{"id":3465,"date":"2011-07-01T12:21:11","date_gmt":"2011-07-01T17:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/?p=3465"},"modified":"2014-04-21T20:46:59","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T01:46:59","slug":"breakbaronfunky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/interviews\/breakbaronfunky.htm","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with DJ’s Breakout and Baron and their Funky MC’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

DJ’s Breakout and Baron
\n\"breakout\"
\nand their Funky MC’s<\/span><\/p>\n

Summer 2010<\/h2>\n

Troy- Alright my brothers I appreciate your time, first things first Breakout where were you born and raised?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Well I was born in Medical Center in Manhattan but raised in Georgia for four or five years then I came back to New York when I was\u00a0 about 6 years old.<\/p>\n

Baron- I am originally from Harlem, I was born in Harlem Hospital. I lived right on 129th street between Madison and Park Avenue over by All Saints Church. They made that movie Cotton Comes to Harlem over there.<\/p>\n

<\/h5>\n
\"cotton_comes_to_harlem\"\"come_back_charleston_blue_ver2\"<\/h5>\n
Troy- That was my joint, along with Come Back Charleston Blue.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Right, well I lived right by the Police station they had over there.<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay well you going way back because I don’t remember a Police station being over there.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Because it wasn’t, they put one in a building and made it look like a Police station for the movie.<\/p>\n

Breakout- I lived in Harlem too, on 122nd street and Manhattan Avenue right where the bus turned.<\/p>\n

Troy- You was right by Doug E. Fresh.<\/h5>\n

Breakout–<\/strong> I was about 12 at that time. We were living in an apartment and my mother was like, “Let’s move into a house.”<\/p>\n

Baron- I went to P.S. 24 on 128th street. During this time they had Busing, so I went to P.S. 6 on 82nd street and Madison Avenue. I was the only black child in the class. I moved from Harlem in 1972. My father moved us out of there because someone came through our window and my father didn’t want to kill anybody so we moved to the Bronx. I was 14 at this time.<\/p>\n

Breakout- I went to P.S. 144 while in Harlem, then we moved to Jefferson Place on Boston Road, which was 169th street and while up there I went to P.S. 2 as well as P.S. 63. I later went to Stevenson High School and that’s when I really started getting into music.<\/p>\n

Troy- So who was going to Stevenson with you?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Tony Tone, he was in one of my classes.<\/p>\n

Troy- And that’s how the two of you got so cool?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yeah because I told him I had a group. I said why don\u2019t you come hangout with me at one of my parties.<\/p>\n

Troy- What high school did you go to Baron?<\/h5>\n

Baron- I went to Brandeis. In fact all my schools were in Manhattan. I didn’t go to any in the Bronx. I went to Wagner Jr. high school on 76th street. Then I went to Commerce later known as Brandies High School on 65th street. (Across the street from Martin Luther King High School.)\u00a0 Then after spending one year there you would go up to 84th street and Columbus avenue to do the remainder of your high school time.<\/p>\n

Troy- Right I went to Brandeis and did the same thing. So did you play basketball for Brandeis?<\/h5>\n

Baron- No, I ran track for a little while.<\/p>\n

Troy- Where did the name Breakout come from?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- I had three names, one was Breakout, another was T163 and the last one was Crip. See during the time when I was break dancing with the fellas I broke my leg in karate. So every time I would break-dance they would applaud me telling me I was real good. So I told my man Doc La Rock that I had 3 names and he said, \u201cWell what do you want to do? I said pick one of them for me. He said Breakout! I said are you serious. He said yes. I said watch I am going to make that name famous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Troy- So where did the name Breakout come from?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Remember that game Breakout, well at the time it was one of my favorite games, you had a man with bricks in front of him trying to break out.<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay and this guy name Doc La Rock is not the same one down with Fantastic Five, this is a d.j. from way up in the Bronx by you that had a name?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yes your right. God bless Doc La Rock, he passed away about 6 years ago. He use to have a crew back then. We use to play hooky and go to his house and break-dance all day. (Breakout laughs.) The name T163 came from when I was in Jr. High School 163 writing on the buses.<\/p>\n

Troy- So what inspired you to do this Dj.ing thing?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Well I use to be a B- boy first, I use to break dance. I use to go to Bambaataa’s parties and listen to Bongo Rock and go bananas.<\/p>\n

Troy- What year would this be?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- It was the 70’s but I can’t remember the exact date.<\/p>\n

Baron- I can tell you. When we moved to the Bronx my older brother use to hang out with Herc and go to his parties. In order for me to go I had to help him with Herc\u2019s equipment. So I use to roll around with Herc but if I was late I had to pay to get in. I got tired of that. My brother use to spar with Herc on some karate. This was about 1976 or 77 and I knew nothing about the Bronx at this time, I was right out of high school. My brother was the one that introduced me to Breakout. At the time I had a little bit of a turntable and such in my house. Breakout had some raggedy ass speakers.<\/p>\n

Breakout- What he say?<\/p>\n

(Troy and Breakout start laughing.)<\/p>\n

Baron- You know those speakers with that white ass cork around it. So that was how me and Breakout joined together.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Matter fact when I was going to listen to Bam he was playing Bongo Rock along with the record the Pink Panther. I took my mother’s record player and another record player and went right over there to this school yard (Breakout points to the school yard right in front of us.) with my man Mark Fisher. We played one record, stop and dropped the needle on the next one with no mixer.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you had no mixer and you would play one record and when it finished you would start up another, was Bam doing the same thing or was he more sophisticated with a mixer and a turntable and equalizer?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- That is a good question I think he had a mixer.<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay so it’s safe to say Bam was doing it before you?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yes.<\/p>\n

Troy- So when you seen him doing it did you see him doing it with a mixer?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- I am not that sure. See back in those days no one from my block or area wanted to go to a Bam party because they were scared. So when I did go I was popular but I never got behind the ropes to see if he did use a mixer. I was just a B boy with my name Breakout on my pants.
\n\"breakout\"
\nPhoto from Yes yes y’all book.<\/p>\n

Troy- So when you first started you played without a mixer, you just turned the volume up and down?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- I had the record player that you pull down with the knobs on the side. I had another one with the radio on the bottom and the record player on top. I had those two that I played together and I stole my mother’s speakers and I almost got killed. I bought it outside into the school yard of P.S. 78. During that time I was doing Karate and I met Baron’s brother. He told me Baron was doing music also and he invited me over to the house. So one day I bought all my records over, I had a crate. I was buying from Downstairs Records; I was trying to get all the B boy records. Baron was like I got some.<\/p>\n

Baron- I had better records then him, I was hanging with Herc!<\/p>\n

Troy- So Baron you heard Herc, but Breakout you never heard Herc at that time?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Breakout was from further uptown.<\/p>\n

Breakout- I was from uptown, Baron was closer to Herc in the beginning.<\/p>\n

Baron- Herc lived down the block from me.<\/p>\n

Breakout- I use to play hooky from school to go to Herc’s parties. I would hang out at the Executive Playhouse over on Jerome Avenue.<\/p>\n

Baron- But that was way after, Herc use to be at the Hevalo during the early days.<\/p>\n

Troy- The Galaxy also?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Nah that was long before, we had a lot of clubs that we played in.<\/p>\n

Breakout- I remember when they robbed the Galaxy. They took the Snorkels and Corterfields and dudes were jumping out of windows. (Snorkels and Corterfields are winter coats.)<\/p>\n

Troy- Snorkels and Corterfield’s? I thought they just came for the money and jewels. I didn’t even think it was enough time to do all that.<\/h5>\n

Breakout- They came out of a van with pump shotguns and they wanted to take peoples coats and people were jumping out of the windows, I remember that.<\/p>\n

Baron- Breakout do you remember when Herc gave us a job at the Executive Play House when all that went down that same night at the Galaxy? The Executive Play House was dead because everybody was at the Galaxy. (Baron laughs but Breakout is not remembering at that moment.)<\/p>\n

Troy- So for me this is what has always been going around, who was first as a group!<\/h5>\n

Baron- Herc battled Bam all the time and I use to roll with Herc and we use to do all the high schools like Morris High and etc. and it was always Herc and Bam.<\/p>\n

Troy- So Herc use to always take out Bam because his system was stronger?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Much stronger.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did Bam ever get Herc with his records?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Never<\/p>\n

Breakout- Nah because Herc had a system<\/p>\n

Baron- And that record Apache.<\/p>\n

Troy- So was Herc the first one to play Apache?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- I wouldn’t say that because I use to go to Bam and Herc parties but I went to more Bam parties then Herc parties. Although Herc had hooky parties at the Executive Play house at 12 o’clock in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Troy- Damn so the Five-O never use to run up in there at 12 noon because you guys weren\u2019t in school? (The term Five-o means Police. The term was and still is used in the streets of New York. It came from the hit series in the 1970’s Hawaii Five-O.)<\/h5>\n

\"breakout\"
\nBreakout- No they never ran up in there or anything. Back then they didn’t have any truant officers in our area, at least I never saw any. I use to go in Stevenson High school in the morning and before lunch time I would leave school and go right into the Executive Play House.<\/p>\n

Troy- What about Bam’s mc’s?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- There weren’t any mc’s back then.<\/p>\n

Troy- Well what about Coke La Rock?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Well he was the first mc.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did you ever catch Coke La Rock say long rhymes or was he just saying shout outs?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Coke La Rock had metaphors and the way he said things it was slick, it was street.
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Troy- He told me that in an interview I did with him.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Well I am sure in his interview he gave you a little bit of what he said and that was what he said!<\/p>\n

Troy- On the real that is what he did, he gave me a couple of rhymes that he said back in the days. But he kept talking about that money, he said he was really a G money dude, he said he was getting money with Herc but he was getting more money from the streets and the streets were calling.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Yep that was what he was really about.<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: I never seen Herc or Coke play. Well I seen Herc one time in Claremont and that was like, when he was like coming to his end. Coke La Rock probably wasn’t with him by this time.<\/p>\n

Troy- Coke told me he broke out after a while, he didn’t go the whole distance with Herc. So you can actually say you was before Kevie Kev and Master Rob of the L Brothers then.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: I will say that Kev and them was out at the same time.<\/p>\n

Baron: But they wasn’t making noise right?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: S— I wasn’t making noise back then either. (KK chuckles.)<\/p>\n

Baron: Yeah you wasn’t making noise, only time when people took notice was when there was a group thing going on.<\/p>\n

Troy- Only the groups were the ones that was really making noise, not solo MCs? What about Lovebug Starski.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Lovebug and AJ? That was Flash and them prot\u00e9g\u00e9’s in those days. Flash used to play in the Dixie Club, AJ would play up there with them sometimes. AJ would play up there. AJ would be the DJ and Lovebug was the MC. It was all sold-out back then.<\/p>\n

Troy- So when it came to the crews who was first L Brothers, Furious 3 or the Funky 4?<\/h5>\n

Baron- We were first with an mc. The Voice of KK!
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Breakout- KK Rockwell.<\/p>\n

Troy- So KK was before the L Brothers?<\/h5>\n

\"breakout\"\"breakout\"
\nBaron- KK was before a group that consisted of an mc. (This was a couple years after Kool Herc and the Herculiods.) Then Busy Bee would come in and out and roll with us. He would get on the mic, this and that.<\/p>\n

Troy- KK, so you was the first with the Funky Four, who else was first during that time? Was Coke-la-Rock before you?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Well, this is who I seen–<\/p>\n

Baron: Busy B. He use to roll back and forth with us, right?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: Yeah, Busy B was out there. Busy B was definitely out there. He was like a, whatchu call them dudes?<\/p>\n

Baron: Nomad.<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: He was like a Viking. He would go crew to crew, sound system to sound system. Also, Mr. Big.<\/p>\n

Troy- Damn, I didn’t know that.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: When I use to go to Bronx River I use to see him and he wasn’t doing any rhymes, he would just talk to the crowd. Now, I remember seeing Mele Mel and Cowboy. I remember seeing them first and then all of a sudden Kid Creole appeared.<\/p>\n

Troy- So who was first between Mel and Cowboy?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: I seen them together, I don’t know who was first.<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay, did you see Caz at all over there on the other side?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: I also seen Caz but I seen him DJing at Echo Park.<\/p>\n

Troy- And we talking about the early days when you first was doing it by yourself with Funky Four.<\/h5>\n

Baron: ’77.<\/p>\n

Troy- That was the year of the black-out. Was that the first year you played with them KK?<\/h5>\n

Baron: Right after I got out of high school. I got out in June so it could have been ’76, later part.<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: That’s about right. Baron: Our first jam was Murphy Projects, remember Murphy?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: I remember.<\/p>\n

Baron- The Voice of KK. Yeah<\/p>\n

Troy- Who did you hear before you KK, to give you the idea to put rhymes together?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Well, as far as putting rhymes together, Mel and Cowboy.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you heard them guys and that’s what inspired you to rhyme?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Rhymes yes, but talking I heard Mr. Big. Dudes also during this time actually were starting to put the rhymes together like<\/p>\n

“Jack and Jill
\nwent up the hill
\nto have a little fun,”<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – Ya know what I’m saying? Like a little nursery school rhymes, ya know?<\/p>\n

Troy- Right, so mostly Mel and Cowboy. Well mostly Mel because Cowboy was also saying “throw your hands up in the air” type dude. Mel was actually saying some rhymes.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Right, well Cowboy rhymed too.<\/p>\n

Troy- So Baron how did you and Breakout know you were officially together and did Brothers Disco come before the Funky 4?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Brothers Disco came much later.<\/p>\n

Troy- After Funky 4? I thought it was the other way around.<\/h5>\n

Baron- I’m going to tell you the story. It used to be Baron and Breakout. (To the reader, this is about to get hilarious for me!)<\/p>\n

Breakout- No it didn’t.<\/p>\n

(Troy starts laughing.)<\/p>\n

Baron- (Baron starts laughing.)<\/p>\n

Breakout- He’s lying. Let me tell you because he’s lying.<\/p>\n

Baron- Yo I’m going to tell you how it went down.<\/p>\n

Troy- (Troy’s laughing.) Let me hear this.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Let me tell my story.<\/p>\n

Troy- I always thought it was Breakout first so let me hear this.<\/h5>\n

Breakout- You know the deal Troy, where the hell Baron and Breakout came from?<\/p>\n

Baron- Are you going to let me tell my story? It used to be Baron and Breakout first.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Oh my God he’s lying!
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Baron- Hold up. But Breakout’s brother Donnell aka Jazzy D said my name was too short so it switched to Breakout and Baron. But I had a trick for that; I had to let them know I was still going to take over. I came with the name Brothers Disco so there you go. Sublimely my name is still on top because I came up with Brothers Disco. (Breakout is laughing at Baron sarcastically.) So regardless of Breakout and Baron I came up with the name Brothers Disco.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Well listen to this okay!<\/p>\n

