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history-of-rap-2.jpg

The Histoy of Rap 2: Oh Baby You, You Got A Hair Weave, But You Say It's Your Real Hair...

By Seth Freilich | Videos | July 20, 2011 |

By Seth Freilich | Videos | July 20, 2011 |


Back around 1990, I was supposed to go to my first ever concert — DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. I was excited beyond belief, getting to see these local Philly boys in a West Philadelphia (born and raised) venue. But in a sad twist of fate, I wasn’t allowed to go to the show because my parents just didn’t understand. As I vaguely recall, I believe my pappy was worried that our group of friends wasn’t going to have a chaperone. White, suburban thirteen-year-olds out in West Philly at night, what could possibly go wrong?

Anyway, while I was (and eternally remain) bummed that I missed out on the show, what really killed me was when I later heard stories of the opening act I had missed, Biz Markie. Biz was riding high at the time off his terrible terrible “Just a Friend.” Apparently, knowing that the crowd didn’t want to hear anything else, he spent half of his set riffing on that song, singing the chorus over and over and over again, with even more ridiculous lyrics. The two I remember my friends telling me are the one I used as the headline above, and “oh baby you, you got a disease, but you say it’s just a rash.”

Classy, Marcel (yup, that’s Biz Markie’s real name. Marcel. Marcel Theo Hall).

Anyway, I was reminded of this last night while watching Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon perform part 2 of The History of Rap. If you don’t remember part 1, here it is again:

Here’s part 2. It’s not as good, lacking a bit of the novelty factor, but there are a few good moments and god damn are the Roots just so fucking good:

(Source: the live feed)