Interview wit MC Ikey Cee (The Dynamite Brothers / The Cosmic Force)

                       Interview with MC Ikey Cee (The Dynamite Brothers/ The Cosmic Force)

MC Ikey Cee (The Dynamite Brothers / The Cosmic Force)

                                          conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders/Germany)

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where exactly were you born and raised at?"

IKEY CEE:"I was born in the Bronx......actually Jacobi Hospital...in 1965 on October 7th."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Okay, and where you did you grow up at?"

IKEY CEE:"You know it's weird. I really didn't grow up mostly in the Bronx. My father was in the service, so I was all over the place. My family is originally from the South Bronx but I grew up in Germany, I grew up in Texas, I grew up in Mexico. So I grew up in a lot of different places. Then we came back to New York in the late 1970ies and Hiphop was going on strong where I ended up growing up in the Bronx right by Throgs Neck."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Do you recall the very first time that you encountered Hiphop?"

IKEY CEE:"Yup...a lot of my family lived in Forest Projects. My family was a real basketball oriented family so I used to go to Forest Projects every summer. My mother lived in Throgs Neck but I used to go every summer playing basketball in Forest Projects. And if you know Forest Projects that's actually where Fat Joe comes from."

SIR NORIN RAD:"That's also where the Blue Courts are located at, right?"

IKEY CEE:"Yup, the Blue Courts! Wow, you know a lot! Those Blue Courts...Lovebug Starski was out there DJing. I left from playing on the other side of the tournament and I watched Lovebug do it and on that day I said,"I think I can do that!" 'Cause back then it wasn't so much about intricate rhyming and all that. It was more about getting the party going but Lovebug Starski was a DJ and an MC. So I was like, "Yo, that's nice!" when I saw him doing it. Lovebug Starski used to be DJing  in a Burger King on Prospect Avenue. We was little. So we used to sneak up in the back of the Burger King and look through the window and watch him DJing. May God bless him! I always told him before he passed, "You're the reason why I did this MCing thing." He's the reason. He was on one of those Blue Courts and I saw him and I was like, "I wanna do this!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"When did that happen?"

IKEY CEE:"It had to be around 1977 'cause by 1978 I was really rhyming.  By 1979 I think I was down with DJ Disco King Mario."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe how you got into MCing! What made you pick up a pen and start writing rhymes?"

IKEY CEE:"I mean it was the control that Lovebug Starski had over the crowd and things like that which made me say, "I wanna do this!" It was so amazing to me at the time. I was like, "Wow! Look at this dude! He's out here on the court. All he got is two turntables, a mixer and a microphone and he got everybody going crazy!" And I just wanted to have that! I wanted to have that power that he had. If you hear anything about me I was never really a super duper rhymer but I was more into getting the crowd going and you know that's what I got from Lovebug Starski." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"So what were your first steps towards achieveing the goal of becoming an MC?"

IKEY CEE:"I actually was backwards 'cause I went out and bought records. I bugged my mum and we went down to Harlem..I got a couple of records and from there I started writing rhymes but I wanted the music first.I wanted to understand the music, I wanted to feel the music 'cause that to me was a bigger part than anything else...just understanding the music and then from there I started rhyming but I wasn't like out there. I was doing it on the low, in the house and all of that. Then after I got down with Mario I started moving out a little bit." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did you get down with DJ Disco King Mario?"

IKEY CEE:"Like I tell eveybody Mario is such a big part of Hiphop that everybody starts to forget. He was one of the very first DJs in Hiphop! Mario was one of the first DJs that would travel from place to place. And when Mario came to Throgs Neck....when I was living in Throgs Neck.....he recruited all of us and when he recruited all of us that's when I kinda started rhyming more, he would let me get on every now and then but I wasn't getting the shine that I got once I got down with DJ Afrika Bambaataa. He would let me nurture my skills. Put it that way!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"So you're saying that Mario got around to different places a lot?"