Baron- Go ahead.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Listen I was a b-boy, I had people following me.<\/p>\n

Troy- So why would they follow you?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- I use to break dance real good. Troy nobody ever said we are going to a Baron party! They always said were going to a Breakout party. I was the star of the show when it came down to D.j.ing. He use to play the little gay Soulsa bull—-. I would play the hard core s—. And they waited for me to get on.
\n\"breakout\"
\nBaron- No.<\/p>\n

Breakout- And you know I am telling the truth Baron.<\/p>\n

Baron- Yo the tapes are the evidence.<\/p>\n

Troy- Baron’s right about that.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Whatever he says is irrelevant.\u00a0 Find me a Breakout tape!<\/p>\n

Breakout- Oh my God.<\/p>\n

Troy- He has them I just gave Breakout some tapes of both of ya’ll.<\/h5>\n

Baron- With you D.j.ing?<\/p>\n

Breakout- Both of us.<\/p>\n

Baron- But who’s doing all the work?<\/p>\n

Troy- Well that is the question, who of the two of you feel is the best d.j. when it comes to cutting and scratching?<\/h5>\n

\"breakout\"
\nBreakout- We played different kinds of music.<\/p>\n

Baron- Who’s doing all the work?<\/p>\n

Breakout- He played disco.<\/p>\n

Troy- When the group would go into the routines who was the main D.J.?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- He was.<\/p>\n

Troy- And why was that?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Because they didn’t want the cuts to throw them off. I did hardcore beats no mixing.<\/p>\n

Baron- They didn’t like the Bambaataa cuts or what you call break dancing cuts.<\/p>\n

Breakout- I played for my people you understand what I’m saying. He played for the m.c.s!<\/p>\n

Baron- His people were the B-boys. My people were the m.c.s and the dancers.<\/p>\n

Breakout- They use to get me in the back of the party and get me f—— up just so I can d.j. for them. “Yo Breakout take this, take this, now what are you going to play, you going to play Bongo right, or Shaft from Africa?” So I would tell them I got them but they still would be coming at me telling me to play \u201cListen to Me.\u201d I told them I got them and all they would do is break dance.<\/p>\n

Troy- So other then The T- Connection where were the other spots?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- 226 White Plains Road. The name of the place was called The Spot.<\/p>\n

Baron- We were the Kings of uptown.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Every dj had their own area. We had uptown, Flash had down there by 138th street. Theodore and The L Brothers had 163rd and Boston Road.<\/p>\n

Baron- Flash and them also had the Black Door.<\/p>\n

Breakout- And Theodore had Duck City…(Baron said he never heard of it.) Duck City was a hooky sure nough party, nobody would go to school. The ceiling was like 5 feet high and we were young then. You can’t go there now because your head would hit the ceiling. Bam had Bronx River so all the groups were separated. Then we had a girl group called Sister Disco.
\n\"breakout\"
\nBertha aka Busy Bee of The Sister Disco<\/p>\n

Troy- So what did they actual do, were they just dancers?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Other than handing out flyers they use to hang out with us, they would all be dressed up in black and white and did a lot of cheerleading for us. Then Bam had the Zulu girls and they were ready to fight our Sister Disco girls but that got squashed before anything could jump off.<\/p>\n

Troy- How many Sister Disco members were there?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- There was about 6 of them and that\u2019s Bertha on the right in the picture but we use to call her Busy Bee. Ritchie Tee who was one of my mc’s before Funky 4 came to life was dating Bertha.
\n\"breakout\"\"breakout\"
\nRitchie Tee\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Photo by Timothy Brown<\/p>\n

Troy- And Ritchie Tee was not the owner of The T Connection he did security for you guys later on as The Funky 4?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Right.<\/p>\n

Baron- They were like our cheerleaders.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Then Bam had his security crew and we had ours which was tied together between The Boston Road crew and The Edenwald crew and it would get real sick. (To the reader there are two Boston Road Crews that did security. Breakouts Boston Road crew lived close to Breakout over by Edenwald projects but not in Edenwald Projects. The other Boston Road Crew lived in the area of 169th street and Boston Road and the held down the L Brothers and Mercedes Ladies and also had Grand Master Flash\u2019s back.)<\/p>\n

Troy- So they were cool running together, no beefing amongst themselves?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yeah that’s the only time we would bring them together.<\/p>\n

Baron- And that is why we never had any incidents at our events. It was always safe, never ever an incident.<\/p>\n

Troy- So the Boston Road Crew in Edenwald is one crew and then there is the Boston Road crew down on 169th with L Brothers. So these are two different Boston Road Crews?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith- Yes one uptown Bronx and one downtown Bronx on the eastside.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did they know of each other at all, did they ever connect?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith – No connection what so ever.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Nah to different areas, one uptown one down town.<\/p>\n

Troy- So the one uptown was down with Funky but not the one downtown?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith – That is correct.<\/p>\n

Troy- Breakout where were the Boston Road Crew from by you?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- On Seymour Avenue.<\/p>\n

Troy- How many were down up there?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- About 20 to 30.<\/p>\n

Troy- Who was the leader of the one uptown?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith – It wasn’t really any leader, they were just fellas hanging out together. We really called them the Brew Crew because they use to drink beer together. But it just ended up being called the Boston Road crew.<\/p>\n

Troy- Ok were they just as vicious as Joe Kidd and the rest of the Boston Road crew downtown?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith – No they weren’t about all that violence and all that stuff.<\/p>\n

Rodney Cee- But ya’ll have to remember Boston Road runs from 166th street all the way to Boston. So that was why Breakout and them had a Boston Road Crew too, way up there. See if you lived on say 166th and 167th and Boston Road you had your little crew and say you lived on 168th and 169th street you still had your own little crew. So each block could have had their own crew considering themselves Boston Road. Now the real thug n—— that ran around us like Joe Kidd, Easy Lance and all of them, they were like the real gangsters.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Yes. Now there were times I would break dance over in Bronx River but known of our people would go down there with me. They would say where you going tonight Breakout? I would say, “I am going to Bambaataa party and break dance do you want to go. Oh hell no you crazy they are going to kill you.” I use to tell them I’m going. I use to jump in a cab and go straight down there. Have my drink in my back pocket while waiting for Bongo Rock.
\n\"breakout\"
\nPhoto of Breakout by Timothy Brown.<\/p>\n

Troy- So there never was any beef down there for you because Bam always had your back!<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yes<\/p>\n

Baron- But that record Apache is what inspired me to want to be a dj! When I heard Herc’s speakers that booming sound had me. I use to stand in front of his speakers to feel that beat.<\/p>\n

Breakout- That record will always be a part of history. . .I would take a cab over there to Throggs Neck projects center. I use to be in b boy contests over there. Soon as I walked in there I would say to the dj you got Apache, he would say yeah and I would tell him let me know when you are going to play it and I use to wait on the bleaches for this one record.<\/p>\n

Troy- Now the Break dancing that you were doing Breakout is it similar to the break dancing they do today?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- No it was way different.<\/p>\n

Baron- The originators were the guys that use to be around Herc. The Nigger Twins, Salsa. Salsa was double jointed. People could not mess with these guys.
\n\"NIGGA<\/p>\n

Breakout- When the Spanish people took over they went to another level with it.<\/p>\n

Troy- They took it to the floor.<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yeah they would spin on their head, we never did it like that. We use to read books and pull out glasses.<\/p>\n

Troy- (Troy laughs.) Right while you were dancing?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yes, I would shake your hand or go down to the floor and play dead or do the robot. all that dumb stuff. But when the Spanish people did it they went overboard. They started spinning on their head. We can’t do that. (Breakout and Troy laughs.)<\/p>\n

Troy- How many Dune Buggies do you have?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Just that one
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Troy- How did you go about getting it?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- I went to this guys auto shop garage on Gun hill Road and he had it way in the back with a whole lot of car parts on top of it. I asked him what it was and he said it was a Dune Buggy. I said I want that and he said are you serious and I bought it for $2000. It was a 1972 Volkswagen.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Troy- Soon as you bought it you dressed it up?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yeah I put a system in there with some 6×9’s in there along with an ADS Amp along with a tape deck.<\/p>\n

Troy- I have to tell you that Dune Buggy was a part of your mystic and I said to myself Breakouts legend is getting deeper and deeper. (Troy and Breakout start laughing.)<\/h5>\n

(To the reader: in Harlem on the west side of 125th street there was a saying for a little while back in the early1980’s when someone was about to leave they would say to the other person or persons “I’m bout to “Breakout like Baron!” and that person would leave. The term is still used today where someone will say “I am Breaking out” or “He Broke out” or “Breakout n—–!”) <\/em><\/p>\n

Troy- Who did the design on the Dune Buggy<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Buddy Esquire.<\/p>\n

Troy- So there were times you would ride your Dune Buggy to the jams?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Only the outside ones if I remember correctly. A couple of years ago I took it to see Public Enemy on 125th street and they towed it, and that was the last I ever saw it.<\/p>\n

Troy- WHAT!<\/h5>\n

Breakout- I triple parked it. I had fake plates, I was riding around with fake plates for years. One time I had the glass top down and the police said I love your car but your sticker is not right so you be careful okay and I drove off. One day I went to see Public Enemy at the State Office Building on 125th street and that was all she wrote? My friend’s mother worker at the precinct on 123rd street, over there at the 28th precinct but they still wouldn’t let me get it back. They auctioned it off to the gas station on 233rd street at that Amoco station before you get on the Major Deegan. Somebody came to me and said “Yo Breakout I seen your Dune Buggy at this gas station.” I went to the station owner and told him that’s my car he said no its not. I said that\u2019s my name on the side of the car. He said give me $5000 for it. I said you can keep it. (Breakout starts laughing.) I wanted to keep it and take it to Georgia and just let it stay down there for my kids when they get older.
\n\"breakout\"
\nPhoto from Yes yes y’all book<\/p>\n

Troy- So why didn’t you try and get it from the Police at the precinct?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- They were not going to give it up. They told me I had 5 minutes to get my system and everything else out the car.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you had the Dune Buggy for almost 30 years?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yes I had it for a while. I painted it a couple times white, red etc. I had the Dune Buggy for a while with no insurance. You know you had those plates from Massachusetts that have the sticker on the outside and when it would expire I would go and get another plate.<\/p>\n

Troy- Well to be honest that buggy was suppose to go into the Hip Hop hall of Fame.<\/h5>\n

Breakout- You are right when I got on facebook everybody asked me did I still have it.<\/p>\n

Troy- Alright so bust it how did you guys meet KK Rockwell?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- KK use to live on my block on Jefferson Avenue. I use to do karate with KK and one day I asked him, I said “KK you want to m.c., you know talk on the mic?” The thing about KK he always wrote rhymes. He had a book. I said what you doing man. He said writing rhymes Breakout. I said why are you doing that, don’t worry about it. He said I got this and he just kept on writing. You know I think he got the most rhymes I have ever heard in my life.<\/p>\n

Troy- So would KK be around the same time as Cowboy? I ask you that because Coke La Rock is first and then Cowboy and Star Ski.<\/h5>\n

Breakout- I can’t tell you who was the first. I don’t have the answer for that because you will start a big war with that.<\/p>\n

Troy- Who was the second member of the Funky 4 m.c.s?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Keith<\/p>\n

Breakout- Keith Keith<\/p>\n

\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Troy- Keith what bought you in second as an mc with the crew? Were you a solo mc before you got down?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith-\u00a0 No, I wasn’t doing anything on the mic before I got down as far as rhyming. I was on Clinton avenue and KK was on Jefferson with Breakout. Breakout was from the Edenwald area but his father was from Jefferson. So me and KK hung together and we started doing gymnastics, karate and etc. From there we got into some b boying and me and KK use to go around to different parks b boying with Breakout. Being as Breakout had the equipment we started rapping on the microphone. When Breakout wasn’t at his father’s house KK would go uptown to see him. One day when I was hanging out with KK we went up to Breakouts house uptown. KK was on the mic before me but I was not that far behind him.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did you and KK do routines?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith- No, even when Sha – Rock came we were just rhyming.<\/p>\n

Troy- So Rahiem is the one that bought the routines over?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith- Yes because he had the voice and plus we use to listen to the Temptations, The Jackson 5 and stuff like that and that is what made us write the rhythm of the songs for the routines. Our first routine was from one of the Jackson 5 songs.<\/p>\n

Troy- I have a tape of ya’ll from 1978 were you guys do a routine off of the Jackson 5 as well as Crazy Eddie.<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith- Yes Crazy Eddie as well as Gilligan Island, Happy Days etc. We did a lot of routines.<\/p>\n

Troy- Who was 3rd?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Sha
\n\"breakout\"
\nPhoto from Timothy Brown<\/p>\n

Troy- And then Raheim.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Yeah Rahiem was my personnel m.c. because they use to rhyme off of Breakouts B Boy stuff. They would never get down on my records. But one day we played at these projects called Boston Secor right between Edenwald and Coop City. Right next to Boston Road. I had a secret weapon for them named Rahiem! Rahiem was original down with Shaheem and D.st and them.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Yeah Baron’s right.<\/p>\n

Baron- So Shaheem bought Rahiem to my house and Rahiem started rhyming and he had a long story. I told him you down, automatically. I said I got something for those m.c.s! So when we got to Boston Secor mouths dropped. So that’s when the group started to rhyme over all my music.<\/p>\n

Troy- So where did the name Funky 4 come from?<\/h5>\n

Baron- I don’t know where the group name came from you have to ask them<\/p>\n

Breakout- (Breakout looks to be in deep thought as he talks low.) I don’t know where that came from.<\/p>\n

Baron- I never asked about that. The Funky 4, I don’t know. (We all start laughing.)<\/p>\n

Breakout- Now he got me thinking about that.<\/p>\n

Baron- You better ask KK<\/p>\n

Breakout- I’m like where the f— did it come from!<\/p>\n

Troy- But your saying the Brothers Disco came after The Funky 4 name?<\/h5>\n

Baron- After, later.<\/p>\n

Troy- Why?<\/h5>\n

Baron- That’s me. (Baron points to his shirt which has a Brothers Disco flyer on it.) See how slick I got. Breakout, Baron, Brothers Disco.<\/p>\n

Troy- So what does that mean, what are you saying sublimely?<\/h5>\n

Baron- He is not going to admit it to you Troy but long ago there was a flyer.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Can you read the shirt again Troy please. (Troy and Breakout laugh.)<\/p>\n

Baron- You can ask KK…long long time…<\/p>\n

Breakout- \u2026Hold up what does the shirt say. I want you to read it Troy…What does it say.<\/p>\n

Troy- Brothers Disco Breakout…<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Stop!<\/p>\n

