC starts laughing.)

Keith KC- It was a rap after he said that, it was over.

Boo Ski- And the crowd was flipping.

Keith KC- They was blown away by that.

Boo Ski- But the thing is, is they are two different rappers. Busy Bee is more of an entertainer rapper.

Troy- That is correct. Busy Bee is a bad dude in his own right.

Boo Ski- Yes Busy is definitely a crowd pleaser.

Keith KC- Moe Dee just killed him with flow.

Troy- So who were you with that night Boo Ski?

Boo Ski- I was with a few brothers from my block. Todd, God bless him, as well as D.J. Andre and Mike Dee.

Troy- The brothers from Douglas Projects, The Untouchables crew here in Harlem?

Boo Ski- Yes, matter fact, see I use to wash cars back in the days on 108th street and I went down there to 108th street to wash two cars and Busy Bee walked with me down there before the battle that night. I was doing this Dominican brothers car and he gave me a gram of product.

Keith KC- Yo that was Boo man, Busy Bee! They use to hang out him and Busy Bee. (They both start laughing.)

Boo Ski- So I went down there and did two cars and they gave me the product and we came back to Harlem World.

Troy- So all you do is clean a car and they gave you a gram?

Boo Ski- Yeah well a gram by this time was 40 dollars, you know whatever, whatever!

Troy- That’s right a gram went from one hundred dollars to forty dollars over night it seemed like.

Boo Ski- Yeah so whenever I had no money I would say hit me off with the gram and I will do your car tomorrow.

Troy- So did you see Busy after the Moe battle?

Boo Ski- Yeah after Moe got on I seen Busy after that. He said, “Yo what’s going on.” I had a little bit left and we went to the bottom floor. Busy could go all night because he got that crazy talk and he knows who’s bringing it in. Yo I’m Busy etc etc.. But Busy was the man.

Keith KC- Yo he was the man. Yo we would go to a party just to see your man Busy Bee. I mean that’s how tight his show was. We use to go to see him and we not even performing that night, we going just to see Busy Bee.

Boo Ski- Busy Bee’s name was on every flyer out. And he was going because he was going to get every dollar he could get. Yo his name was on every flyer.

Keith KC- Me and my brother Kev use to say the hell with that we going to go see Busy Bee. We use to get with them Bronxwood dudes and those White Plains Road dudes and we going to Harlem World to see Busy Bee.

Troy- And Busy would basically say the same thing over and over but people still wanted to see him.

Keith KC- Yeah and we loved him every time!

Boo Ski- (Boo Ski mimics Busy Bee voice.) “Is it Virgo?…I don’t know what I been told but Eskimo thing is mighty cold!” All the time the same lines…

Keith KC- …and we loved it.

Boo Ski- But he was a crowd pleaser. But our crew we use to always come up with different routines. Everybody always had one or two different rhymes. I liked the routines, routines were nice, that brings out a crew, brings out a little finesse in the crew. Sitting there rhyming all day people get tired of that so you rhyme, then do routines, then you rhyme some more and that’s the end of your show.

Troy- Now the routine I really liked out of all of them was when you guys said,

“No more standing in the rain

no more trying to play the game.”

Boo ski- “If you think we rock the house that’s right because we turn it out.” (KC laughs.)

Troy- Yeah that’s a hot joint. See when ya’ll said no more standing in the rain no more playing the game, I am imagining ya’ll standing in the rain as young cats and now ya’ll coming up. There is no more standing in the rain because ya’ll are killing crews where ever you go.

Keith KC- That’s right.

Boo Ski- “Because were too good to leave a side.”

Keith KC- We go up in the spot and we shut that place down and it don’t matter who’s in there, we go in there and shut it down.

Troy- And Pebbles with that voice.

Keith KC- Ah huh.

Troy- So were you guys in there when Cold Crush went against Fantastic?

Keith KC- Yep we were there too.

Boo Ski- Yeah I was there.