IKEY CEE:"Oh yeah, Mario was definetely the epitome of that. Mario would DJ anywhere that he was welcome. That's what it was. When we met him he asked us,"Where do you live? Throgs Neck? Okay, I'm gonna come ot there DJing." We were all excited about this 'cause he came out there with his full sound system. That's why I say I give him a lot of props that other people don't give him 'cause he died young."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Is it accurate to say that the DJs back then actually were enabling the MCees to build a reputation for themselves by letting them get on the mic?"

IKEY CEE:"Yeah, that's what it was. Mario basically gave me the chance to kinda show my skills. He gave me the chance to kinda like break through, you know? And that's what kinda caught the attention of other people out there. I mean back then it was the Golden Era. In the Golden Era you had to be good in your building, you had to be good on your block, you had to be good in your neighbourhood and then it transferred around through those live tapes. That's how everybody knew who you were and what you did."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you join Mario after you had been rocking in Throgs Neck?"

IKEY CEE:"Well, we already had the Come Off Crew and that's why Mario came up there 'cause we was making a lot of noise out of Throgs Neck. We also used to go to 123 where he was giving parties at. So my movement into Mario's camp came after the Come Off was alreay developed."

SIR NORIN RAD:"That Come Off Crew is not to be confused with the Come Off Crew from Uptown that played Disco though, right?"

IKEY CEE:"Yeah, it was a different crew. What it was in Throgs Neck there were really two big crews at one point.  There was a crew called Disco One which was with Rocky Dee. If you hear those early Dynamite Brothers tapes Rocky Dee is on there with us. Disco One was his crew. I was part of that crew actually."  

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who were the members of the Come Off Crew? Their main DJ was DJ Boobie Boob, correct?"

IKEY CEE:"DJ Boobie Boob, yeah! He was great!  They had DJ Kenny Ken...God bless the dead!  He passed on, he was a good DJ. Who else they had? Those were really the main DJs though."

June 6th 1980: The Dynamite Brothers and the Come Off Crew join forces to battle the Music Masters at the Throgs Neck Community Center.

 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who were the MCees of the Come Off Crew?"

IKEY CEE:"The original MCees was.......E-Man..he was one of the original MCees. Larry Tee..he was like my brother and he was one of the MCees and actually Chubby Chub was also down with the Come Off Crew. I was running with Disco One at that time. Actually, I never came over to the Come Off Crew until we became the Dynamite Brothers." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"I  see. So where would the Come Off Crew perform at?"

IKEY CEE:"Throgs Neck..the center and the park. They used to do the park like almost every weekend."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where is that park located at?"

IKEY CEE:"It was actually in the middle of the projects between Dewey and Schley Avenue, right in the middle by the basketball courts. That's where we used to do it. Then there was another park that we had in the back of the projects. It was a big park. We would DJ and MC there every now and then but mostly we would do it in the middle of the projects between Dewey and Schley."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Are those the places where you developed yur MCing skills?"

IKEY CEE:"Yeah, definetely."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe the relationship between your first crew Disco One and the Come Off Crew?"

IKEY CEE:"It was really weird because it was like a lot of beef because Disco One was Rocky Dee and he was a street dude and a lot of dudes from the Come Off Crew they were street dudes as well and really that's what kinda developed the Dynamite Brothers because Elroy who was the DJ for the Dynamite Brothers wasn't into nothing but the music. He wasn't about the streets. So that's why I ended up as a Dynamite Brother because I didn't wanna end up in the middle of all of that. You know, that back and forth."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So there was a heightened sense of rivalry between those two crews?"

IKEY CEE:"Yeah, yeah!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"So when did the Dynamite Brothers start? Was that before or after you had gotten down with DJ Mario?"

IKEY CEE:"Actually, it started after we was with Mario 'cause basically the Dynamite Brothers ended up being like an offshoot of Mario and an offshoot of the Zulu Nation....as we developed. So we kept the Dynamite Brothers cause when the Dynamite Brother got all together it was me, Ice Ice, Chubby Chub, Rocky Dee, EZ Bee and R Rockwell. You know, we were the MCees. Our DJ was Elroy. We kinda developed as we was going along. "

January 11th, 1980: The Dynamite Brothers rock at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem along with DJ Love Squigg & The C.B. Crew, Afrika Islam & The Funk Machine, The Kool DJ AJ Show and DJ Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force

 

SIR NORIN RAD:"How long did you stay with Mario? A couple of months?"