(All of us laugh. Breakout has a hell of a sense of humor.)<\/p>\n

Breakout- All the oldschool flyers have Breakout and Baron.<\/p>\n

Troy- Ya’ll some funny dudes.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Ask KK, a long time ago there was a flyer that had D.J. Baron and D.J. Breakout. Not many.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Yeah probably the ones you wrote and made up. (We all laugh.)<\/p>\n

Baron- Yeah my brother Monie was making the flyers before Buddy Esquire was.
\n\"buddyesquire067\"
\nBreakout- So I look at the flyer and I say no one is going to come to this party. Why because your name is first! (Breakout laughs.)<\/p>\n

Baron- Before there was a Buddy my brother was doing flyers.<\/p>\n

Troy- So was there ever a time the Brothers Disco would do a party separate from the Funky 4 m.cs?<\/h5>\n

Breakout and Baron- Never.<\/p>\n

Breakout- There was a time when it was all about the d.j.s. and then the m.c.s came and it was all about the m.c.s. First we were paying them.<\/p>\n

Baron- And it wasn’t about the m.c.s until the rap records came out.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Right. I remember one time me and Flash were on tour and The Furious 5 told Flash, \u201cWere paying you!\u201d So Funky follows suit and say, “Yo Breakout we’re paying you!” Me and Flash start talking and we say \u201cyou see this s—, we said we started this s— (Breakout slams his fist down on the table as he says it.) now they saying they want to pay us.\u201d I said f— them. That was when the Furious and Funky almost had a fight on the tour bus and I sat back and didn’t say anything.<\/p>\n

Troy- Why did they almost have a fight?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Well it was about who could rock who and stuff like that and who was going on first and this one is going on second. Petty stuff you know we use to get mad at each other because one time we were on tour and some dude after the show ran off with the money and we chased him through the parking lot. And that happens when you are on the tour for so many days with the same people around you. So with a whole bunch of guys around you you are going to get into an argument. Now when you finally get to the place we are suppose to perform they use to treat us like Michael Jackson screaming, “Their goes one, there goes another.” They use to treat you like you were really famous. Then when you get back to the Bronx and they treat you like s—. (Breakout and Troy start laughing.) But you know hip hop started in the Bronx so everybody got used to us. But when we first started playing with the Sugar Hill Gang that s— was real big. Every concert sold out and we would get up there and perform for three minutes.<\/p>\n

Troy- You guys would travel from one city to the next and just do 3 minutes and be out to the next city?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yes that\u2019s it, everything was timed. Whom ever was on first people would be on the side talking about, \u201cThat\u2019s it that\u2019s it\u201d when you finish your set. Everything had to be timed perfect. I was making like $600 every 3 minutes.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you were able to save your money by the time you got back to the Bronx or you would burn it before you got home? (Breakout laughs.)<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Sometimes I burned it. (He keeps laughing.) Sometimes you burned it because you be out there partying. Sometimes you go shopping on the road, so you leave with a little bag and come back with a big bag buying everything. They had free food for us too.<\/p>\n

Troy- So what was the best city or state for you?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- They were all good but Philadelphia was wild because they use to fight, they were very similar to New York with their screaming and fighting right in the audience while we or others were performing. They would never bring the drama to us but damn they use to be wild over there in Philadelphia. It use to make me think about the Audubon. One night we were playing at the Audubon as well as Flash and they had a big fight in there, someone screamed and a big fight started and people ran and all you seen were a whole bunch of shoes like at least 500 pairs of shoes In the middle of the floor.<\/p>\n

Troy- People ran out of their shoes!<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Ran out of their damn shoes.<\/p>\n

Troy- Do you remember who was getting ready to fight between Funky and Furious on that bus?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- It was Rodney\u2026it was Rodney because he has the biggest mouth. (Breakout laughs.) Rodney and Mel because they always use to talk a lot. Cowboy would be in and out of it. But the Furious stuck together better then the Funky. Even though they didn’t like each other at certain times they still stuck together.<\/p>\n

Baron- They also asked me to go with them on tour but I was fed up with the whole thing.<\/p>\n

Breakout- The Brothers Disco thing came because it was me and Baron and then Donnell aka Jazzy D wanted to be the manager and we also had the Sister Disco. So it was so big that we had to change the name because it couldn’t just be a Breakout party any more we called it Brothers Disco. Basically it was too many people.<\/p>\n

Troy- Alright once you, Baron and The Funky 4 m.cs were established I know the system was called the Mighty Sasquatch but what was in that unit of the Sasquatch?<\/h5>\n

Baron- We had a GLI, 38 mixer. Everything was top of the line.
\n\"breakout\"
\nOriginal Sasquatch GLI 3880 Mixer<\/p>\n

Breakout- What was the turntables…S\u2026<\/p>\n

Baron- \u2026SL 1500’s. We had Altec speakers. And some double 15’s<\/p>\n

Breakout- And some gauss speakers.<\/p>\n

Baron- BGW power amps, all BGW systems.<\/p>\n

Troy- How did ya’ll know to buy this beautiful type of equipment? Check it out you know cats were taking pieces here and there all over the Bronx but then you had guys like D.J. Plummer who actually worked at an audio store, so he knew a lot about equipment. So how did you guys know about it.<\/h5>\n

Baron- I was a system head then and I am a system head now. I went to parties downtown like Nell Gwen, Superstar Cafeteria. I went to all those clubs downtown and that’s how I knew. I use to go to Harvey Sounds downtown in Times Square on 45th street.<\/p>\n

Breakout- But do you remember Altec’s, we went there and got the garbage cans.<\/p>\n

Baron- Nah the garbage cans came from me getting the Discotheque magazines. From there we went to see this white boy on 15th street and 6th avenue. They were selling the BGW’s, that’s where we got the 750’s. Donnell was getting the money from Breakouts father. So we went downtown and this white boy had these garbage cans with some Gauss speakers in them. Sorry to say we never took a picture of that. The museum would have paid a ton of money.
\nBreakout- I know the first time we got them we went to Boston Secor projects and we played against these guys known as Aaron and Leo. They played on one side and we played on the other. So we go, “Testing one two and they go one two.” So we said, “Are you ready” and we played We will Rock you by Queen. We tore that s— up. Then I played Paradise is very nice. The speakers were going crazy, we tore that place up.
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Troy- So Aaron and Leo couldn’t touch you guys?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Couldn’t touch us. They couldn’t turn their system back on any more. We shut them right down. When Aaron see’s me today he always talks about that.<\/p>\n

Troy- Who named the equipment The Might Sasquatch?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- I don’t know who named it but it came a time where we had to name it something. It happened once we got those garbage can speakers.<\/p>\n

Baron- We were the only crew in the city with the unique garbage can speakers. Nobody ever had that uptown that I knew of.<\/p>\n

Breakout- See Troy when Baron played he had his mellow music and whenever I played they use to be so mad at me that they would have tape on the volume so I couldn’t turn it up. Baron would turn his head and I would turn the music up crazy loud. (We all laugh.) I would say ready and then I start playing the b boy records. \u201cBAMMM!\u201d\u2026 and after every party somebody would say Breakout done blew the speakers!<\/p>\n

Troy- Every time you use to blow out those speakers who fixed those woofers, you or did you have to take them to the store to be fixed.<\/h5>\n

Breakout- We had to take them back to the store. You do the cones by taking the speaker out, take it downtown and do the cone all over.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how much would the cone cost to be fixed?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- About $90. What happens is the cone freezes, it doesn’t move any more. Hard as a rock so they take the cone out and change it.<\/p>\n

Troy- So why would the cone be hard as I rock I thought it would break or get a hole in it.<\/h5>\n

Breakout- You burned it out, you played it so loud that when it jumps out it won’t come back. If you ever watch a speaker it goes in and out when the music is coming through it, when the bass is too loud it shorts out and it freezes right there.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how many woofers you blew out?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- (Breakout laughs) They use to hate me because every time they would turn their back I would turn it up. I liked it real loud; you blow a speaker, a tweeter, a horn. Something was always blowing. It was very rare you do a party and nothing goes wrong.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how many do you think you blew?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- (Breakout responds very sheepishly.) 20!<\/p>\n

Troy- Damn 20, and that\u2019s all you?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- (Breakout laughs.) About 20, yeah.<\/p>\n

Troy- That\u2019s almost $2000 on speaker repair alone?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Easy. We use to blow the speakers just about every party.<\/p>\n

Troy- You keep saying we, it was you. (We both laugh.)<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Nah it was me. It was really me.<\/p>\n

Troy- So to you Baron who were the guys you would see downtown and you would say, “I like his system?”<\/h5>\n

Baron- Flowers. He was the original Grand Master.<\/p>\n

Troy- That is what some people say. Did you see Plummer or Maboya.<\/h5>\n

Baron- I problem seen them, but I remember one guy would d.j. with just reel to reels.<\/p>\n

Troy- Right. I believe his name is QJ.<\/h5>\n

\"breakout\"
\nBaron- Well he came up to the Star Dust Ball room one night and djed with reels. I don’t remember his name but he was from Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Troy- Exactly.<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Reel to reel?<\/p>\n

Troy- Yes.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Yes and he was nice mixing and he was on time. You don’t remember that Breakout, he came to the Star Dust Ball room one night.<\/p>\n

Troy- So basically Breakout’s father was funding this equipment for you guys?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Yeah as far as the up to date stuff.<\/p>\n

Breakout- We really took off once we got with Bambaataa<\/p>\n

Baron- We had some double bass bens. We had four of them.<\/p>\n

Breakout- We would play with Bambaataa after the party and we would be right here in my kitchen all night counting dollar bills. Because it was two dollars for girls and three for guys and we all got paid a little bit of money, so I ask my brother what should we do and my brother said buy more equipment.<\/p>\n

Baron- See what happen was we did a party at Evander High school and we were still messing with guitar amps or bass amps, even Bambaataa. The place was packed and the police came\u2026<\/p>\n

Breakout- \u2026and then the fire department.<\/p>\n

Baron- Disco Mario had a power amp and Bam went to him for it. We weren’t even finished our set Bam plays the power amp and BOOOOM, Bam drowned the s— out of us.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you guys went back to the drawing board?<\/h5>\n

Baron- That night Jazzy D said we are going to get some equipment. We went to the Discotech magazine and the next day we were down on 15th street and 6th avenue.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Are they still there?<\/p>\n

Baron- Nah.<\/p>\n

Troy- So now with this big system were you two ready to go against Herc?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Yes.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did you ever go against him?<\/h5>\n

Baron- We did but we played with him.<\/p>\n

Troy- Was it basically even or one took out the other?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Herc said to us one day, “Ya’ll getting up there, ya\u2019ll sounding good!” See Herc was real strict.\u00a0 I was like alright.
\n\"breakout\"
\nBaron- Well he really didn’t want to admit it but we were already there!<\/p>\n

Troy- Well what does that mean he was strict?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Herc only had two people behind his rope. Everything taped down. You can’t do this, you can’t go over there. “Who are you, get behind the ropes.” Herc was strict. Bam had a hundred people behind his ropes; we had a hundred people behind our ropes. Herc was strict; you could not do that with Herc. Nobody was getting on the mic with Herc. We let anybody get on the mic. Herc, \u201cNo no no!\u201d<\/p>\n

Troy- Herc was his own enforcer?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yes man.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did any of you guys ever see Herc put in any work as far as beating up some one that violated?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Nah<\/p>\n

Baron- No…Herc was a giant back in those days.<\/p>\n

Breakout- He’s still cut up.<\/p>\n

Troy- Alright your system is ready as well as your m.cs what bought on the battle with Furious 4? Was the battle over supremacy of the two crews or to take Rahiem? In fact did you guys know Rahiem wanted to leave?<\/h5>\n

Baron- We didn’t know. I do have to say that he was probably contemplating on what to do because the money wasn’t right.<\/p>\n

Troy- The money wasn\u2019t right coming from you and Breakout? Why is that? You guys were getting money. Were you dropping all the money into the system?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yes.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how much did you guys need to keep pouring it into the system?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- The m.c.’s were getting mad because they said they weren’t getting enough money, but we kept telling them we need this and we need that. One day we bought them their own mics with their own carrying case. Which were white little boxes.<\/p>\n

Baron- And when they were bad we took the mics to f— with them.<\/p>\n

Troy- What bought on this disciplinary action?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- A lot of times it was because they didn’t show up for rehearsal or they came late.<\/p>\n

Troy- And rehearsal was always here in your house Breakout?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yeah in the basement. Baron’s house too but I use to hate going over to Baron’s house though.<\/p>\n

Baron- Well most of the equipment was mine so some of the time I would bring it over to his house and he use to want to keep it! I would go home to nothing.
\n\"breakout\"
\nBreakout- That use to be a big fight after the party. First question would be where is the equipment going! I would say it’s going to my house and all I was going to do is break dance. If it goes to his house and it’s time to practice I would have to go all the way over to his house on the 4 train. Then I had to walk down these long stair cases of stairs.<\/p>\n

Baron- But to go to Breakout’s house was like going to Westchester County!<\/p>\n

Troy- Westchester County, damn! (Me and Breakout laughed.)<\/h5>\n

Baron- Well to be honest this use to be Westchester County back in the days.<\/p>\n

Troy So you guys never worked it out so the both of you would always have pieces of equipment to always be able to entertain yourselves?<\/h5>\n

Baron- No because he’s lazy.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Well he can take everything but you need two turntables.<\/p>\n

Baron- Well I think he had two turntables but he didn’t have a mixer…<\/p>\n

Breakout- And I wanted my s— to be loud and my mother use to go bananas. My mother would be at the top of the stairs saying, “don’t you hear me calling you.” And the record would be scratching. (Breakout mimics the sound of a break record and laughs.) My mother would come down in the basement and pull every plug out of the wall.
\n\"breakout\"
\nBaron- My family was more understanding so when I had the equipment we use to bang the hell out of it.<\/p>\n

Breakout- And Baron lived upstairs while his parents lived under him. I was the direct opposite with my sound coming out of the basement of our house. My mother use to say I had the glass and plates in the living room shaking. See I use to be down there drinking some 40’s with my crew and we use to practice break dancing.<\/p>\n

Baron- Yeah Breakout use to run with a crew called the 40 Crew out of Boston Road.<\/p>\n

Troy- 40’s? That was quarts of beer at that time.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Nah 40’s<\/p>\n

Troy- 40’s didn’t come around until about 1984 I think.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Nah before that, where you been at?<\/p>\n

Troy- Harlem. 125th. We had quarts of beer. (Breakout is laughing.)<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yeah well they all had 40’s of Olde E!<\/p>\n

Troy- Well I don’t recall seeing 40’s until about 84 maybe. And I drank Olde E too but Private Stock later was my favorite. So let me get to this question about you guys and the Furious 4. Wasn’t Edenwald and The Boston Road Crew there that night of the battle, weren’t they ready to go against the Casanova’s that night.<\/h5>\n