Keith KC- Honestly I thought Cold Crush did a better show…

Troy- Okay let me say this Fantastic did a shorter show but they also did new routines, Cold Crush did a lot of the same routines and added new stuff here and there and only people that really followed them recognized something new was being said.

Keith KC- Well Fantastic won because they came with some new material like you said and they had the chicks. See they were pretty boys. Cold Crush wasn’t pretty.

Troy- Cold Crush had on suites holding machine guns.

Keith KC- Fantastic came in there with some tuxedoes on looking like the Rat Pack. (KC laughs.) Fantastic 5’s showmanship was better that night. Cold Crush put in more work as far as their routines, but Fantastic’s showmanship was better and I think that shined through and that’s why they won.

Troy- So after you guys who would be the best crew in Manhattan?

Keith KC- I would say Fearless Four.

Boo Ski- I thought the Crash Crew was nice. I think they had a little more spunk, Fearless Four were kind of thuggish. Crash Crew was more laid back…but they were nice. I liked the Crash Crew.

Troy- So what was your rapport with the Harlem World Crew, Charlie Rock, Son of Sam and Randy?

The Harlem World Crew: Son of Sam, Charlie Rock and Kool D.

Keith KC- They was cool I was always good with them.

Troy- And what about Fat Jack the owner of Harlem World?

Keith KC- I don’t remember ever meeting with him. We always dealt with Randy. God bless him. I went to his wake.

Boo Ski- I seen Randy before he passed.

Troy- So did Randy or Charlie Rock come to you guys saying we want you guys to perform here at Harlem World?

A Beautiful Harlem World Patron

Boo Ski- That was Don’s doings.

Keith KC- Yeah Don handled all of our business.

Troy- When you guys were scheduled to perform there you guys mostly would get there at 10, 11:00pm?

Keith KC- Yeah around that time.

Boo Ski- Yeah that’s about right and I would be walking and talking with the crowd. If they say Def Committee is about to get on stage then I would come to the front and Don would ask are we ready and we would get our microphones.

Troy- So while the show is going on in Harlem World would the floor be sectioned off where Cigar Mob is there, Casanovas over here, Zulu over there, Shack Crew over here and them Brooklyn stick up kids somewhere in the cut?!

Keith KC- Dudes were spread all around, the only time you knew who was who was when something popped off.

Boo Ski- That entrance or exit door popped open and people would be lamping at the train station, then you knew who was who.

Troy- Give me an example.

Boo Ski- Well I knew the stick up mob, as well as a couple other crews. It was segregation and if you wasn’t with anybody or from around the way cats were trying to get to that train station.

Troy- So you guys never seen any actual fights inside of Harlem World like a bar room fight?

Boo Ski- Nah

Keith KC- Nah they took care of that fast. One thing I can say is when the Force M.C.s came they were deep and they had the whole Staten Island with them.

Boo Ski- Stevie Dee showed me much respect. He use to say “Yo Boo you my man, I’m going to bring you out to where I’m at.” That’s my dude Stevie Dee.

Keith KC- That’s my man too.

Troy- So what do you think bought on that battle that you guys were suppose to have with the Force mc’s?

Keith KC- Master Don! He always wanted to battle everybody. He knows he has a squad of n—— that will go in there and shut it down and he knows how good he is and so he wanted to challenge anybody.

Boo Ski- So he wanted to battle Dr. Rock of the Force m.c.s.

Troy- So that was what it was about?

Keith KC- Yep! (They both start laughing.)

Troy- (Troy gets Stevie Dee of the Force M.C’s on the speaker phone.)

Keith KC- Stevie Dee what’s the word?

Stevie Dee- What’s good! (KC and Stevie Dee start laughing happy to hear each other.)

Troy- I also got Boo Ski here too.

Boo Ski- Stevie what’s up my dude!

Stevie Dee- What’s up Boo’s, what’s happening.

Boo Ski- Everything’s good.

Stevie Dee- Long time my brothers, long time.