IKEY CEE:"Yeah, not that long because what happened was we were out and about and as you start to be out and about people started to see that you had a new crew out here making a lot of noise and being that the Zulu Nation was so big they wanted us. So they actually like crossed over. We actually left Mario in the middle of a party. We had Chuck City Crew shirts on and Bambaataa came over to us like, "Yo, you wanna be down with the Zulu Nation?" So we all took our shirts off in the middle of the party and left to be part of the Zulu Nation."

SIR NORIN RAD:"I find it interesting that a lot of people started out with Mario and then later on went over to DJ Afrika Bambaataa and his Zulu Nation. This was the case with DJ Jazzy Jay who even got into a physical fight with Mario when he went to Mario's house to pick up his crates from there in order to join Bambaataa...."

IKEY CEE:"Yeah, they had a fight."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Mike G a well-known B-Boy who was down Mario also left him and joined Afrika Bambaataa's Shaka Zulu B-Boys. I guess Mario wasn't too happy about all that."

IKEY CEE:"No, he wasn't happy about none of that. He wasn't happy but I do always say I give him his props because he was the beginning for a lot of us. Jazzy Jay comes from Mario, I come from Mario, Busy Bee comes from Mario. So a lot of people come from Mario. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"So what your relationship to Mario like after you had left him? Did you have to fear any kind of negative repercussions  because of your decision?"

IKEY CEE:"Nah, 'cause Zulu Nation was so big. Nobody really wanted to deal with them."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What did it mean back then to be a part of the Zulu Nation? Were you given those Zulu Beads? Did you have to attend specific meetings? Did you have to study and follow the Infinity Lessons?"

IKEY CEE:"To be honest you're asking the worst person in the world 'cause I never really followed the Zulu Infinity Lessons and all of that. I was there as an MC. I was down, but I wasn't really part of that. I mean I love the Zulu Nation....it's like a family to me. But back then I wasn't really into learning the lessons and all of that...not even the Zulu Meetings...I didn't go to too many because I was there just to get on the mic. It was about the music."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did the members of the Dynamite Brothers come together? You've said that one part of the Dynamite Brothers used to be down with the Come Off Crew while the other part rolled with the Disco One Crew and these two crews had beef with each other."

IKEY CEE:"Well, as far as the MCees it was easy because Ice Ice and Chubby Chub are brothers. Bringing them together was pretty easy and then me and Ice Ice we were always best friends so that was pretty easy, too. What it was is like me and Ice Ice hung out together so much, we just started making up routines together and as we started making up routines we added Chubby Chub. You know, that's how we ended up saying,"You know something? Let's rock with the Dynamite Brothers 'cause it's really all about the music." And that's what it was. We ended up with the Dynamite Bothers. Elroy was a great DJ, so you know it was a good fit."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Judging from the Dynamite Brothers flyers that I have seen so far it seems that you had actually three DJs: DJ Elroy, DJ Rocky Dee and DJ Lightning J. So who was in charge of what?"

IKEY CEE:"Yes, (Lightning) J was pretty good, too. Everybody had their job. Rocky Dee was both DJ and MC. Remember like I said you can find certain tapes with him rhyming with us, you know? Elroy really was the headman in charge of the group though. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"Which DJ was in charge of cutting up the beats for the MCees?"

IKEY CEE:"I would let them know what we needed. So I would let Elroy know, "Yo, we need this, this and that!"and he would play 'em."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What kind of soundsystem did the Dynamite Brothers have?"

IKEY CEE:"We had a soundsystem. It wasn't the best one out there though. The Come Off Crew had the best soundsystem in Throgs Neck. They really did. What it was is like when Hiphop became more organized the Dynamite Brothers was a good organization, you know what I mean? Like we would do a lot of routines and I had everybody rehearse. Things like that. The Come Off Crew was more of a natural, "In the park we just do what we do." Which was good at a certain time but then as Hiphop evolved you had to come out there with your routines and your DJ had to know which records to play. All that was more of a Dynamite Brothers thing, being more organized."