Breakout- No<\/p>\n

Baron- No, they weren’t there. We were there by ourselves.<\/p>\n

Troy- Why?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Well at that time Boston Road Crew and Edenwald weren’t getting along. We did a lot of parties at Edenwald so when I would be there they would be my crew. When I would do other parties I would take The Boston Road Crew with me.<\/p>\n

Troy- And you guys didn’t take any one when you went against the Furious Four?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- No.<\/p>\n

Troy- Why not if you knew The Casanova’s were going to be there?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Casanova’s never bothered us.<\/p>\n

Baron- Rahiem was already contemplating on leaving us. One time we did a little block party on Jefferson Place and The Furious showed up and started scoping Rahiem.<\/p>\n

Troy- So would you say this is a couple of months before the actual battle?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Yes I would say a couple of months.<\/p>\n

Breakout- I think Rahiem wanted to go any way. But when he left it was no problem.<\/p>\n

Baron- Rahiem was the leader of the group.<\/p>\n

Troy- The boy was nasty on the mic. He was the one that put all those routines together?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yes and he use to sing a lot.<\/p>\n

Troy- So still what bought on that battle?<\/h5>\n

Baron- I think it was Ray Chandler. They wanted to get us together.
\n\"breakout\"
\nRay Chandler<\/p>\n

Breakout- Everybody wanted to see it.<\/p>\n

Troy- Why?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- The top groups.<\/p>\n

Baron- They wanted to distinguish who was better then who.<\/p>\n

Troy- Weren’t Flash and The Furious a little bit older then you guys?<\/h5>\n

Baron- No.<\/p>\n

Troy- Well you and Breakout were close in age to them.<\/h5>\n

Baron- I am older then all of them except Flash who probably has me by two years. I got Breakout by two years.<\/p>\n

Troy- All those years I always thought it was the other way around where Breakout was older then Baron. See Baron always gave me the impression of a more quite laid back younger person.<\/h5>\n

\"breakout\"
\nBreakout- Because Baron got that age on him that’s why he looks laid back.<\/p>\n

Troy- Nah (We all start laughing.) So Ray Chandler came to you guys and said lets do this?<\/h5>\n

Baron- I think he approached Breakout\u2019s brother.<\/p>\n

Breakout- I am not sure I think it was my brother Jazzy. You need to interview Jazzy too.<\/p>\n

Troy- Alright, so the battle starts and the Funky 4 mc.s freeze up. What happened?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Rahiem froze up.<\/p>\n

Troy- Well I was under the impression the other mc’s froze up. So what did happen that night?<\/h5>\n

Baron- You have to ask the mc’s what happen that night, see I was very frustrated that night.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Troy- You two were still djing that night right?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Yes.<\/p>\n

Troy- Who was the dj for the battle that night?<\/h5>\n

Baron-\u00a0 I was the dj but I don’t know what the hell happened.<\/p>\n

Troy- I heard it came close to a fight right on the stage and all of ya’ll were about to get busy and even D.J. Tony Tone who was running with ya’ll before he started Cold Crush pulled out a burner.<\/h5>\n

\"breakout\"
\nPhoto from Timothy Brown<\/p>\n

Baron- Yes all of that. Tone bought it to a halt.<\/p>\n

Troy- So KK what happened that night when ya\u2019ll went against The Furious Four that night? Can I get it word for word, if you can remember for me, because I hear so many different stories, man. Raheim wanted to go to the Furious Four, the Casanovas intimidated ya\u2019ll. They said that your guys didn\u2019t want to MC and Raheim ended up MC-ing by himself. I\u2019m getting four and five different stories.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell- We had rehearsed for a while.<\/p>\n

Troy- Hold on, KK. Who put the party together? If you remember that part.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Jazzy D did.<\/p>\n

Baron- I think Ray Chandler approached Jazzy.<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay and why? Why did ya\u2019ll want to face them or did they came to ya\u2019ll?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Um, we wanted to play with them. We let them play with us.<\/p>\n

Troy- No, no, not play with them I’m talking about battle them.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Battle them, yeah. Well that\u2019s what we called it back then.<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay, I gotchu. I never knew that.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – So, Ray Chandler didn\u2019t want them to play with us. Because he said that we didn\u2019t have enough clientele yet. Most of the people that came would be the Furious clientele so we ain\u2019t bringing anything to the table.\u00a0 But the Furious Four knew that we were making noise and they wanted to kill that noise. They wanted to show everybody that they were the best, “It don’t make no sense in ya\u2019ll keep talking about this Funky Four, know what I\u2019m saying, so we will kill them now and get this over with.”<\/p>\n

Troy- That\u2019s how it was? That\u2019s how the streets was talking at that moment?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – That\u2019s how they was talking.<\/p>\n

Troy- And that was mostly Mel or who?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – That was all of them.<\/p>\n

Troy- Man, ya\u2019ll was banging like that and they really started thinking like that. So what about the L Brothers at that time? What kind of noise were they making?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Troy you better find out what happened that night, man.<\/p>\n

Troy- (Troy starts laughing at what Baron said.)<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – The L Brothers was out, they was doing their thing, you know what I\u2019m saying\u2019? But I guess the Furious were just hearing a little bit more about us, you know what I\u2019m saying\u2019? So they came to us like \u201cYo, let\u2019s do this. Ray Chandler don\u2019t want us to do this but we going to play with\u00a0 ya\u2019ll.\u201d Matter fact, they was sneaking and doing it. How they thought they could do that, I\u2019ll never know.<\/p>\n

Troy- Right, right, right. Cause everybody is going\u2019 to be there.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Right and they’re going to give out flyers? So when the night finally came, we let them go first, ya know what I\u2019m saying? They did everything they had. They did the beatbox, all the dance routines. Everything we knew they was going to do, they did. But we sat and we watched them. We was like ok, you finished now? Now was our time. So all through the night, Raheim kept complain\u2019 about his voice \u201cYo something’s wrong with my voice. Oh, oh, my voice\u2026oh, oh, my voice.\u201d So, I didn\u2019t really pay too much attention to it. But then, when it was time for us to go on, he said \u201cYo, I don\u2019t want to do it.\u201d We all looked at each like \u201cWhat do you mean you don\u2019t want to do it?,\u201d\u00a0 He just said \u201cI don\u2019t feel good, I don\u2019t want to do it.\u201d So we were just standing on the wall just looking at each other and we didn\u2019t get on\u2014that\u2019s how disgusted we were. Then out of nowhere Rahiem gets on the mic and starts rapping. So me and Keith are really looking at him. Sha was looking at him too, everybody was looking at him, Breakout, Baron. We was like you suppose to be sick, ya know what I\u2019m saying? That night Jazzy D wound up getting in a fight with some of the Casanovas.<\/p>\n

Troy- Right, Baron said that but Breakout doesn\u2019t remember.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – You know that story Troy?<\/p>\n

Troy- No he didn\u2019t go all the way into it but why did they have a fight?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Because Ray Chandler was like \u201cWell that\u2019s my crew and I deserve some of this money from this party\u201d and Jazzy was like, \u201cNo you don\u2019t,\u201d \u00a0So Ray had already told his crew that, “if they act funny with the money make trouble.” So that\u2019s what they did they started the trouble. So they broke-up the little issue on stage and they took Jazzy downstairs in this room and Ray Chandler was like, “Well Jazzy get in the ring with him-you and him fight.<\/p>\n

Troy- Who was Jazzy suppose to fight?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – I am not sure who he was but the fight didn’t go down and Jazzy gave Ray Chandler a few dollars.<\/p>\n

Troy- Now Tony Tone got involved as well?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Yes because they started pulling out guns. And Tone was trying to keep them at bay.<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – I don’t remember what happen with Tone but usually our security always have some type of weapon with us but this particular night nobody bought anything.<\/p>\n

Troy- So who was the crew that was there?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – The crew from Edenwald Projects but they didn’t have any weapons.<\/p>\n

Troy- So once Rahiem says all these rhymes what happen after that?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Well we talked about what happened because we felt like he let us down. But even before that night Raheim use to sing the Furious 4’s routines around us. And I use to always say why are you always doing that, they the enemy! When I asked him why he is always singing that he said, I just like it.” Come to find out years later he had thoughts of going to them.<\/p>\n

Keith Keith- Yeah his style started changing. His cloths started changing and he wasn’t really into Funky. He\u00a0 was into the Rhinestones and all that.<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – So, after the P.A.L. incident and I think this was during the summer time he would play on other peoples\u2019 sets, which we didn\u2019t really do. And I kind of told him, yo cut that out. But he kept doing it. So me and Keith, we went to Raheim\u2019s house and we said \u201cYo, you out the group.\u201d And he said, nonchalantly, \u201cCool.\u201d And he went to the Furious after that.<\/p>\n

Troy- How long you think it took him-like the next day he was running with them?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – It wasn\u2019t that long.<\/p>\n

Troy- Do you remember the next time ya\u2019ll seen each other once he became a Furious Five member?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Um, I can\u2019t be 100% sure but by the time we got Rodney and Jeff. See Grand Master Flash and them didn\u2019t have a sound system that summer.<\/p>\n

Troy- Oh, that\u2019s when Charlie Chase ended up being their DJ and Flash went solo for a minute because they was mad about that money situation. So that\u2019s what you mean when they didn\u2019t have a system?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Right. !979, summer of \u201879.<\/p>\n

Troy- Right, right, right.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – And that\u2019s when the new and improved Funky Four came out. And we played all over that summer.<\/p>\n

Troy- And ya\u2019ll had to talk Sha-rock into coming back into the group?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Right, Sha had left because we let Raheim go. She said \u201cWhat are ya\u2019ll crazy letting Raheim go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Troy- Did ya\u2019ll have to explain to her that it looked like Rahiem didn\u2019t really want to be with the Funky any more?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Yeah, yeah we did, but she was real close to Raheim. So she took a hiatus for a while. She was like \u201cYo, I\u2019m just going to chill for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Troy- Although the mc’s were supposed to go at each other. Did one of ya’ll go at Flash on the turntables in the battle with Furious?<\/h5>\n

Baron- No.<\/p>\n

Troy- The mc’s went at each other, didn’t you guys have to show your talents were the dj’s went against the dj’s?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Nah it was all about the mc’s, it was a battle between them not us. See believe it or not I don’t think Rahiem wanted to come back and the mc’s didn’t want him back any way.<\/p>\n

Troy- So did you or Breakout try and talk him into staying?<\/h5>\n

Baron- The mc’s already decided, “yo he’s out!” There’s no talking that was a group thing. The mc’s were a group, me and Breakout didn’t have anything to do with that.<\/p>\n

Troy- But Baron that was originally your crew. That was you and Breakout’s mc’s!<\/h5>\n

Baron- That was my mc’s but it got to a point Rahiem wasn’t even talking to me. Well the mc’s could really tell you the truth. Rahiem wanted to come back but they wouldn’t let him come back and it was an emergency, we had a block party coming up and we were down an mc and Sha wasn’t there either. So I had an emergency interview and I interviewed Special K. Special K came to my house and I don’t know what was wrong with him but at the time but he didn’t sound too good. I said yo you have to practice more K. I said you are okay but you have to practice more. So KK bought Rodney and Jeff to my house. Rodney got on first and he was banging and then Jeff got on. Rodney said I am not getting down without Jeff. So there we have it the Funky 4.
\n\"breakout\"
\nBreakout- It wasn’t like that Baron. We had an mc try out because everybody knew Rahiem was no longer with us. At my birthday party at 118 Park over on Southern Boulevard along with the Ching Alings gang, who was there\u2026<\/p>\n

Baron- No but they came to my house first\u2026<\/p>\n

Breakout- No we had an m.c. try out.<\/p>\n

Baron- At my house\u2026<\/p>\n

Breakout- We did not say they were down at your house we said they were down at the party because many people were trying out to see if they could be down with us.<\/p>\n

Baron- Oh okay.<\/p>\n

Breakout- You couldn’t say they were down by yourself we all had to agree together. That\u2019s when Rodney and Jeff came and they did that Got to be Real routine back and forth. I said let’s get them and then we all said yeah let’s get them they rocked and everybody said yeahhhh.<\/p>\n

Troy- That doesn’t sound familiar Baron?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Come on Baron let’s get it together!<\/p>\n

Baron- Well\u2026(Breakout starts laughing.) put it this way they came to my house first to do their thing, then let me approve if they were good enough or not ok. I said they were good enough to be down.<\/p>\n

Troy- From what Rodney Cee told me in the past the reason why Special K didn’t make it was because he had the letter K in his name, so that wasn’t going to work because it was KK Rockwell and Keith Keith, so there were too many K’s.<\/h5>\n

Baron- That’s not why.<\/p>\n

Troy- Maybe that was part of the reason.<\/h5>\n

Baron- I heard Special K and at the time and I had an ear for it. I wasn’t with it. KK probably felt in his mind he really didn’t want him because he is a K! I didn’t think about that at the time I just said nah.<\/p>\n

Troy- So what came across your mind when you guys seen him get on with the Treacherous 3?<\/h5>\n

Baron- To be honest I didn’t even know he got down with Kool Moe Dee. But as time went by I found out he found a place to be.<\/p>\n

Troy- So once Rodney and Jeff gets down how did Bobby Robinson approach you guys to make your first record?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- My brother had something to do with that as well as Errol aka Pumpkin.
\n\"silfox30\"<\/p>\n

Troy- So how cool were you guys with Pumpkin?<\/h5>\n

Baron- He lived right around the corner from here.<\/p>\n

Breakout- That was my man. The baddest drummer of all time, the baddest drummer.<\/p>\n

Troy- So Breakout you knew him from when you guys were little boys?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yes<\/p>\n

Troy- Ya’ll about the same age?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- Yes. His brother still plays. Yo KK who came up with the name the Funky 4?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – The name was on a shirt Rodney Cee use to wear.<\/p>\n

Baron- RODNEY????? Yo wo wo wo. The Funky 4 man!?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – Yeah<\/p>\n

Baron- Before Rodney became Funky 4 he had a shirt?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – Yeah him Cowboy and these two other guys they use to call themselves the Funky 4, they weren’t no rap group or anything like that it was just a little hangout crew.<\/p>\n

Baron- Oh, so who actually came up and said we are going to be the Funky 4, you?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – I said it.<\/p>\n

Baron- Okay because we didn’t know where the name came from.<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – Remember Heatwaves record, well on the record they use to say, “Because were the Funky 4.” (Later on Lil Rodney Cee said it came from the record “Ain’t No Half Steppin” on the “Too Hot to Handle album.” 1976.)
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Troy- Cowboy! Damn Rodney Cee and Cowboy together calling themselves the Funky 4. Who were the other two?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Shotgun Rob and Sacoya.<\/p>\n

