Champion of The Underdog: An Appreciation of The Life & Work of Biz Markie, Vol. 3 By: David Taylor On LEN's "Beautiful Day"
Marcel Theo Hall, better know as Biz Markie and oftentimes, affectionately referred to as The Biz, The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop, The Inhuman Orchestra, The Diabolical Biz Markie, and The Emizah-Emizah, was highly revered as one of the most genuine emcees to ever do it. Biz passed away on Friday, July 16, 2021 at the tender age of 57, likely due to complications from Type 2 Diabetes, although, no official Cause of Death has been revealed just yet. Biz Markie is most well-known for his infectious 1989 break-out single, "Just A Friend," but he was a truly multi-talented artist, as well. Biz Mark's lesser-known talents included beat-boxing, dancing, producing, DJ'ing, acting, singing, and song-writing.
It was proven time and time again that "Nobody Beats The Biz," but he surely didn't mind collaborating with just about anyone; racking up genre-defying features with everyone from the Beastie Boys to Spin Doctors. Biz's film and television appearances included roles on In Living Color, Men In Black II, black-ish, and Yo Gabba Gabba! as well as Paul Simon's "Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard" music video. Since Biz Markie's untimely passing, his friends, fans, peers, fellow musicians, and admirers have been sharing their fond memories online. We'll attempt to collect some of the most meaningful tributes here with Champion of The Underdog: An Appreciation of The Life & Work of Biz Markie. Rest Easy to the man, the mouth, the legend, Marcel Theo "Biz Markie" Hall.
Sincerely,
Matt "The Witz" Horowitz
The Witzard Founder/Editor
"Where were you in 1999? Were you alive in 1999? Were you of moderate age to consume music and film? If yes, you may remember the film Go. It came out in April of 1999 (at least, it did in The US) and I had a sincere desire to see it; somewhat motivated by it's soundtrack. I was 21 and I spent a lot of money on music, as I still do, and I was particularly taken with No Doubt's new single, the ridiculously named "New," which was featured on the soundtrack and, also, used to promote the movie early on. That CD spent a lot of time in my car that year as I drove around Ohio with my then-girlfriend and we had silly adventures.
Soundtrack CD's were always a mixed blessing, as they were often heavy on music that the label releasing it wanted to promote more than anything actually inspired by the film it was issued in conjunction with. If you want a laugh, go look up the soundtrack to 1997's Batman & Robin, which featured only a few songs from the movie on the CD and claimed to be "Music from & Inspired By" the film, which is hilarious when you consider one of it's big singles was a reheated album cut by Jewel that was released two years earlier. That said, the Go Soundtrack was surprisingly good and most of the music on it appeared in the film, so it really left you with memories after leaving the theater or dropping the tape off at Blockbuster. In particular, there was this really catchy song that appeared [as] the second track, right after the front-loaded No Doubt single, by a group I'd never heard of named LEN. The groups-you-never-heard-of angle was a standard with soundtracks, but this LEN song, named "Steal My Sunshine," was pretty good. It got stuck in your head, as it was a silly little groove, and I liked it enough I went looking for a copy of The Andrea True Connection's "More, More, More," as it was the base of the track's groove."
"As was common in the 90's, especially, after labels stopped pushing singles regularly, if you wanted to know what a new group sounded like or wanted their "hit single," you had to purchase their album; sometimes, at a discounted rate, but often, a little more expensive than necessary, so the label could recoup some of their costs. Maybe, you got lucky if the song you wanted was on a soundtrack or compilation with a bunch of other songs you liked, but that wasn't terribly common. So, when LEN's US debut was announced, I knew I was going to pick it up. If the rest of the album was close to on par with "Steal My Sunshine," then, it'd be a solid purchase. Not to mention it contained a number of appearances from guest musicians, like Buck 65, Kurtis Blow, C.C. DeVille of Poison, MR. DIBBS, and the one-and-only Biz Markie. So, you knew there would be something interesting there to absorb. Well... not so much. LEN's US debut, You Can't Stop The Bum Rush, was a harsh dud that ended up in Budget Bins for years afterwards. It was all over the place stylisitically, trying to be Old School Hip-Hop, current Gen Pop, Classic Pop & Soul, and generally failing at all of them. Not even the presence of a mixdown by John "King Gizmo" King of The Dust Brothers could save it. It simply wasn't meant to be, but "Steal My Sunshine" was already enormous and has somehow managed to stay a staple of Summer Jam mixes and playlists ever since. Hell, LEN got signed to Dreamworks in The US for their second album, most likely by King himself, as he was an A&R at the short-lived label, and it didn't even get released. Such is the music business, though, if you've listened to A Tribe Called Quest's "Check The Rhime," you should already be familiar with Industry Rule No. 4080.