The Cosmic Force MCees and friends at the T-Connection

 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you invest a lot of time and effort into your rehearsals?"

IKEY CEE:"Oh yeah! Like I said, Chubby Chub and Ice Ice they were brothers. I practiced with them in their house 'cause we would be there everyday rehearsing. Everyday! 'Cause me and Ice Ice would be together anyway. He was my best friend so we would always be around each other. When we were around each other we would be practicing and throwing things back and forth basically everyday." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you also do harmonizing like the Funky Four with Rahiem who had a really good singing voice?"

IKEY CEE:"Yeah, we did routines, we harmonized. What it was is like we...Ice Ice, Chubby Chub and me...we kinda brought that to the Zulu Nation. By the time we was getting with Bam, leaving Mario...the Soul Sonic Force, if you remember, they were like nine MCees at one point. They were doing no routines. They were doing nothing like that. So when we came along we kinda made them change up a little bit because before we came along MC G.L.O.B.E. and Pow Wow wasn't doing routines like they were doing later on. When we came along it got them more into it." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"If I'm not mistaken the Soul Sonic Force also had an MC by the name of Ice Ice at one point. Was there any kind of animosity between the two MCees who had this name when the Dynamite Brothers joined the Zulu Nation?"

IKEY CEE:"No animosity and the thing was when me, Chubby Chub and Ice Ice came in the other Ice Ice was fading out because when we came in that's when the Soul Sonic Force shrunk down because we made it tougher for them. When we came in Hutch Hutch was going right away because he didn't like the fact that we were coming in. You know, we were a little bit younger and we were doing things different and you know a lot of the members of the Soul Sonic Force didn't like that. Afrika Bambaataa let us do it the way we wanted to it though because we wasn't gonna do it no other way than the way that we wanted to do it. So if you notice... like those flyers starting from 1980 on...the Soul Sonic Force started shrinking down. "

October 3rd,, 1980: The Cosmic Force is rocking at the legendary Ecstasy Garage along with Afrika Bambaataa and The Soul Sonic Force (Note that there two MCs by the name of Ice Ice. One is rocking for The Soul Sonic Force, the other one rocks for The Cosmic Force )

 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Right. Please describe the role of each MC within the Dynamite Brothers!"

IKEY CEE:"We were a good combination. I lead the group but I lead the group by watching other leaders. The first one I watched was Rahiem when he was with the Funky Four. His leadership was really out of this world! I watched his leadership and said, "I'mma apply this to my group." I was more like the leader. I was more like the party guy. Chubby Chub was the rhymer. He was THE rhymer! Chubby Chub could outrhyme me any day of the week 'cause he was forever writing rhymes! To me Ice Ice was the first heart throb in Hiphop. Everywhere we went the ladies was going crazy for him, you know? So we had a really good combination. We had the skills, we had the routines and we had the heart throb. So everybody played their own role well. That's why we did decent and that's one part of the reason why the Soul Sonic Force kinda dwindled away because they didn't have that. They didn't have the heart throb. They didn't have the routines like we did. You know, later on they did. Pow Wow came up with some great stuff. " 

MC Chubby Chub and his little brother MC Ice Ice (The Dynamite Brothers / The Cosmic Force)

 

SIR NORIN RAD:"At one point the Dynamite Brothers obviously became the Cosmic Force and you parted ways with DJ Rocky Dee, DJ Lightning J, EZ Bee and R Rockwell. Why did that happen?"

IKEY CEE:" Well, we was more connected to the Zulu Nation. The Dynamite Brothers was part of the Zulu Nation but then we was more connected to Bam. That's when you started seeing flyers that said Dynamite Brothers and Cosmic Force. My man Rocky Dee...Rocky Dee wasn't as serious about it. That's why it became just Ikey Cee, Ice Ice and Chubby Chub. That was the Cosmic Force. We transitioned into being Afrika Bambaataa's second group of MCees."

SIR NORIN RAD:"I also want to shed light on those who may not have become that famous in Hiphop but nonetheless did their thing and were part of the foundation. How would you rate EZ Bee's MCing skills?"