Troy- So Shotgun Rob was down with D.J. Stevie Steve and Rodney Cee’s Magnificent 7 of the Bronx.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Right but that was the older brother. Lil Shotgun was the one down with Stevie Steve and The Magnificent 7. That was his little brother. Like I said they were just a hang out crew and Rodney decided to get the shirt.<\/p>\n

Troy- So Rodney how long did you know Cowboy?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- I met Cowboy in 1975. I use to hang out with Shotgun Rob. Shotgun Rob took me around Cowboy because they were cool. From their I met this guy Secoya Walker and Vince Vince. They became the Funky 4 and I was plus one more.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you got to see Cowboy in the early days touch the mic?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Yes Cowboy was actually the first person I ever seen touch the mic.<\/p>\n

Troy- Who was the second person you seen touch the mic?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Mele Mel<\/p>\n

Troy- Now when you first heard Cowboy was there any other whispers around the neighborhood about Starski, Hollywood or Coke La Rock?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Yes but you have to remember that it was still a territorial thing you know what I mean? Cowboy was from the south Bronx but he was from the east side, 166th street and Boston road. Coke and them were from the Westside.<\/p>\n

Troy- So does that mean he was a part of the Boston Road crew, do you know about that?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- You got it.<\/p>\n

Troy- Where you also a part of the Boston Road crew and do you remember the members?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Yes I was.<\/p>\n

Troy- Now the Boston Road Crew I am referring to was the one that was getting down thugging, protecting the block and whatever came with it.<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- No you got two circuits of that. You got the n—— that were thugging and you got the brothers that were doing the music.<\/p>\n

Troy- Well tell me about the brothers that were doing the music because all I knew about was the brothers that were thugging.<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- That was Flash and his m.c.s before they formulated the group. Remember it was Flash and then Cowboy. Then it was Flash, Cowboy, Mel and Danny. (Creole.) So before that name Furious it was Flash and the 3 m.c.s.<\/p>\n

Troy- And they were the Boston Road crew?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- They were a part of the Boston Road Crew, yes.<\/p>\n

Troy- But Flash wasn’t from up there during that time?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Well Flash was from Tiffney street originally. You have to remember at this time the f—ing south Bronx is burnt down to a point where you know everybody in a 10 block radius. So even though he lived on Tiffney street he hung out on Boston Road.<\/p>\n

Troy- How many blocks is Tiffany from Boston Road?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- If I had to guess I would probably say about 10 blocks.<\/p>\n

Troy- So now with the Boston Road Crew you said one was the thug crew and the other was the hip hop crew. Who was in the hip hop crew?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- You had Flash as well as Mean Gene and the L Brothers. All of us were Boston Road crew because we were on Boston Road. You had Boston Road up on this hill and then you had The 9 crew that lived down in the projects over in Webster Projects.
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Troy- So how many blocks were the 9 Crew from the Boston Road Crew?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Like 3 or 4.<\/p>\n

Troy- Damn that was very close.<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Yeah, we all knew each other, they were the n—— from the projects and we were the dudes off the hill. So this is a small community and everybody knows everybody. There was a lot of n—— down with the 9 because that was a housing project and the projects run from 168th street up to 171st. street and then it runs from 3rd avenue down to Webster avenue. So you got 3rd avenue, Washington, Park and Webster avenue. So that\u2019s a lot of brothers down with them. See they had it set up special also. They had dudes calling themselves the Webster avenue crew because they lived on Webster avenue. They had dudes that said they were the 9 crew because they lived on 3rd avenue.<\/p>\n

Troy- So the Boston Road crew were never kool with the 9 Boys aka Crew?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Well we hung out at the same joints, we did the same s— but it was just like anything else your block was your block.<\/p>\n

Troy- Was there a lot of beefs between projects and tenements?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- No I don’t remember having too much\u2026but the n—— that I ran around with were real thugs so nobody messed with me, I had no problems at all. There was very little gun play but n—– that had the guns we all knew them and you just didn’t f— with them. As far as The L Brothers they lived right there on 168th street and Boston Road, so all of us considered our selves the Boston Road Crew.<\/p>\n

Troy- So before you heard Cowboy nobody was getting on the mic, records were just being played?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Well I went to a kool Herc party and I heard Coke La Rock on the mic as well as Clark Kent but that s— was like the radio to me, you know what I mean. Cowboy was the first person I heard put together phases and he use to have a melodic tune going with it.<\/p>\n

“To the Westside
\nmake money,
\nto the east side
\nmake money
\nto the rock and you don’t stop
\nkeep on and don’t stop.”<\/p>\n

Rodney Cee- You know what I mean, so he was first to kind of put a little melodic twist to it. Now Hollywood was doing that type of s— but remember Hollywood is disco. Hollywood is playing to a disco audience\/crowd so he is playing disco music and that was really the difference. Now a lot of people don’t want to give Hollywood the credit because it was different, but for me he is pretty much the catalyst to hip hop. I remember being 13, 14 years old hanging out in front of 371 because I was too young to get in but I was able to listen to him through the doors or windows. I never got into rhyming like him but we developed our own style. Just like today its different from what we did, but every 3 years it seems to change.
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay bust it Hollywood said he came out in 1972, Coke La Rock came out in 1973 but you heard Cowboy in 1975 did you hear Coke La Rock in 1973?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- I just moved to the Bronx in 1973 so I wasn’t going to hip hop parties at that point, I was only 11 years old in 73. I don’t remember hearing him in 74 but I did hear him in 1975.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you heard Coke La Rock around the exact time you heard Cowboy?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Yeah<\/p>\n

Troy- So would you say 1975 was the same time you heard Hollywood also?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- No that would be 1976.<\/p>\n

Troy- So when you heard Hollywood did it seem as though his music was just as hot as what Cowboy and Coke were doing?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- It was hot, It was just disco but it was just as hot as what was being created in the streets.<\/p>\n

Troy- So Rodney was cool with you KK before he got down with The Funky 4?<\/h5>\n

\"funky4\"
\nKK Rockwell- I knew him because we lived in the same neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Troy- So what happen with Special K?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell- Because you had KK Rockwell and you had Keith Keith and Special K. It just sounded like too many K’s you know what I am saying.<\/p>\n

Keith Keith- Plus being as Rodney and Jeff had their routines together and me and KK had something together we just picked Rodney and Jeff. Special K got mad at me because we didn’t pick him. Special K lived right down the block from me so we was cool, he told me later “Yo I am mad at you because you didn’t pick me!” But it wasn’t about friendship it was about what you got and Rodney and Jeff had something together and we did too so we put it all together and that was how you got Rapping and Rocking the house. I told Special K it’s not up to me, we as a group picked the best and that\u2019s what auditions are for.\u00a0 It’s all good because me and Special K are still friends to this day. And see all Special K had was rhymes that day, Rodney and Jeff had back and forth routines like me and KK had.<\/p>\n

Troy- So that\u2019s what really sealed the deal.<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith- Right that did it, definitely.<\/p>\n

Troy- So were you guys feeling Special K’s lyrical style at that time?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell- He was alright.<\/p>\n

Baron- Where did all this auditioning happen at?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – At your house.<\/p>\n

Keith Keith- It was at Baron’s house.<\/p>\n

Baron- Where did everyone get approved at?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – At your house.<\/p>\n

Breakout- It was at 118 Park KK when Jeff and Rodney tried out.<\/p>\n

Baron- Nope, tell the truth.
\n\"breakout\"\"breakout\"
\nKK Rockwell – Well it went to Baron’s house first and we made the tape and then Baron said they are cool. Then we said well we got to let Breakout see them. It happened to be Breakout’s birthday and we were playing.<\/p>\n

Breakout- My word was the final!<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – Huh?<\/p>\n

Breakout- My word was the final!<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – Negative. (We all burst out laughing.)<\/p>\n

Breakout- I’m going to kick your ass later KK. (We continue to laugh as Breakout walks away for a moment laughing going into the house.)<\/p>\n

Troy- Did anybody else try out with a big name at that time?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Nah just some local brothers that I knew.<\/p>\n

Baron-\u00a0 I am a truthful person.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Nah not all the time. Troy ask KK who was the star of the show, it wasn’t you Baron.<\/p>\n

(Breakout has a hell of a delivery and sense of humor and we start laughing some more.)<\/p>\n

Troy- O.k. Lil Rodney Cee what was the reason why you left The Magnificent 7 of the Bronx to go to The Funky 4?<\/h5>\n

Lil Rodney Cee- I left them because they weren’t real about what we were trying to do. Breakout seemed to have a well uniformed team. I liked the uniformity that they had. So I was glad when they told me they were having tryouts and was even elated when they put me down.<\/p>\n

Troy- How did you know about the tryouts?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- KK, Jeff and I went to Lehman high school. Keith Caesar was going to Gompers and Sha was going to Evander High up on Gunhill Road. When we were with The Magnificent 7 Jazzy Jeff who was on the JV team got us to do a fundraiser for our high school athletic department so they could get uniforms and etc. KK came to the party and he saw us and he liked the way I did it on the mic and he kind of said if he had an opportunity then he would have bought me into the crew.
\nAfter the Lehman party The Magnificent Seven started having differences and since there were seven of us so there was always a difference of opinions. So this was during the time we had a battle with the other Magnificent 7 from Harlem with Rayvon, Johnny Wa and Spivey and we won. So we get the little money and while we coming back uptown to the Bronx were discussing what we going to do with the winning money and I wanted them to buy microphones for us mc’s and the dj wanted records. So were trying to figure it out but they end up going to White Castles with that money! They bought like a 180 hamburgers and s—. (Troy starts laughing.) So they let me know at that point they weren’t serious about it so when the opportunity came to audition to join Breakout and Baron I took it. It wasn’t like I was looking to be out they just did something against what we agreed to and that\u2019s just one thing about me Troy I am a man of my word. I am not going to tell you something I am not going to do, my expectations are the same for everybody else as well, which might be a bad thing but that’s just the way I live.<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay so for the Magnificent 7 it was 5 mc’s and two dj.s?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- It was 4 mc’s and 3 d.j.s and one record boy. So it was actually 8 of us.<\/p>\n

Troy- And Jazzy Jeff was one of the mc’s with you right?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Right<\/p>\n

Troy- So why did Jeff come with you and not one of the other mc’s running with Magnificent 7?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- I am not really sure I believe the others were not assessable at the time. When I got the call Jeff was near me because me and Jeff lived in the same block. Our record man Kevie Kev use to play basketball with Breakouts record man Pookie Dee. Pookie Dee told Kevin that Rahiem got fired and Sha quit and that they were holding auditions and Pookie told Kevin that he should tell me and Jeff. So I think Pookie and Kev kind of picked me and Jeff to go and audition, so I guess they weren’t feeling the other two.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how did Stevie Steve take the news?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- He took it hard because he was looking at me as his number one and I was and I had his back but they s—ed on me. It was July 11th 1979 Breakouts birthday and it was the same day we auditioned for the Funky 4 as well as played for them. It was also the first day me and Sha kind of had it out with each other. She was pissed because I had her mic and that meant Jeff had Rahiems mic. So she came to the park and tried to bark on me telling me to give her the mic. So I was like this is my mic. So that was our little thing.<\/p>\n

Troy- So why would she come to you if the whole crew put you on?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Well she left the group but according to Jazzy Dee she didn’t really leave the group. So we were the new Funky 4, me, Jeff, KK and Keith Keith. Sha wanted to get back in or Donnell wanted her back in because he thought it would be a good look with four guys and a girl because we would be kind of like the Pips of Gladys Knight and the Pips.<\/p>\n

Troy- O.k. I never thought about that. So did you and Sha ever make up after that mic situation?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Well me and Sha got real cool.<\/p>\n

Troy- Alright guys so what was your feelings about Bobby Robinson when he came on the scene?<\/h5>\n

\"breakout\"
\nBaron- Let me tell you something my father use to have a singing group and he was signed to Bobby Robinson. \u00a0This is back in the 1950’s. I can’t remember the name of the group at the moment, I am going to have to ask my mother but back then they were getting jerked off too.<\/p>\n

Troy- So your pops knew what time it was and he was trying to tell you to be careful?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Yes and I don’t know where Bobby came from; did he come to the T- Connection? I don’t know how he came up but he was the first guy to do the record with us.<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – What happen was we did a block party in Harlem on 129th street and St. Nicholas Avenue and we played outside. \u00a0I think Bobby Robinson got wind that we were playing there.<\/p>\n

Troy- That wasn’t too far from Bobby Robinsons Record shop on 125th street between St. Nicholas Avenue and 8th avenue.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Right, so we had another date to play down there but this time it was inside of a community center in St. Nicholas projects over on 129th street between 7th and 8th avenue. I am not exactly sure how Bobby got in contact with us but I know Jazzy D was like “yo a record producer is coming to see ya’ll tonight.”<\/p>\n

Troy- So you guys signed a contract with Bobby Robinson?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell- Yeah.<\/p>\n

Troy- As far as the D.J.s did you and Breakout\u2026<\/h5>\n

Baron- Nah I didn’t sign anything.<\/p>\n

Troy- So once you guys did this record the date is now February 14, 1981, how did you get that deal to be on Saturday Night Live?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Fab Five Freddy use to come to the jams in the park and once we made the record he would come to the shows every now and then, but he also use to hang out in the Village with Charlie Ahearn. These guys as you know where the producers of the movie WildStyle. So Fab 5 Freddy was around Blondie and them at that time. When their record Rapture became a hit we got a chance to go on Saturday Night live.
\n\"tumblr_krxkdtzNol1qz83wwo1_500\"\"snl\"
\nSo Blondie seen us down in the village perform because we use to do some clubs down there like The Mudd Club, The Rock Browns etc.<\/p>\n

Troy- CBGB’s?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – We never did CBGB’s but we did do the Kitchen. Blondie seen us at one of those jams, so when she got a chance to perform at Saturday Night Live she got in contact with us and asked us would we want to go on t.v. with her.<\/p>\n

Rodney- Don’t forget we got the deal to be on Saturday Night live because of Sha Rock also. Sha Rock inspired Blondie to write Rapture and that was because Sha Rock was the first female Blondie and her people heard on the microphone. See back in those days Fab 5 Freddy use to walk around with a cassette tape with Flash on one side and the Funky on the other and he would play this tape for all of his white friends from downtown to hear and they would ask him what is that and he would say it’s hip hop and of course they would ask well what is hip hop! I guess he would do his best to explain what it was and then they asked him can they see what hip hop is for themselves and he said, “Yeah, I can take ya’ll to a hip-hop jam.” So now Fab 5 Freddy brings his people to a Funky 4 jam in the Valley of the north Bronx. At the end of the Wild style movie you see that amphitheater because when Fab 5 Freddy bought Charlie Ahern to see the Funky 4 we were in the Valley in the Bronx and the Valley had an Amphitheater. This is where Charlie got the idea for the finally in Wild style to be at the amphitheater on Delaney street next to Smith Projects. So now back to Fab 5 Freddy and his tape. They hear the tape with us on one said and Flash on the other and when they hear Sha they fall in love. Debra Harry also gets an opportunity in meet Flash and that is why in the beginning of her song she says
\n“Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody fly
\ndj spinning I said in my mind
\nFlash is fast Flash is cool.”<\/p>\n