Troy- Alright Stevie we were just talking about how you guys were up in Harlem World and Master Don and the Def Committee battled ya’ll and shellacked ya’ll. Do you remember that?

(Keith KC, Boo Ski starts laughing as Stevie Dee is very quiet, possibly in deep thought wondering what the hell is Troy talking about.)

Troy- Nah nah listen, check it out. I’m only joking but this part is the truth, KC and Boo Ski said they were supposed to battle ya’ll but it never happened. Do you recall that night.

Stevie Dee- I don’t recall it. What I do remember that us and them along with Doug E Fresh were always like a little package they had. We use to do a lot of stuff together but I don’t remember any kind of…or even thinking about battling.

Troy- What they were saying was Don was supposed to go against the Lord K Won?

Keith KC- No Doctor Rock.

Stevie Dee- I don’t recall it though dogs. I really don’t.

Troy- Okay it’s not a problem I always just want to get clarification.

Keith KC- Yo that wasn’t between us, that was Don. Any time we ever had a situation where we got to battle somebody its always Master Don challenging this one and that one and he would just pull us into that, because we never had no beef with ya’ll, I mean as far as us mc’s.

Stevie Dee- That was my recollection. If it did happen I don’t remember.

Keith KC- I believe that was the night Busy Bee was scheduled to battle T Ski Valley. As well you had us on their battling ya’ll and some other battles were going on. It was a night of battles. I remember it being a Phase 2 flyer.

Stevie Dee- Maybe it was one of those little set up joints.

Keith KC- You right it was probably one of those set up joints other dudes were doing and when we get there that’s the situation.

Stevie Dee- I don’t know what to tell you KC.

Boo Ski- So Stevie are you still dealing with music, because I write gospel and R&B?

Stevie Dee- Yeah well that’s good, that’s what’s up. Yeah we still doing music, we in the studio doing jams we have a CD coming out soon called Music for All Occasions. Music for Christmas, Valentine’s Day etc, for different holidays as well as regular joints on there.

Boo Ski- Okay

Stevie Dee- I don’t know if you heard it yet but we have one called Happy Valentines. It was played on the radio a couple of times; it’s a hot little joint we did. We still doing shows and in a little while we are going to have a documentary coming out. We trying to get it premiered up by you Troy, in Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem. And in that documentary we definitely mention ya’ll because ya’ll guys were one of the crews we came up with back in the days. We didn’t rock with too many cats but ya’ll was the main ones we did rock with as well as Doug E. Fresh. We were the up and coming cats in the game.

Keith KC- Right.

Stevie Dee- We both paid our dues but Cold Crush was the dudes, but we were always the next guys coming in line.

Keith KC- Yep. So when you coming back uptown?

Stevie Dee- Well we supposed to be doing a show on Rikers Island on the 12th.

Keith KC- Okay I am going to try and stay up with you. I am mad you guys don’t still have the spot on 145th street and 8th avenue. They had the office and all that.

Stevie Dee- Yes you are right. Yo I talked to Bizmark a lot and he said KC was one of the hardest cats out.

Keith KC- Well thank you Steve because for anybody to say that about me at all is a beautiful thing.

Stevie Dee- Yeah well that’s what Biz said and I have to say we all came up in the grind and its all love.

Troy- Okay Steve let me know when you come back to New York so me and you can do that thing with J.D.L…

Stevie Dee- I got you on that Troy.

Troy- Alright fam I will talk to you later on.

Boo Ski- Be easy

Keith KC- Alright Steve

Stevie Dee- Okay fellas. (Stevie Dee hangs up the phone.)

Troy- Okay you guys get together in 1979 at least and you hold off for almost two and a half years before you guys make a record. What bought it on?

Keith KC- I believe Bobby Robinson came to see us in Harlem World one night. He was talking to us and Master Don about a record deal. I think Moe Dee and them Fearless Four dudes told him about us because they were already over at Enjoy before we were.

Troy- Yeah but all of those guys were breaking out of Enjoy Records real fast. So are you sure it was them?