IKEY CEE:"Oh, EZ Bee was a rhymer!!!  He was a real rhymer! Him and R Rockwell!!! As a matter of fact R Rockwell was a real great rhymer! He's an MC....if he had stuck with it he would have went much further. EZ Bee had a slow, laid back style of rhyming. He had an altogether different style. I would compare him to Mase from Bad Boy."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did the Dynamite Brothers perform in the same locations as the Come Off Crew and Disco One?"

IKEY CEE:"Yes, we did and we branched out a little bit because of the close connection to the Zulu Nation that the Dynamite Brothers had. Actually, the Come Off Crew was part of the Zulu Nation, too."

SIR NORIN RAD:"When and why did Queen Lisa Lee join the Cosmic Force? Wasn't she down with the Soul Sonic Force initially?"

IKEY CEE:"Yes, she was one of the million MCees that were down with the Soul Sonic Force at one point (laughs). What happened was the night we went to record "Zulu Nation Throwdown"..our first record...the Soul Sonic Force went in....Mr. Biggs, Pow Wow and MC G.L.O.B.E...and they started working on the routine without us. We was standing there. I wanted Lisa Lee to be with us anyway. So I was like,"You know something? Here's my chance!" I went over to her and said,"Listen! Why don't you make the record with us instead of making it with them?" And then she came over to us and stayed with us."

November 2nd, 1980: The Cosmic Force is rocking at the legendary T-Connection in the Bronx along with DJ Love Squigg & The C.B. Crew and The Cool Out Crew

 

SIR NORIN RAD:"What were your top 3 breakbeats to rhyme over back then?"

IKEY CEE:""Impeach The President" by The Honey Drippers, "Seven Minutes Of Funk" by The Whole Darn Family and "Catch A Groove" by Juice."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Okay and which DJ cut those breakbeats up in such a way that you felt you had to get on the microphone and rock the house?"

IKEY CEE:"Catch A Groove"...DJ Boobie Boob. He was the best with "Catch A Groove". I mean he would tear that up! And "Seven Minutes Of Funk"...I used to like Afrika Issac cutting that up because he knew my "stops" and he knew my "gos." And everything else DJ Jazzy Jay and Kool DJ Red Alert."

SIR NORIN RAD:"I must say that I'm surprised by the fact that you give DJ Boobie Bob so much credit. Was he really that good?"

IKEY CEE:"Oh yeah! Let me tell you.... when DJ Mario came to Throgs Neck he had a DJ with him by the name of DJ Lil Starski. He battled Boobie Boob when they came to Throgs Neck and Boobie tore him a new one, he totally demolished him."

SIR NORIN RAD:"You have also mentioned DJ Afrika Issac from the Crazy Eight Crew. How would you rate him as a DJ and how did you get down with him?"

IKEY CEE:"As a DJ? Oh my God! He was actually great! He was one of the best out there.... cutting it up and all that....he was one of the fastest cutters at the time. How I got with him was really more of an Ice Ice thing 'cause Ice Ice was really close to him. They (The Crazy Eight) were from Monroe Projects. Ice Ice was all over the place. That was him. He was everywhere. So  one day Ice Ice came to me and said, "Let's rock with Crazy Eight" and I said, "Let's do it!" You know, Ice Ice was like my brother if he said it I was gonna come with him. That's how I ended up with them. Issac's personality was great! He was a little weird 'cause he had snakes and spiders and pitbulls in his house. He was a great dude and he had a great family around him. His mum, his brother they were all great people. When we started rocking with the Crazy Eight we was welcomed by the whole neighbourhood. You know, back then everything was about the neighbourhood. This hood, that hood..... We were welcomed in their neighbourhood like we had lived all our lives. Afrika Issac was on a come up and so were we. He was making a lot of noise and we was maing a lot of noise, too. So it was really a good fit at the time. We was rocking in 100 Park all the time. That was their park, they ran that. We would come out there and battle DJ Kenny Ken & The K Connection a couple of times."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who won those battles?"

IKEY CEE:"Oh, we always had them because we had Afrika Issac. You couldn't touch him!!! There were only very few DJs that could touch Issac back then. Like I said DJ Boobie Bob was one of them but they never got to go against each other. DJ Elroy was very good, DJ Jazzy Jay of course. Jazzy Jay and Afrika Issac never battled though 'cause they were both down with the Zulu Nation."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did the MCees of the K-Connection Crew pose a threat to you?"