Rodney Cee- Debra Harry then goes and does her little thing and that\u2019s because Fab 5 Freddy is explaining to her what’s going on in the hip hop world at this point. The record goes through the roof for them, so to kind of like say “Thank you” because Sha inspired her they decided they wanted to help us. See Debbie and group were coming out of a hiatus at that time. They were signed to a label and they had some issues with the label. They ended up living out the contract by doing nothing. The label would not let them go so they had to sit out the contract. So they were out of the game for a couple of years so when they get out and they get their next deal the first thing they do is Rapture. Rapture puts them back on the map. So to say thank you to us this is what they do, they want to look out for us. What ends up happening in the negotiations is Charlie Ahearn and Fab 5 Freddy want to do a Documentary on the Funky 4. Today they will tell you it wasn’t a Documentary on the Funky. But if you ask any of the Funky they will tell you originally it was a Documentary because the Funky was their first introduction to hip hop. Now Charlie is trying to get us to do this Documentary but Silvia is not going for it. Charlie and Fab 5 Freddy get a connection with Debra Harry and say since you guys are getting ready to do Saturday Night live why don’t ya’ll use The Funky 4 as the musical guest. Now I don’t know if that was Freddy’s brain child or Debbie’s but I know that they discussed it and they agreed that it would be us. So they offered it to us and gave it to Charlie and Freddy to take to Silvia. So Charlie says to Silvia if you let them do this documentary we will get them on Saturday Night live. Silvia says sure. We did the Saturday Night live and then she reneged on us doing the Documentary. That was the reason for the split, that was why the crew broke up!
\n\"breakout\"
\nWildstyle photo by Michael Markos<\/p>\n

Troy- Why did she say she didn’t want the Funky to do the Documentary?<\/h5>\n

Lil Rodney Cee- Well at that time the Sugar Hill Gang is actually the epitome of hip hop.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Troy- So did you hear her say “You should do it on The Sugar Hill Gang instead of Rodney and them?”<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Well this is what she did to us. We got a call from the Ritz and see I use to book us so the Ritz called me directly and they said they wanted to book us $7000! So I was like you have to go through Sugar Hill. So they go through Sugar Hill and when they talk to Silvia she said give me 30 thousand and I will give you sugar hill the girls sequence, the funky the furious and spoonie gee. the Ritz say no. they say we got $7000 and we want the funky. So Silva was like give me 20 thousand and I will give you so and so. Still Ritz was like no we don’t want them. Just Funky. so she basically settles for the seven grand for everybody. and when we find out I blow my top because I know that 7 grand is for us because they call me first.
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Troy- So what was Silvia’s response when you asked her about it later?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Yeah, we were riding there coat tails this whole tour that we were on with them! No mind you we maybe did 10 to 15 shows with them, tops! That the whole time we were with the label. So she was saying we were riding their coat tails and we were getting paid out of the Gangs pockets. So I say to her why would you take us on the road on their money! We not trying to ride on their money we trying to ride on our own. see I was always the speaker in the group.
\n\"breakout\"
\nWildstyle photo by Michael Markos<\/p>\n

So once we did Saturday night live and they reneged on the documentary Charlie and Freddy are learning about the Cold Crush, Fantastic and the culture of hip-hop more. so they realize we ain’t the only ones out there making music. They was running around with Busy Bee and to this day they still do. He’s like their spokesmen or the Wildstyle spokesperson. But it was because they heard and saw us that they wanted to do a documentary. And see Busy was alright but he wasn’t the Funky, at this point we were the Temptations of hip-hop.\u00a0 And what’s crazy is we were the hottest at Sugar Hill Records when we did Saturday Night live. The Gangs, The Furious nor Sequence is or anybody else at that label were hotter than we were at that time.<\/p>\n

Troy- So with that being said Silvia still did not show any love to the funky?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- No because that was messing with her pecking order as she was creating. So she definitely had to get rid of us. My last show with the Funky 4 is May 9th at the Armory because I was finish with it.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did you ever talk with the crew later and say what did she say to ya’ll to want to stay with her instead of breaking out with me and KK?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Silvia got Jeff because she gave him the money. Now mind you this is a power struggle. All it is is we are trying to get our chips up. Everybody else on the road is getting a thousand dollars a night. we still getting two hundred a man! We was getting a hundred and fifty in the street. so basically she was trying to keep us on that same two hundred dollar thing. So we get to New York and she talking about $200 I’m like you can give me two hundred and I am not coming but you not going to give me that same money not in new York. So we negotiated and I was trying to get us to one thousand dollars a man. Jeff went with six hundred a man. so he took 3 grand instead of the 5. She gave it to him and he bought it and paid us. To this day we don’t know if she gave him 3 or 5 but all we know is he had the money that we didn’t authorize in the take. So we took the money and we knew at that point that was our last joint.<\/p>\n

Troy- Have you ever seen Silvia Robinson over the years after all that went down?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- I have seen her once or twice.<\/p>\n

Troy- And her reaction to you when you see each other?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- We look at each other like we owe each other money. That\u2019s how we do each other.<\/p>\n

Troy- Baron why were you not on Saturday Night Live that night?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Because I was working and Breakout was already on tour with them. I didn’t want to take a chance and stop working.<\/p>\n

Troy- So this was right in the middle of a tour?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Yeah<\/p>\n

Troy- So you guys were already with Sugar Hill when you got to Saturday Night Live?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Right.<\/p>\n

Troy- So take me there to that night when you guys were about to perform.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Well when we got there we didn’t have a dressing room it was like a little room in the back and was still kind of wild, we were smoking trees you know what I am saying! And I had never heard of Saturday Night Live.<\/p>\n

Troy- What\u2026ok.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – I never heard of them because on Saturdays most of the time we were throwing some type of party.<\/p>\n

Troy- I got you now, right.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – So we in this room smoking weed and Eddie Murphy looks in as he cracked the door.
\n\"murphy\"<\/p>\n

Troy- (Troy starts laughing.) Yeah go ahead.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – So he says, “Hey what’s up fellas I just wanted to say hello.” We look and say to him “Here you want some!” He was like no no no I’m alright.\u201d So when we go into the green room were watching the show and this is Eddie Murphy’s first season on SNL, so were watching the show and we say to our selves this show is mad funny. Eddie Murphy did a little skit with a black doll and a white doll and they were in a boxing ring and the black doll is beating up the white doll but was rapping and s—!<\/p>\n

Troy- (Troy starts laughing.) Ah man.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – So that kind of bugged us out watching that you know.<\/p>\n

Troy- Right.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – I also remember walking down the hall and seeing that guy that use to do those commercials for nacho cheese Doritos and he use to have that mustache he use to twist up. Well we were coming down the hall way in NBC and he seen us and that n—— moved over and the expression was like what the f—-! (His name is AVERY SCHREIBER.)
\n\"AverySchreiber1\"<\/p>\n

Troy- I remember homeboy, God bless him, he passed in around 2002. Now did ya’ll rehearse for that at the studio or was it a one shot deal?<\/h5>\n

Rodney- We were on tour at this time and so we were pulled off tour on a Wednesday to go to the studio to prepare for the Saturday Night live show. We went Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to learn camera blocks and all that s— and where we were going to be standing at and what we were going to do and all that and I remember Eddie Murphy being the new black guy on SNL.<\/p>\n

Troy- Was it live or lip synched?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – We did it live.<\/p>\n

Troy- But it looked as though Breakout wasn’t really djing.<\/h5>\n

Rodney- I don’t know why they did that like that with Breakout but we did our part live but the music was pretaped. It was a hell of an experience, we were the first hip hop group to do national television. We didn’t even know what national television meant at that time but we knew it was important. After that night SNL put us on the map where ever we went. Where ever we played people seemed to know us over night. Florida, Texas, Kentucky. Where ever we went n—– couldn’t wait to see us and they would tell us “yo I seen you on Saturday Night Live and you guys were good.” You have to remember hip hop was new at this time. It wasn’t even two years on wax at that time. That was Valentine’s day 1981.\u00a0 Valentine’s day this year marked 30 years.<\/p>\n

Breakout- \u00a0From what I remember they said they didn’t have anything to plug me into so they said they would play the track in the back and they asked me to fake it and the audience wouldn’t know.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how did you feel when they wanted you to mimic it?<\/h5>\n

Breakout- I loved it because I couldn’t believe I was going to be on t.v. around the world. When I got home my phone rang off of the hook with people saying I seen you.<\/p>\n

Troy- So after that you guys went back uptown to the T- Connection to party?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – After that we did go somewhere and hang out, if I\u2019m not mistake. Then the next day, we jumped on the Amtrak and we went to D.C. because the Sugarhill Gang Convention Tour was in D.C.<\/p>\n

Troy- So what was the response from the Bronx that next day about your showing on Saturday Night Live?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Well, you know how it is. Once it got around in the hood everybody was, ya know, it kind of put a little different kind of light on us like yo, ya’ll might really make it, ya know?<\/p>\n

Troy- Right, right. Baron, how long did it take before you heard about them being on Saturday Night Live. Did you know it was coming up? Baron- I saw it that night. Troy- What was your feelings when you seen it? Baron- It was good, good look.<\/h5>\n

Rodney- But I remember one of those days on the stage of SNL and Blondie asking us about Sugar Hill Records. We were on the SNL stage playing around, and mind you we were teenagers at the time doing what teenagers do, snapping and just having fun. So Blondie says how is Sugar Hill treating ya’ll and we all froze and we all look at each other but no one answers her. I was kind of the impromptu spokesmen so basically everybody was looking at me to respond and I couldn’t say anything. So she basically said I understand and walked away. About an hour later she came back and said I got some good news and some bad news. We were like well what’s the good news? She said the good news is we are about to go on tour and it is actually a two year tour but we want to take you guys with us as our opening act.
\n\"p_hiphop_debbie_harry\"<\/p>\n

Troy- o.k<\/h5>\n

Rodney- Blondie says plus we want ya’ll to record on the title song of our next album. So we were like great, what’s the bad news? Blondie said we can’t do any of that as long as you guys are still with Sugar Hill Records. So it was a no brainer for me at that point, “yo we out!” But it just wasn’t that easy. Silva did her divide and conquer s— and destroyed a good group.<\/p>\n

Troy- Well let me ask you this legally were you able to get out of that contract right at that moment when she made that offer to you?<\/h5>\n

Rodney- Well Blondie put us in touch with her lawyer and her lawyer asked us to sign power of attorney over to him so he could be our legal representation to get us off the contract. I signed as well as KK but everybody else kind of back peddled.<\/p>\n

Troy- How long were ya’ll down with Sugar Hill at this moment?<\/h5>\n

Rodney- We signed June 30th 1980. My last show was May 9th 1981. I wasn’t even with Sugar Hill\u00a0 a full year.<\/p>\n

Troy- So that would be about 10 months of uncertainty and by the last couple of months it got pretty ugly?<\/h5>\n

Rodney- Yeah.<\/p>\n

Troy- So your group members recognized it but didn’t want to take a walk on it?<\/h5>\n

Rodney- No they didn’t. You have to remember they had family pressure telling them to stay because they believed Sugar Hill was the greatest thing since slice bread. Like “How could you let him (Lil Rodney Cee.) tell you to walk away from something you want.” Now when we did our part that Saturday night it was only a 90 second set. Also I never even knew the show existed until we got invited. S— we were partying on Saturday night’s.<\/p>\n

Troy- Keith Keith when Rodney Cee and KK left why didn’t you Sha and Jeff not follow them, and what did Silvia Robinson say to you to make you stay?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith- She wasn’t going to let all of us go, she said she would rather break us up then let us all go together. So it was either some of us go and some of us stay or everybody just stay. Rodney and KK decided to leave. So me, Jeff and Sha decided to stay. I don’t know what would have happen if we all would have said we are leaving! Who knows we might have gotten sued, I don’t know what would have happened or whatever but we were under contract.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you are saying you stayed because you were under contract?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith- Yes we were definitely under contract. Honestly that was the Lords work, for real. Only the Lord could have put that together like that. I look at it as The Lord knew me, Jeff and Sha could work something out if we stayed and the Lord knew K and Rodney would work something out if she let them go. The Lord knew that and that was why he formed that Double Trouble and the new Funky 4. The Lord worked all that out, we was just going with the flow. Silvia said before I let any of ya’ll go I will break ya’ll up and that was what she did, she is a very crooked and powerful lady. She was, we were young and had a dumb state of mind back in 79. We didn’t know no better.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did you feel any remorse not leaving with your boys KK and Rodney Cee, especially KK because ya’ll came up together as little boys.<\/h5>\n

\"breakout\"
\nKeith Keith- Yes I did but there was nothing you could do. We never stopped talking to each other, me Rodney and K always stood cool. I was going to go on tour with Rodney and KK when they went overseas after the Funky officially was finish with Sugar Hill Records.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you guys made a few records once Rodney and KK left.<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith- Yes we made a few. I didn’t know we made so many.<\/p>\n

Troy- So with all those records you made did ya’ll get paid for every record?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith- No to this day we haven’t. The only ones we get paid for is Rapping and Rocking the House, That\u2019s the Joint, Do you want to Rock and Feel it.<\/p>\n

Troy- So what about the other ones?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith- I don’t know they just out there making something for somebody.<\/p>\n

Troy- Do you guys see your selves doing at least one more record or something like that?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith- No I don’t Troy but I pray for it every day. I pray for it every day that before I leave this earth we get something done you know what I am saying, God bless because all of us are still living.<\/p>\n

Troy- I have to go back for a second\u2014do you remember the night when ya\u2019ll met Bobby Robinson?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Um, that date\u2026Rodney might know that date, I\u2019m not sure on that date. It\u2019s got to be the fall of \u201979.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how did-why did ya\u2019ll leave Bobby Robinson to go to Sugarhill?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Got bought out. Sylvia bought \u2018em out.<\/p>\n

Troy- Sylvia bought them out and ya\u2019ll was cool with leaving Enjoy and joining Sugarhill?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – The only reason we went to Sugarhill was because their records was getting played on the radio.<\/p>\n