Keith KC- Somebody told him about us and he came and seen us. It had to be one of those two crews. So he came and after watching us he said he wanted to record us.

Troy- So what inspired the routine for Funk Box?

Keith KC- We didn’t know what the hell we were going to do but Don already had the beat.

Troy- Gangster G told me he put the jam together sitting by one of the speakers.

Keith KC- He made his song and we all came up with the Ohh and the na na na. But he made his song and whatever best rhyme that we each had at that time, we just threw it on there. We really didn’t map it out or anything.

Troy- How long did it take to make it in the studio?

Keith KC- We did that in like two or three hours.

Troy- Okay the same day.

Keith KC- Yes see every time we would go to a studio we knew before we got there what we were going to do, so we didn’t have to spend a whole bunch of time in the studio. The whole thing was, “Yo we only want to spend three hours here at the most.” You know what I am saying Troy! So they were like we only going to spend one hour rapping and two hours mixing. So we go in there and do it in one take and we would spend the majority of time mixing.

Troy- So who put that beat together, were you all included in the making of that beat?

Keith KC- Nah, Don did that. Don made that beat and said this is the beat were going to use.

Troy- Soon as you heard it you were digging it?

Keith KC- Yep and we were like yeah let’s do it.

Boo Ski- And that’s where the practice came in.

Keith KC- That’s right and the night Bobby Robinson came to see us you was with us Boo Ski.

Boo Ski- Yeah but the night ya’ll went to sign the contract I didn’t come.

Keith KC- Right.

Troy- So where did you guys sign the contract at?

Boo Ski- At Master Don’s house.

Troy- So Bobby Robinson came up there to 147th street?

Keith KC- Yeah he came all the way up there to the house.

Boo Ski- Yo I came to the front of Don’s door and I put my ear to the door and I heard them talking but you know the rest. That definitely broke my heart not to be down anymore because I was there from the beginning. I went hard with them from day one. But that’s what the streets do to you some times. God is good because I am still living.

Troy- Praise God, you absolutely right. We have all seen death a hundred times, we just haven’t been called. So Keith when did you first hear it on the radio? I’m going to give you an example. D.J. Chill Will of Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew first heard his record The Show while he was at work, working construction. It was his second day on the job, the second job he ever had in his life and it was lunch time and the record Six Minutes was playing on a portable radio someone had at the job site and when it came on he screamed out “Yo that’s me!” After work he heard it out of peoples car speakers all the way home. He never went back to work after that day. The Get Fresh Crew stayed on tour for about two years on that record. (Keith KC starts laughing.)

Keith KC- I believe I was in my house and my relatives were over and my mom’s was cooking dinner and all that. We were playing the radio in the living room and all of a sudden it came on out of nowhere on the radio! I was like, “Oh mommy that’s my song on the radio!” She was like, “What that’s the song ya’ll did?” And we all just started partying in the house; you know what I am saying! That was my first time hearing it.

Troy- So you said money changed ya’ll, how did it effect you guys?

Keith KC- Well when we got money we felt we could do what we wanted, meaning we had a problem with the unity. It was like “I got some money I don’t have to come over here, I ain’t got to do this, I don’t have to do that. I don’t have to go to practice this week. I’m going over here or I am going to do this! You know what I am saying?

Troy- How good was the money really getting because I know it wasn’t coming from Bobby, was it coming from the shows?

Keith KC- It was coming from doing the shows. We figured if we ain’t got to do any new routines or do a new show why do we have to practice all the time! We know what we got to do when we get there, let’s just go and do it! So we stopped going to practice as much as we use to and Johnny and Gangster had issues about how Don was breaking down the money, you know what I am saying. So they wanted to leave because they figured they weren’t getting all their money.

Troy- So how was Don breaking it down?

Keith KC- Any time Don had to bring his equipment like his speakers he would try and take half the money because he had to bring his equipment and he would still take a percentage out of the money for the group. They had a problem with that.

Troy- How did you feel about it?