You might be reading that last sentence and thinking to yourself, "wasn't there something about Biz Markie?" Well, you'd be right. Again, if you were old enough to consume music and movies in 1999, you might, also, recall the need to try and absorb as much of your purchases as possible, even if you didn't particularly like them because music was expensive, and in LEN's case, that led me to the one track on the album other than "Steal My Sunshine" that I played regularly. That track is the utterly ridiculous "Beautiful Day." Starting with a very generic beat and groove, Biz introduces the first verse from LEN's own D Rock, an equally generic set of brags discussing how great he and LEN are, despite this being their first International release. D Rock's verse ends quickly, only to be followed by... THE MOST RIDICULOUSLY STUPID AND LOVABLE CHORUS EVER! It's Biz Markie singing! And he's just singing the same thing over and over again! Biz's baritone comes barrelling out of your speakers with the words "ooooooooooh, what a beautiful day! What a beautiful day" over and over again. Then, he begins to rock the mic, rapping about a girl named "Gail," how she makes him "hard as a nail," how he was "drinking ginger ale," "watching Monty Python & The Holy Grail," how Gail called him from Yale, how they were already making plans to enjoy life together, how they were going to "go on a cruise or a sail" (boating, I'd assume?) how Biz had to call his friend, Dale, how Dale "was in jail," how Biz & Gail went down to pay Dale's bail, how "it came back three weeks" later "in the mail," and how Biz had to remind you that he "will always prevail," before returning to the chorus. After hearing this for the first time, my jaw was agape. This was both the worst and best rhyme ever! That's not hyperbole either. I'm not mocking Biz. It's genuinely awful and wonderful all at once and in the absolutely best way possible! My girlfriend and I laughed our a**es off when hearing it and I went so far as to loop the chorus for five minutes and put it at the end of a mixtape I made her. Anything more than five minutes would likely have resulted in Capital Punishment, though, I fear five minutes was still enough to cause permanent damage.
Frank Zappa once said something to the extent of "all music is good to someone, even if it's only the person who created it." Len's music, or at least the majority of their [You Can't Stop The] Bum Rush album, is arguably not very good, but "Steal My Sunshine" is quite good in the way an earworm gets stuck in your head and you can't escape it. The song with Biz, "Beautiful Day," would not be good at all, if it weren't for Biz's presence. His rhymes and vocals, while not "good" in the traditional sense, are perfect here for being so ridiculous they get stuck in your head. Biz was an entertainer of the highest caliber, always ready to be "on" at a moment's notice with something fitting for every crowd. You can have your serious music and your fluff music and they can both be good or bad, but you've got to have a bit of both to be fulfilling. Sometimes, only a small audience will "get" what the music is supposed to do. Sometimes, it doesn't matter and almost no one "gets it" in regards to what the intended reaction should be. Biz wasn't for everyone, but if you liked his music, he hit the mark every time he did his thing. He gave it his all every time, even if it was just on his answering machine."
"Biz was the kind of guy who was as reliable as the sun rising and falling when it came to being entertaining. Listen to his guest spot on the first Handsome Boy Modeling School album and think to yourself, "wasn't that just an interlude? how was that that good?" Biz singing The Bee Gees' "Night Fever" over the phone is both ridiculous and wonderful. Yeah, you can't call it "good," but damn, if I didn't want an album of him just singing the classics. Listen to him doing "[Benny] & The Jets" with The Beasties. It's NOT "good," but damn, is it GOOD! Biz wasn't afraid to be ridiculous, that was his wheelhouse, and we don't have many people like him to step in and fill that position. Who else is going to do their best Louis Armstrong impersonation in front of their friends for no reason other than they're gonna do it and they're gonna do it well?"
"While someone was going to get sued for uncleared samples, eventually, Gilbert O'Sullivan should be putting flowers at Biz's grave and praising him at his funeral for bringing him more attention than he'd managed for himself over the last three decades and change. For as much as the original artists like to charge musicians sampling their works to death, they should be thrilled when things blow-up, as it can be financially advantagious for both the sampler and the samplee. Biz wasn't known for making egregiously sample-heavy songs, like other rappers and producers were, so seeing him being partially remembered for getting his track, "Alone Again," sued into oblivion is beyond unfair. What he needs to be remembered for is being a sweet, lovable guy who gave everything his all and always seemed to exude joy and sunlight. If anything, the world is a colder and grayer place without The Biz.
This reminds me of a dumb story about a girl I dated. She might have made this up for all I know, as in the end, she wasn't very trustworthy. Basically, she told me about how she knew some rappers from the area we worked in, roughly the Amherst or Lorain areas of Ohio, who were trying to blow-up and had somehow managed to get The Biz on one of their songs. I'd asked her several times to let me hear the song and she kept saying she'd bring me a tape. Eventually, she told me she wouldn't bother getting me the tape because she'd heard the song and thought it was incredibly wack, with Biz being the only good part of the song, but barely being on it. I was disappointed, and yet, it's one of the few things I remember about this relationship. This was a girl I was fairly into, and while I dated other women and had more important relationships, this was an early relationship for me that had some serious firsts. It ended badly, like really badly, and yet, the thing I remember the most is her most likely false story about some local rappers who supposedly managed to get Biz Markie on one of their songs. Memory is a strange beast.
So, go and find Biz's records, if you don't already know them. Find out about the cool stuff he did, like appearing on children's shows, like Yo Gabba Gabba! or helping friends and fellow artists, like Kid Capri, further their careers. Go check out his guest spots, like when he rhymed with De La Soul ("Lovely How I Let My Mind Float" is such a slept-on classic, featuring not only Biz, but, also, built off of Prince's "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker." I'm not just throwing around the word classic here,) Prince Paul, Big Daddy Kane, DJ Kool, etc. Biz was one-of-a-kind, a term that gets used a lot when discussing someone that's passed on. That's not to say it's not right for other people to use when describing their friends and loved ones that have passed on, but Biz was different. He put himself out there 100% and seemed to try and bring nothing but joy to those around him. Go watch some YouTube videos and see how cool he was and, then, regret that you never got to meet him. He didn't seem like a star, he just seemed like the kind of guy you'd love to hang out with. They say you should never meet your heroes, but I would've happily bent that rule for Biz.
But first, go listen to "Beautiful Day" by LEN. Seriously, check it out and remind yourself about your inner child. Biz brought that kind of exuberance every time he was in the spotlight, metaphorically or otherwise. We need more of that joy in the world, especially, with as much darkness seems to pop up regularly."
- David "DAVE3" Taylor (@unheard78)