Baron- No K, Silvia bought your contract.<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – Yeah, well that\u2019s what happened, that was the business part of it. But that\u2019s what made us go to Sugarhill.<\/p>\n

Troy- Now, how do you feel about your DJs\u2014Breakout and Baron not really following ya\u2019ll from Enjoy to Sugarhill.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Well like we said, Baron nor Breakout signed the contract with Enjoy Records but Jazzy Dee did cause he was our manager. And, so already they wasn\u2019t in it. Jazzy Dee would just look out for them.<\/p>\n

Troy- Baron, how did you feel about these guys going forward without ya’ll?<\/h5>\n

Baron: Well I couldn’t see it as a livelihood because evidently all things come to an end. I had to keep working. I couldn\u2019t like be in between like, not getting any money and getting money. So that\u2019s the way I looked at it.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you was kind of cool with it?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Yeah, I said I need to work. Is that true or not K?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: Yeah, you know how the business is.<\/p>\n

Troy- Reason why I say that is-you know like with the Crash Crew, Mike and Dave didn\u2019t follow the Crash Crew to Enjoy Records. In fact, Barry Bistro said it felt like they kind of almost dissed Mike and Dave, know what I\u2019m saying\u2019? And some of them felt kind of upset-ya know, they felt ashamed about it later but at the moment, as you said, it was a business thing. But the thing is, like, you\u2019re sticking up for each other. Ya’ll came as one, we going to leave as one. You understand what I\u2019m saying\u2019 KK?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: I understand.<\/p>\n

Troy- Like was there any type of remorse between the seven of ya\u2019ll? Ya know, like, we really miss Breakout and Baron, they was our boys and we come from the Bronx, we keeping it real, we supposed to always come together. Was there any type of feelings pertaining to that situation?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Yeah, and they should have signed the contract with us, ya know? They should of signed on Enjoy.\u00a0 Because we started out as a crew and we should of kept it that way, you know what I\u2019m saying. When we went to Sugarhill, they should of signed those contracts with us, too, ya know? And they didn\u2019t go on tour with us or anything, ya know what I\u2019m saying?<\/p>\n

Troy- Right but did they have an opportunity to sign those two contracts?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – No, no they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Troy- So Bobby and Sylvia said we don\u2019t need these guys? We got DJs for ya\u2019ll?<\/h5>\n

Baron- I think Jazzy D was in negotiation to do something for us but it just didn\u2019t sound right, so he didn\u2019t do it. That\u2019s what I think happened.<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – Well with Bobbie Robinson, basically it was just like a fast move. We didn\u2019t even think to say \u201cBaron, Breakout sign\u201d but Jazzy D–he was our manager and he signed. But when we went to Sugar hill, Jazzy D told us not to go to Sugar hill. He was saying “yo that company\u2019s not right, we can look for something better.”<\/p>\n

Baron- They found out later.<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – The majority of the group felt that, ya know, Sugar hill was the one.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how long did it take before ya\u2019ll realized that this isn\u2019t the move?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – Before we started touring with them we worked out a deal with them, we set a price. We did a couple shows and when we came back, we was expecting a certain amount of money and when we got back\u2014it wasn\u2019t even\u2014she only gave us a third of what we agreed upon. Right there I knew, ya know, this is some bull—-, ya know?<\/p>\n

Troy- Right, so before you even did the tour, she said \u201cyes\u201d to what ya\u2019ll asked for with no problem, smiling face and everything, shook ya hand and said \u201cyes.\u201d And when ya\u2019ll came off the tour, you only got a third\u2014what was her response to that?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – She told us we had to pay for the busses, we had to pay for the hotels.<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay and she didn\u2019t think to tell you that in the beginning.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – No, we did discuss that. She said everything is included plus the price I\u2019m giving ya\u2019ll.<\/p>\n

Troy- Right. So now, ya\u2019ll comin\u2019 back off tour and she gives you a third and you say listen we already talked about this. What\u2019s the\u2014why you doing\u2019 this? What was her response to that?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Her response was, “I told ya\u2019ll that!” So now we looking at each other, me and Rodney was like, “That wasn\u2019t the deal.” We look at Jeff, and say \u201cJeff, what did she say?\u201d He kind of can\u2019t remember. We ask Sha Rock, \u201cWhat did she say?\u201d She kind of can\u2019t remember. We ask Keith, \u201cWhat did she say?\u201d\u00a0 He kind of can\u2019t remember.\u00a0 For whatever reason, me and Rodney remember real clearly.<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay from there that\u2019s when ya\u2019ll did your Double Trouble. Alright, so even in that one year that you stayed there, ya\u2019ll were mostly staying\u2019 on the road. Did you ever come back and do parties with Breakout and Baron?<\/h5>\n

Baron- One or two\u2014maybe one or two parties.<\/p>\n

Troy- And all this was going on still back in the Bronx though, Cold Crush is going against Fantastic, Flash got that beatbox.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Yeah, see that\u2019s when dates get mixed up. While the Funky\u2019s on the road, that\u2019s when the Cold Crush started to become what they became. And sometimes you hear dates that are totally incorrect because this is \u201979 \/ \u201980 when we are doing our thing and then from \u201981 on is when Cold Crush started to do their thing. Am I correct?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – \u00a0Yeah, yeah.<\/p>\n

Baron- So whenever you hear dates just thrown around, it\u2019s mind boggling ya know?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – You have to understand, when we started touring, we left our whole clientele behind in the Bronx. You know what I\u2019m saying? So they just picked up the slot.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how was that for your guys when ya\u2019ll was touring\u2019 though? Ya\u2019ll went all up and down the east coast, did ya\u2019ll also go to the west coast?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: No we didn\u2019t go to the west coast.<\/p>\n

Troy- Strictly east?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – We went up the east coast. It was cool, ya know what I\u2019m sayin\u2019? It was like going from the minors to the majors overnight. One day we was playing in clubs, the next thing you know were in coliseums.<\/p>\n

Troy- Traveling with Sugarhill was like the Motown Review? When they would leave Hitsville all the groups would go together and they would all perform together at these different schools or clubs. Were ya\u2019ll the same way? Did all the Sugarhill acts always worked together or ya\u2019ll went in different directions on the road, performing?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Some dates we all played together but sometimes Sugarhill might go out and do a special date. Flash and them might go out and do a special date.<\/p>\n

Troy- That one year did she keep the Funky Four busy?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Yep, we stayed busy. But remember, when we went out to Sugarhill and was talking to them, we got the contracts from her and she wanted us to sign that night.<\/p>\n

Troy- Without reading them?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – We said no, were going to take it to a lawyer. While we were doing that, Flash and them came the next day and they signed on the dotted line. Sylvia let us listen to a track and it was Freedom. That track was being used in the clubs for a minute now and it was one of the hottest tracks out. So The Furious 5 went in there that week and cut the track.<\/p>\n

Troy- So she was actually going to give it to you and the rest of the Funky 4 if you guys had signed quicker.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Right, we could have gotten it.<\/p>\n

Troy- Hold up, matter of fact, that record had also been done by the Crash Crew at that time too though.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Yeah, the Crash Crew did do it.<\/p>\n

Troy- Ok, and they weren\u2019t even with ya\u2019ll just yet.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – No<\/p>\n

Troy- So ya\u2019ll actually came after the Furious Five? But only what a week after? Or a month after?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – No, they put us on hold. I think by the time we got the contract signed, it might have been maybe a month later or something like that. So Flash and them was already out. There were rumors that their record went gold in like two weeks-it just took off.<\/p>\n

Troy- Yeah, it was definitely a hot joint.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell –\u00a0 Ya know what I\u2019m saying, it was just took off so we was like \u201cdamn, man.\u201d So when we did sign it took us almost five-six months before we cut That’s the Joint.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did ya\u2019ll have creative ability to do what ya\u2019ll wanted to do? Or she started putting her hands on it real fast?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – She let us listen to some music that she wanted us to use but we didn\u2019t like it. So the funny thing about the track that we used, \u201cRescue Me,\u201d is we used to play it in the parties but we never did rap on it. Even though we rapped on R&B tracks, like \u201cBounce, Rock, Skate, Roll\u201d and stuff like that, \u201cGood Times,\u201d we had never really rapped off \u201cTaste of Honey\u201d I liked it and I told it to the group-,\u201dyo, we should use this\u201d and everybody agreed.<\/p>\n

Troy- Now Baron, while the Funky Four m.c.s are now playing with The Sugar Hill label, did you contemplate you and Breakout, maybe getting\u2019 some more MCs and starting up again?<\/h5>\n

Baron- No, I couldn\u2019t see\u2014it was just like \u201cforget it man.\u201d I was done.<\/p>\n

Troy- You saying it kind of like knocked the wind out of you?<\/h5>\n

Baron- It kind of like knocked the wind out of me, man. It\u2019ll kind of just recycle itself all over again\u2014get some more MCs, so they can do the same thing? Nah, I was just too through. Ain\u2019t nobody wanted to do underground any more. Everybody wanted to make a record.<\/p>\n

Troy- And you and Breakout didn\u2019t think about making a record yourselves?<\/h5>\n

Baron- No.<\/p>\n

Troy- Such as the way Krazy Eddie and the O.C. of The Fearless Four or Flash did?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Nah but see Flash did his record later because he had something to show, all that scratching and stuff. A style. You don\u2019t see any regular DJs making a record, making a record just for making a record\u2019s sake, you understand what I\u2019m saying? You need a lot of permission to play somebody else\u2019s music. You couldn\u2019t make money like that.<\/p>\n

Troy- So that was it, ya\u2019ll just hung it up you and Breakout? Breakout and you just continued to keep doing block parties?<\/h5>\n

Baron- I stopped and just continued on working.<\/p>\n

Troy- Just regular 9 to 5, what about Breakout?<\/h5>\n

Baron: Breakout too. I worked for a minute or two with him on construction, we got into the construction business.<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell – Oh well Breakout winded upcoming with us. He took a leave of absence from his construction job and went on tour with us.<\/p>\n

Troy- Ok so that lasted only for one year as well? From when ya\u2019ll broke up and went to Double Trouble? That\u2019s when Breakout broke out as well?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Breakout went back to working construction a little bit after me and Rodney left to form Double Trouble.<\/p>\n

Troy- So let me ask you this-what brought on Lil Ikey C and Whiz kid? Is this right in the middle or between or before Sugarhill Records?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Well I guess they figured they needed more MCs.<\/p>\n

Troy- Was Ikey Cee running with ya\u2019ll when they was with Sugarhill or before Sugarhill?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – \u00a0Well, I wasn\u2019t with Ikey Cee and them. He was with Keith Keith and them.
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Troy- I have a tape where Ikey Cee said one night, \u201cI\u2019m now down with the Funky Four MCs.\u201d I don\u2019t have a tape of him actually playing with them but he was announcing this at a Zulu Nation party back in \u201981-\u201982, do you remember Baron?<\/h5>\n

Baron: No, I wasn\u2019t even around then. I stopped going to parties.<\/p>\n

Keith Keith- Whiz Kid was a fill in for Breakout and Baron because they didn’t come with us to Sugar Hill Records. Plus they was mad at us when we went to Sugar Hill because they didn’t come along with us when we went. When KK and Rod left it was just me, Sha and Jazzy Jeff.\u00a0 So we needed an mc and dj to fulfill the Funky Four. So first we got Wiz Kid so it could be me, Jeff and Sha and Wiz Kid would be the Funky 4. Then it wound up we wanted to make it four mc’s to fulfill the Funky Four. Lil Ikey Cee was that fourth mc that we were looking for to get on that stage. But to actually make a record no! It didn’t even last that long, but just to get on that stage we wanted that fourth person and that was how Ikey Cee filled in because at the time he wasn’t doing anything with Cosmic Force. Ikey Cee just eased in there but it worked out for a minute. and I say that he eased in there because I don’t remember exactly how he got in there.<\/p>\n

Troy- Whiz Kid was still alive when he left ya’ll?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith- Yes.<\/p>\n

Troy- So he was actually down with Sugarhill Records too then?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – No, he didn\u2019t sign. Well I can\u2019t say if he signed or not but I don\u2019t think he did..<\/p>\n

Troy- So now, the question is, what brought on you and Rodney C as Double Trouble?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell –\u00a0 We left cause she was doing shady business and me and Rodney was like \u201cwell, we came from the streets, ya know, back to the streets we go.\u201d So, we started over again. We said we will take a break. We refused to go on like that and another reason is we said \u201cOk, Flash and them got \u201cFreedom\u201d out, \u201cFreedom\u201d is pumping hard. Let\u2019s give her some good product that we know is going to do alright.\u201d So we came up with That’s the Joint, ya know? Her son, Joey Robinson, who runs the business now, when he heard That’s the Joint, he was like \u201cyo, this is it. This joint here is going to pump it’s going to make moves. I\u2019m taking it to the radio station personally.\u201d His father Joe Robinson heard him talking to me like that and called Joey in a room and was like \u201cLook, don\u2019t be telling them kids what you going to do with their record and all that, ya know.\u201d He came back to the room and his whole expression and demeanor changed, ya know? Me and Joey was supposed to ride to the radio station together, ya know what I\u2019m saying? We both hyped. I know I gave him some good product, he know it\u2019s good product. We figured, let\u2019s get this thing popping. But they got some type of hidden agenda, ya know? Some back room type stuff. So all of that made me and Rodney say, \u201cLet\u2019s start over again.\u201d Ya know?<\/p>\n

Troy- So the Double Trouble, did ya\u2019ll ever think to go back to Breakout and Baron? Who was your DJ?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – What we did was we went back to Rodney\u2019s old DJ but he was with his old group, the Magnificent Seven. Which was DJ Stevie Steve.<\/p>\n

Troy- So Steve was the DJ?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – Right, for Double Trouble.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how long did you guys last?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – When we first left Sugarhill, we went on a hiatus for about six-seven months. And then we got together we said man, ya know, we got to start rehearsing again. And we rehearsed from winter of \u201981, something like that, all the way up to \u201982 when we started filming the movie. We just was rehearsing ya know, we didn\u2019t have nowhere to play or nothing like that. We did try to throw a show or two but it wasn\u2019t successful. But we just kept rehearsing. We just stayed ready. We didn\u2019t know what we was getting ready for but we just stayed ready.<\/p>\n

Troy- What was the two shows that you guys tried to do that didn\u2019t become successful? Where were they at?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell – We tried to go back to the T Connection \u00a0one time, matter fact on Christmas night but not too many people showed up for that show. Then we did another show-
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Troy- Hold up, KK, who else was on that flyer with ya’ll during that time?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Okay, it was Double Trouble and the Electric Force. We picked up some poppers\u2014that\u2019s when poppers first came out. Double Trouble and the Electric Force.<\/p>\n

Troy- And ya\u2019ll was going to try to do the whole show by yourself?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Yeah at the T Connection.<\/p>\n