IKEY CEE:"Nah!!!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did all the other Soul Sonic Force MCees treat you when you started rocking for Afrika Bambaataa at Bronx River and how did the crowd react when you performed there for the first time?"

IKEY CEE:"You know what it was? It was a show and prove. As I said we were younger than all of them. So it was a show and prove type situation. We showed and proved everybody that we could do it just as good as them. It was a respect thing that they gave us. Bronx River...I mean a lot people tought that we were from Bronx River. That's how comfortable we were there. I loved Bronx River and Bronx River loved me. The same love I felt in Throgs Neck I felt in Bronx River and in Monroe. It wasn't like I came to invade a territory, I was coming to be a part of what you have to help what you have and you can help me. So we was all helping each other."

March 13th 1981:  The Cosmic Force battles against The Ultimate Three from Kool Herc's camp at the T-Connection (Note: By this time Queen Lisa Lee is a part of the Cosmic Force)

 

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did MC battles go down in your era?"

IKEY CEE:"It was just show and prove. I didn't have to tell you what I was gonna do to you. We didn't rap about killing each other and stuff like that. When I came up as an MC....Hutch Hutch..who was down with Soul Sonic..he was like, "You're gonna be the son of Hutch!" and I was like,"No, I'm not because I'm better than Hutch! I'm gonna be nobody's son!" And that was the mentality. It was a competition. just like as the Cosmic Force came along with the Soul Sonic Force. We wanted to show them that, "Listen, you're gonna respect us!" It was never a Cosmice Force vs. Soul Sonic Force battle. It was nothing like that. It was just like, "Okay, we gotta respect these dudes 'cause they're coming here every week with something different. They're coming here with routines. They're coming here wearing the same clothes." So they respected us. It wasn't about talking about each other. It was about...if we're coming, you know that we're coming with something good. It's not nothing against you. It's just that we wanna be looked at as the best and we gonna do whatever it takes to be looked at as the best. My high school which was Lehmann High School was like Hiphop High and I give you the reason why. I went to that school, KK Rockwell went to that school, Rodney Cee went to that school, Jazzy Jeff went to that school, El-Roy who was down with Afrika Islam went to that school, Chubby Chub went to that school and Ice Ice went to that school. We were all in the same high school. Back then at lunch time they used to bang on the table and we used to rhyme. Me and Rodney Cee...back then we called ourselves Lil Ikey Cee and Lil Rodney Cee...we would go off kicking rhymes. That was just an everyday thing!!!  All these MCees..everybody had skills. That was the best in Lehmann. We're just rhyming! We're just kicking it!!! And then you know we use to give the high school parties...some parties the Funky Four would give...some parties the Dynamite Brothers would give. There was some tension but we never ever fought."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How important was it for an MC to dress fly back then?"

IKEY CEE:"That was very important. You see that was another thing that we brought to the Zulu Nation when the Cosmic Force came to the Zulu Nation. They didn't do that. Me and Ice Ice we went out and bought Hush Puppies and certain jans and certain shirts. We would come there with all the same things on. That made a difference. That's what made us special."

The Cosmic Force MCees with Zulu Nation member Mike Hines

 

SIR NORIN RAD:"What kind of character traits did an MC have to have in order to make it in Hiphop back then?"

IKEY CEE:"I say it in three words: DON'T BE AFRAID! That's it. Everybody wanted to be an MC back then but the ones that weren't afraid were the ones that became MCees."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Last question: Why was the DJ so important for Hiphop back then?"

IKEY CEE:"The DJ knew the records, he had all the beats. And the DJ knew the MCees. The DJ knew the pace of the MCees. The DJ knew what this MC sounded good on and what this MC didn't sound good on. That's why the MC was very important. And then like back then it wasn't a Rap Show, it was about the party as a whole. The DJ had to keep the people partying before and after the MCees got on."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Thank you so very much!"

IKEY CEE:"Thank you! I appreciate what you're doing!"