Keith KC- I didn’t care, I was young and I was getting money. I had some money in my pocket and I was good. I really didn’t care. I wasn’t business minded at that time. I was a kid and all of them were older than me, I was the youngest in the group.

Troy- You were in high school at the time right?

Keith KC- That’s right.

Troy- So what was the feedback you got while in Evander High school after that record.

Keith KC- Man they loved me in Evander. I mean I would walk down the halls in the school and I would link up with the chicks etc. The record was like a bootie magnate for me. They would come out of the wood work saying things like we going with KC . The girls would come to my house and I would have my crew of fellas with me and we would have hooky parties with the chicks, it was cool. The girls would say we want to hang out and I would say okay we down at Harlem World or Roxy’s etc this night and they would love to come downtown to see me do the shows and then talk about it the next day at school. So it was good for me.

Troy- So how was the money as far as one night in Harlem World? There was a time you were getting your little $30 and now you got his record out and you are in a bigger place…

Keith KC- We were getting light money, we might walk away with $100 apiece in Harlem World.

Boo SKi- And that was a good night at Harlem World we was getting like you said 25 to 30 dollars.

Keith KC- But after the record came out they would throw us a couple thousand a show so we would go home with 200 maybe 400 hundred a piece and this was once the record was pumping.

Troy- So was this Harlem World when you started getting 200 to 400 dollars?

Keith KC- Nah this was Roxy, Fun House and those other clubs downtown.

Troy- So what was the biggest place you guys ever did once the record came out?

Keith KC- The Philadelphia Spectrum and we still got about 200 hundred dollars. But we were doing two and three shows a night. So our money was good. We got Friday, Saturday and sometimes Sunday we did shows.

Troy- How many songs did you guys actually do?

Keith KC- The first one we did was Got to Get you Hot.

Troy- Was this with Bobby Robinson?

Keith KC- Yes and the beat was off of Pieces of a Dream. Me and Gangster didn’t like it, we jumped on Don about that and we was like listen we understand you want a girl m.c. in the group and she’s down but she’s all over this record and we’re not. He gave Peebles the seniority on that song, she did everything on that. It was like her song and we were just on it.

Troy- So talk to me about the passing of Master Don. (Keith KC stepped away for a moment.)

Boo Ski- I was incarcerated, upstate at the time when they told me that. When I came home I went over to his mother’s house to see her as well as his sisters and brothers. I haven’t seen Reggie since I been out.

Troy- I hear you. You don’t even give me the impression you have ever did a bid, your demeanor is real calm and cool.

Boo Ski- I did a couple of bids in my life time, this last one was 30 months.

Troy- Your demeanor does not dictate that. I am around a lot of cats, I work in the law enforcement and you can just hear that stubbornness…

Boo Ski- …thuggish…

Troy- Right thuggish, “I don’t give a hell” attitude. Sometimes it’s not even done on purpose, their institutionalized and you Boo Ski don’t have that institutionalized way about yourself from what I see what so ever.

Boo Ski- Nah, see when you have children… you have it in you, but you don’t want to think that way unless it has to happen. I have a two year old and a five year old and I want them to enjoy me because I know if I am in the streets doing what I do and all of a sudden you in the bull pen the thug comes out of you and…

Troy- Yeah the bull pen is something else!

Boo Ski- Yeah the bull pen, but I’m trying to be easy right now. My son is five years old and I never seen him open up a Christmas gift. So I want to see him open up a Christmas gift this year.

Troy- I totally understand you Boo Ski. So Keith how did it make you feel hearing about the death of Master Don?

Keith KC- Aright I’m going to get to that but let me tell you about how the whole fall out with me and the Def Committee went about first. Check this out, Master Don is starting to run with Biz Markie. Peebles had a record deal with Profile and Don was working with her and they were doing different stuff.

Troy- Hold up you moving too fast how did you leave Enjoy?

Keith KC- We left Enjoy after Funk Box. And the reason why was because Bobby was dogging us with our money.

Troy- So how did ya’ll get out the contract because sometimes it is not easy?