Troy- And where was the other spot?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Claremont Center. 169th and Washington.<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay, over there with D.J. Lightening Lance and his people.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Right. That was the first time we ever had played over there.<\/p>\n

Troy- And during this time really starting to jump was Harlem World, you ever thought about trying to go down there?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Well, we did Harlem World, we played down in Harlem World with Breakout and Baron and the rest of the crew maybe once or twice.<\/p>\n

Troy- I don\u2019t have any Harlem World tapes of Funky Four.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: The reason we didn\u2019t go back to the Harlem World stuff\u2014all of that–is because that\u2019s where we all came from. We was doing the battles with Flash and them, The Treacherous 3 you know what I\u2019m saying, all of the groups that was out back then. We did the Audubon contest. We have been through all that.<\/p>\n

Troy- Right, you made your bones already.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: And we didn’t feel like doing that again.<\/p>\n

Troy- How long did it take Rodney before you and KK went overseas.<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- That wasn’t until 1990. We went over like April 6th and we stayed until October 1990. KK and I had to come back home because we got deported. The people at the radio station overseas got the work permits so I came back in September of 1991. See there was a group called Beats International and the leader Norman Cook was with another group called the House Martins which was a real group that had nominal success. They had a string of hits and they made a few dollars and started bugging out. Well they wanted to get out of their contract and that is where Beats International came from. It was just a host of different artist that worked with Norman Cook. Cook decided that he wanted to synchronize the stoop scene from Wildstyle to a track that he did called Don’t be Good to Me, which was a derivative or a takeoff of Just be Good to Me by SOS Band. It was a nice little pop tune that he liked and like I said earlier he synchronized the stoop scene to it and it took off all over the world. So once they realize they had a hit they had to find us to cut a deal for the publishing. So they reached out to Charlie Ahean to cut a deal with us. So the record was doing so good that they decided they wanted to do a video to the song. They wanted authentic New York City in the video. So they wanted to send an eight man camera crew to America to film Double Trouble in New York. But I guess some one in their accounting department said wouldn’t it make more sense if we flew two people to England then eight people to America. So that was how we ended up in England.<\/p>\n

Troy- So now the video is finished but you guys got opened on England?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Well we got us a booking agent but the visa we had said we were only suppose to be there for eleven days. They didn’t give us a working permit when we came into the country so basically they snuck us in and we did the video and that was all we were supposed to do but while we were there they got a couple of shows and put us down with them to perform. When the time came for us to leave I called KK to my room and told him yo KK I’m not going back. and K was like you bugging. I was like I can show you better than I can tell you and that was because we had a top 10 single. I said we ain’t got s— going for us in America, why the f— should we go back. So I convinced him to stay and he stayed. So we got two booking agents and we were making 3000 Pounds a performance which at that point was almost 6000 American dollars.<\/p>\n

Troy- Damn I didn’t know that.<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- And we were doing two and 3 shows a night.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how much do you think you grossed in those 5 months you were there?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- at least $250,000.00<\/p>\n

Troy- How much were you able to take back to America?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- I don’t remember but you have to think we were sending money home as well.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you tried to go back to England again right?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- We tried to go back but we got deported. Why we got deported was because we didn’t get any passports and we still needed to get our Visa extended. You have to leave before your time is up. Now if we would have left on the 11th day it would not have been any problem. but what we did was spend 6 months there so they was like “how did you spend six months here and not work.” So they were trying to say it was virtually impossible for us to be on vacation for 6 months so they deported us.<\/p>\n

Troy- How long before you came back?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- It took about a year for them to get the work permit so I was back the following September. KK was suppose to come back but he was caught up in the New York scene and didn\u2019t come back over with me.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you performed all by yourself?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Yeah I waited for K to come but he never came. So I told them the show goes on and did my own stage show and cut my own track called Girls by the Moments\/Whatnots.<\/p>\n

Troy- I love that cut.<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- I dug it to so I did a rap to it.<\/p>\n

“I love to be on an island with 5 or 6 of them fine ones.
\nGive me one that ain’t good looking
\nshe be the one do the best cooking.
\nGive me a one with lots of money
\ngive me two with lots of honey.
\nGive me three that do them freaky things
\ngive me four fat mama’s that like to swing
\nGirls, I love the things they know”<\/p>\n

Rodney Cee- Then I did my own rap at the end of that. And it took off over there I made a few dollars off of it. It featured me and Peter Hummingale.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you didn’t get any problems from the Moments over here in the states for that song?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- Nah it didn’t do that big for them to recognize it.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how much longer did you spend overseas?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- I stayed from 1991 of September to like march of 93.<\/p>\n

Troy- And where exactly where you staying over there?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- I stayed in Brixton, London England.<\/p>\n

Troy- How was that culture change for you?<\/h5>\n

Rodney Cee- It was amazing to me because they had a lot of interracial s— going on over there. So it kind of felt like paradise to me, it was Heaven. I say that because you know when you read the bible Heaven is suppose to be peaceful and everybody is suppose to get along well that was what it was like.<\/p>\n

Troy- Good stuff Rodney. So do you guys remember the Mercedes Ladies back in the day? Did ya\u2019ll ever play with them?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Yeah, we did.<\/p>\n

Baron: Where\u2019d we play at? Outside somewhere right?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: Yeah, that park on 180th street somewhere? It was amazing because as you know, it was an all-girl group. They had a sound system and everything, ya know what I\u2019m saying? The DJ was nice, the MCs was kind of nice, ya know what I\u2019m saying?
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

Troy- Sherri- Sher was one of the mc’s<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Right.<\/p>\n

Troy- Uh, Eva Def?<\/h5>\n

Baron- Right.<\/p>\n

Troy- I can\u2019t remember these other girls names at the moment but the DJ’s were RJ Smiley and Le Spank.<\/h5>\n

Baron- Right<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: Right. So, before we played with them in the park, I might have seen them once or twice somewhere because we definitely had to know of them and the park was packed that night. It was jammed pack and we said \u201cyo, ya\u2019ll want to come out and play with us?\u201d and they was females, we was giving them a shot. And they was like \u201cyeah, we\u2019ll come out,\u201d And we came out and we shared the park with them that night and it was packed.<\/p>\n

Troy- What park was that, do you remember?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: It was up there by Lambert somewhere–Lambert Projects. In the one 80s, somewhere that way.<\/p>\n

Baron: Right next to them swimming pools, right? Was it that park? Or 118 Park.<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: One of them parks over there. But the thing is with them-that night, they held their own, they did their thing, we gave them props, gave them their respect. So I\u2019m like, \u201cwell damn,\u201d when they kind of faded off, I was like \u201cwhat happened to them? why aren\u2019t they still with it?\u201d ya know what I\u2019m saying!<\/p>\n

Troy- Right.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: I always wondered that, why didn\u2019t they stick with it.<\/p>\n

Troy- Were you guys involved with any of the girls?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: We was real friendly with them, we was mad cool with them. I know one night we went to Crotona Pool, we called it \u201cNight swimming\u201d ya know we would sneak in the pool, swim and just chill\u2019 ya know?<\/p>\n

Troy- When Rahiem got down with Furious Five, did he ever come back to play with ya’ll from time to time just hanging’ out with ya’ll? Did ya’ll let bygones be bygones after a while or did ya’ll still hold that?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Once we got Rodney and Jeff, we didn’t think no more about it, ya know what I’m saying’?<\/p>\n

Troy- And ya’ll even played together with Sugarhill right on the road, right?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Yeah, yeah. This is what a lot of people don’t know: When we went to Enjoy records, we signed first. Our record came out first, then Flash and them came out. They came behind us. We were considered the bigger group on Enjoy records, ya know. Matter of fact when we did a couple of dates down south and we used a band. We used Pumpkin and his crew. We used a band and Flash and them was using turntables and they was the opening act.<\/p>\n

Troy- I gotchu. So ya’ll was always together. Always Funky and Furious.<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: When you ask them brothers today, because they kept going on into success, they won’t even mention us. Like we was never there.<\/p>\n

Troy- Right.<\/h5>\n

Baron: Like we never existed.<\/p>\n

Troy- So Baron and KK, when’s the last time the Funky Four all played together? With the two legendary DJs and their MCs.<\/h5>\n

Baron: It’s been a long time, were trying to do something soon, right?<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: Yeah, it’s been over, over 30 plus years.<\/p>\n

Troy- Damn, that long?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Yeah, that long.<\/p>\n

Troy- Do ya’ll have everything set for this reunion of all of ya’ll? Is Sha-Rock on it, you know, as far as coming all the way from Texas?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Well, August 14th is going be a Brothers Disco reunion that’s going to be the two DJ’s and the six MCs. It’s going to be the original Funky Four and the Funky Four plus One more.<\/p>\n

Baron: Raheim’s going to be there.<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay, that’s nice. And this going to be an outside jam or inside?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: Outside.<\/p>\n

Troy- Anybody else you know is coming like Cold Crush, Furious, Treacherous, Crash Crew or any of those other guys or so far ya’ll just working on ya’ll?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: So far we just working on us but we are going to invite everybody.<\/p>\n

Troy- Okay and you also have contemplated a record again, right?<\/h5>\n

(Baron and KK chuckle.)<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: Well, I don’t know about that.<\/p>\n

Baron: I don’t know about that either.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did you guys read Sha-Rock’s book yet?<\/h5>\n

\"breakout\"
\nBuy this from Amazon.Com<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

KK Rockwell: Yes, I read it.<\/p>\n

Troy- What’s your thoughts on it?<\/h5>\n

KK Rockwell: It was good, she really went in depth about the female perspective of the game, ya know what I’m saying. And that’s what she really wanted to focus on, as well breaking down and letting everyone understand that she is the first female rapper in the world. Hip-hop slash rapper, she is the first. No matter how many rumors you may hear, this one or that one Sha-Rock was the first.<\/p>\n

Troy- How do you guys feel about the Dj’s of today<\/h5>\n

Breakout: I never know it was going to be this big man. I’m so serious I thought it was going to die, I would have kept doing it.<\/p>\n

Baron- Yep.<\/p>\n

Troy- Why would you think it was going to die? I mean the love you originally had for it was real.<\/h5>\n

Breakout-\u00a0 I never knew there was going to be as much money in it, ya know what I mean. Look at the rappers, see their houses on TV, man I feel like crying some times. It’s like, look at this s—. I don’t want to watch this, I turn the channel.<\/p>\n

Baron: The only DJ that probably made a whole lot of money was the Jazzy Jeff DJ.<\/p>\n

Troy- Well what about Funk Master Flex or Flash?<\/h5>\n

Baron: Flash?<\/p>\n

Breakout- Jazzy Jeff made the most money. He doesn’t DJ any more, he’s an actor now.<\/p>\n

Troy- You talking about homeboy from The Fresh Prince. I don’t think he acts anymore.<\/h5>\n

Breakout: But still the MC’s money was always more than the DJ’s money. MC’s money out there right now-that’s just crazy, man. Back then we was on Saturday Night Live, we got like, $600 for a minute and a half to 2 minutes. I remember Blondie and I remember I went in her dressing room and she had bunch of coke on the table. \u00a0She said “Help yourself!” I was nah I am o.k no thank you.” A mountain. \u00a0Her husband, was in the band.<\/p>\n

Troy- Oh The Ramones or something like that?<\/h5>\n

Breakout: Yeah, punk rock. Just crazy. And those were the best clubs to go to man. Especially when you’re DJing. Down on White street cause the bathroom’s are unisex. It’s real freaky man. You can touch them and hold them and the girls are laughing. They thinking your joking but I’m dead serious. (We both laugh.) Those were the best clubs, man. Punk rock clubs? I’ll go to those parties anytime cause the white folks they just freaky. Dancing and touching n——. Best parties-punk rock.<\/p>\n

Troy- So, when the last time you guys DJed together?<\/h5>\n

Baron: Did we DJ at the Enron?<\/p>\n

Troy- How long ago was that?<\/h5>\n

Breakout: Ten years or something’<\/p>\n

Troy- That was the last time?<\/h5>\n

Breakout: Yep<\/p>\n

Troy- So when was the last time you touched turn tables.<\/h5>\n

Breakout: I touched them serato turntables, them s— is crazy.<\/p>\n

Baron- I do the Serato.<\/p>\n

Breakout- So when we do Edenwald you not going to do wax?<\/p>\n

Baron- No wax, yeah two wax vinyl records that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

Breakout- Yeah I got to learn that before then.<\/p>\n

Baron- I got all that.<\/p>\n

Keith Keith – Yo Troy do you have that New York to San Francisco routine on one of your tapes?<\/p>\n

Troy- Nah how does it go?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith – You don’t know? That\u2019s the fly joint, I say that to myself every day.<\/p>\n

Troy- Can you say that routine right now?<\/h5>\n

Keith Keith – You a funny guy Troy. Are you ready? A cappella style.<\/p>\n

“From New York to San Francisco
\nwe are the Brothers Disco
\nthe crew that has most everything
\nin stereo sound
\nour audio collection
\nmeets up to our perfection
\nwe are the nastiest crew
\nin the whole town
\nso come on down
\nand put us to the test
\nsee who’s music really rocks the best
\nwe will fix you up with a bass
\nthat will fix your face
\nguaranteed to rock the whole damn place
\nfrom New York to San Francisco
\nWe are the Brothers Disco
\nthe crew that has most everything
\nIn stereo sound
\nso the story is told
\nacross the whole wide world.
\n(Bongo Rock comes on.)
\nWe rock together
\nlike a paddle and a ball
\nand the game we call ping pong
\nthat\u2019s why we are the crew
\nyou call the brothers disco
\nrock so sweet
\nand unique.<\/p>\n

Troy- You a bad brother Keith, I love and appreciate it.<\/h5>\n

Thank you Disco Brothers Funky 4+1.
\n\"breakout\"<\/p>\n

I want to thank all the participants in this interview. Breakout, Baron, Lil Rodney Cee, Keith Keith and our brother KK Rockwell.
\nI also want to give thanks to my good brother Sureshot La Rock for his legendary flyers from his collection.
\nAlso like to thank a few brothers for their legendary pictures as well. Joey Conzo, Timothy Brown Sr. and Michael Markos.
\nPeace to the true members of www.oldschoolhiphop.com message board!
\nPraise God and God bless you all. Thanks for taking out the time to read\u00a0 about the legends, I hope you enjoyed it.
\nThank you Lord for my beautiful Wife India and my two sons Shemar and Troy Jr. and my lil girl L’Oreal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"breakout\"
\nT Shirts by Darrell Imperial Green. Catch him on facebook for many T Shirts. The brothers game is tight on the shirts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interview with Old School Legends, DJ Breakout, DJ Baron, and MC Rodney C and Keith Keith<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[71,17],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}