Keith KC- Yeah well Don had to pull guns out on him and he released us. Don had him in the hall way of 207 and pulled out on him. See Bobby came over to the house to bring us some money but we didn’t take the money we just wanted to be out of our contract.

Master Don’s block, 147th street between 8th and 7th avenue.

Troy- So Bobby was bringing you guy’s money from record sales or money to try and keep you guys?

Keith KC- It was for the record sales, but it was wack money like 1000 dollars.

Troy- And the record was selling like water.

Keith KC- Right we was like we not taking that, in fact we not doing anything else with you.

Troy- So what was the total you got for that record?

Keith KC- When we first signed with Bobby Robinson he gave us a thousand dollars. He tried to come back and give us another thousand dollars after it was rolling but Don was like no we not taking that, we going to pull these guns out on Bobby and he is going to give us a release out of this contract and that’s what we did.

Troy- So he only came two times at ya’ll, with some short money?

Boo Ski- While he is killing it.

Keith KC- Yes short money. So like I was saying earlier Pebbles got her solo deal and we still had a contract at Profile as The Def Committee. So I said to Don we need to do another one. Pebbles eating, and you running with Biz and I got nothing.

Troy- What is Don actually doing with Biz, because he didn’t do any records with him?

Keith KC- Nah he didn’t do any records with him, he was just d.j.ing for Biz doing the clubs and parties with him. Don said, “Well I don’t know what you going to do.” I was like what! After all the work we did together. I said okay fine. It was a dude that lived around my block name Jazzy G. I went to his house one day and he said, “We going to make a demo song and get you your own deal.” I was like okay, sounds good. So I did a song with him off of that Grace Jones track “My Jamaican Guy!”  I did a song off of that and I started taking it around. I took it to Profile and they said okay we will get back at you.

Then I went to Dave aka Little Afrika Bambatta and he said alright. He said he was going down to Rolling Russell down at MCA come with him down there. Rolling Russell was doing promotions at MCA. I let him hear it, he likes it. Now he wants to take it to Louis Salas who was one of the big industry dudes at MCA. So as I am leaving the meeting with Rolling Russell I see your man Teddy Riley walking in. Teddy see’s me and says yo what’s up because I knew him from the hood, Harlem etc. So Teddy is like what’s good? I’m like yo I am shopping this demo tape. He asks me am I still messing with Master Don I said nah that is over. He was like listen come over to my house because I got my little brother and them and I am trying to put together a group with them.

Troy- Wrecks and Effects?

Keith KC- Yes, Wrecks and Effects. So I went up in there and he had other people trying out too. I said one rhyme for him and he sent everybody home and told them, “We got what we need!” So I got down with Teddy Riley and did the first Wrecks and Effects album with them.

I wrote that first album as well as made up the name. I gave them their style because I trained them. So I did that with them and now I am rolling with Teddy Riley and I’m getting paper. Teddy paid me and Gene Griffin made sure my money was fat every day. The thing with Don and Biz fell apart, Pebbles couldn’t do another song. I’m across the globe with Teddy Reilly. But my agreement with Teddy and Wrecks and Effect was I just left a group I don’t want to be a part of a group any more. But I will get ya’ll up and running and for me to do that I want my own deal after doing that. So I called my self bartering with Gene and Teddy. So I got them up, Wrecks and Effect is up and running.

Keith KC            Pebblee Poo     and Master Don

I said the hell with it I am going to go back and get my crew and I went back to Don and Pebbles and got a major deal through Teddy Riley and Gene Griffin and then we are going to rock the people again. Yo me Don, Pebbles and Gene Griffin are having a meeting about a new Def Committee project and Gene was with it. The meeting went good and Gene is drawing up the contracts and all that. (KC’s voice becomes loud.) A week later Don dies, I could not believe it.

Troy- But wasn’t he sick before that? His mother told me he was sick for a while before he died.

Keith KC- Yeah but at the time I didn’t know. He looked the same to me. I didn’t know he was sick at all. See we did the meeting and some beef happened between him and his girl and he went to jail and he got real sick while he was in there. When he came home from jail that’s when he passed away. So I couldn’t believe it and I am messed up. I can’t do any Wrecks in Effect anymore because I already told them I am not trying to do no group. So they up and running, Don is dead and I don’t know what Pebbles was doing at the time. But Don dying just messed me up. So I’m in a tail spin now and I don’t know if I am coming or going now. But I stayed with Gene until Teddy and him had the spit up. And after that I walked away from the game and started hustling on 145th street.

Troy- With AZ and Alpo?

Keith KC- Nah them Jamaicans dudes from 99.

Troy- Them wild brothers that would chop somebody’s head off and play soccer with it right on Edgecombe Avenue. (We all burst out laughing.)

Keith KC- That was my dude G Man. They was from up on Bronxwood avenue too and they had stores on 7th and 8th avenue. Closer to 7^th, we had one of the longest weed runs in Harlem.

Troy- Ya’ll had the Branson?

Boo Ski- Nah not Branson, that was by st. Nicholas by the touch of class place.

Keith KC- We had the 99 chocolate.

Troy- So how did you guys feel when you heard Master P using your theme for his record Make Them Say Ugh?

Keith KC- I chased Master P to the end of the earth. Bobby sold the hold Enjoy catalogue to Sylvia Robinson of Sugar Hill Records. I had a lawyer and I told him this person (Bobby Robinson.) done sold my rights and he made millions off of our work and I want my money. So my lawyer says if your name is on the original song that it came from then yes you are entitled to some money. But this dude Master P is keeping us in litigations so by the time you get your money… because they are going to have to give it to you, but by the time you get it you are going to end up owing it all out.  He says to me “So my advice to you is go back into the studio and do another one.”  I was like what? Yo what type of lawyer is you! He was like Yo that’s the way these things work because Master P got money and he can keep us in litigations.  I was like wow. And he was doing it, because my lawyer was on it. Brandon Boyd was my lawyer and he was on it. He was holler at them, getting at them, you know what I’m saying.

Troy- Did Master P ever say anything directly to you?

Keith KC- Nah I never got a chance to see him. People were telling me he was a cool dude. Cats were like if you meet him you can holler directly at him. I was like if I do see him I’m not even stressing the money, just give me a deal and let me do another one, through him. But I never seen him anywhere.

Troy- So Boo Ski where were you when you first heard Funk Box?

Boo Ski- I was at my mother’s house also. It might have been on 98.7 Kiss FM. I heard the voices. I didn’t know the beat was there beat, but I said okay when I heard their voices. My brother said its out, we made a record and its out. So when I heard it on the radio I said this is alright.

Troy- So listen how would you guys like to come back together? I’m talking about the whole crew.

Keith KC- I would love to do it.

Troy- I am talking about with Boo Ski and Johnny D together.

Keith KC- I would love to do that.

Boo Ski- That sounds nice. I would have my family there and they would love it.

Keith KC- Me and Gangster already talked about it. I am trying to put an album together right now. And just take the Def Committee everywhere I go. I still link up with R Kill of Wrecks and Effect. He has a mean studio, he made a lot of money with that Rump Shaker. So he got a mean studio but I don’t know if him and Teddy still run together but I am trying to go through R Kill to do different things. I be on the road with your man Rob Base on some of the old school joints he do. I be doing the hype man for Rob. Now he got a situation with these people at EMI and he says he wants to do an album on me! So I’m just waiting on him now.

Troy- Alright thank you my brothers.

I want to give thanks to Jeff aka Sure Shot La Rock for the flyers

Pebblee Poo and Keith KC for the pictures.

I want to thank the legendary Joe Conzo for his Cold Crush pictures.

As well as Timothy Brown sr. for his picture of D.J. Breakout.

I want to thank the Lord for my beautiful wife India and my two sons Shemar and Troy Jr. and my daughter L’Oreal.

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