Denise "Dee" Barnes is an American rapper and former television personality, whose stage name was D Zire, performed in the West Coast hip hop female duo Body & Soul, and hosted an influential radio show on KDAY prior to gaining wider fame as the host of Fox's hip hop show Pump It Up!.
Body & Soul's 1989 debut single "Dance To The Drummer's Beat", released on Los Angeles-based record label Delicious Vinyl, heavily sampled the Herman Kelly and Life song of the same name. Its b-side, "Hi-Powered", was produced by Def Jef. The same year another track produced by Def Jef would be released: "We Can Do This", on the label showcase This Is Delicious - Eat To The Beat. Body & Soul's greatest recording would apparently be their last - as part of the Dr. Dre-produced West Coast Rap All-Stars and their 1990 posse cut, "We're All in the Same Gang", which earned them a Grammy Award nomination.
In 1992, Barnes hosted the hip-hop special Sisters in the Name of Rap, taped at the Ritz in New York.
After her 1990 interview with Ice Cube in which the rapper discusses his leaving N.W.A. at the height of their feud, the group, feeling they had been negatively portrayed, sought retaliation. On January 27, 1991 Dr. Dre would encounter Barnes at a record release party in Hollywood. According to Rolling Stone reporter Alan Light:
Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), better known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and a former co-owner and artist of Death Row Records. He has produced albums for and overseen the careers of many rappers, including Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent and Game. As a producer he is credited as a key figure in the popularization of West Coast G-funk, a style of rap music characterized as synthesizer-based with slow, heavy beats. As of 2011, Dr. Dre is ranked as the third richest figure in the American hip hop scene by Forbes with a net worth of $250 million.
Dre began his career in music as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru and he later found fame with the influential gangsta rap group N.W.A with Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella which popularized the use of explicit lyrics in rap to detail the violence of street life. His 1992 solo debut, The Chronic, released under Death Row Records, led him to become one of the best-selling American performing artists of 1993 and to win a Grammy Award for the single "Let Me Ride". In 1996, he left Death Row to establish his own label, Aftermath Entertainment. Under that label, he produced a compilation album titled Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath in 1996, and released a solo album titled 2001 in 1999, for which he won the Grammy producer's award the next year.
MC Lyte (born Lana Michele Moorer; October 11, 1971) is an American rapper who first gained fame in the late-1980s becoming the first solo female rapper to release a full album with 1988's critically acclaimed Lyte as a Rock.
Lyte was born Lana Michelle Moorer in 1971. Raised in Brooklyn, Lyte began rapping at the age of 12. Two of her brothers later formed the hip-hop duo, Audio Two, which later helped to collaborate on Lyte's records. Lyte recorded her first song, "I Cram to Understand U (Sam)", in 1986. Lyte had originally written the song in 1984. The song, about a relationship that fell apart due to the protagonist's lover's crack addiction, got her notice from First Priority, who signed Lyte in late 1987. Soon after she was signed with Atlantic Records by its VP Sylvia Rhone.
Her first album, Lyte as a Rock, was released in September 1988 and was noted for the hit "Paper Thin" and the battle rap, "10% Dis", which was a response from then-Hurby Azor associate Antoinette. Both rappers released battle records against each other. Lyte followed her debut with 1989's Eyes on This, which spawned the hits "Cha Cha Cha" and "Cappucino". Both albums were notable for Lyte's uncensored lyrical matter. Lyte sweetened up a little on 1991's Act Like You Know, noted for its new jack swing sound and the hit single, "Poor Georgie". Lyte's fourth album, 1993's Ain't No Other, became her first to reach gold status and was notable for her first top 40 pop hit, "Ruffneck". Lyte became a featured artist on hits by Janet Jackson and Brandy in 1994.
(K. Grimwood/E. Idlet)
Been up since six-thirty, two days crowded into one,
Put away the dinner dishes, but my work still isn't done.
If I three arms I could do what I need to do.
There's too much going on to just get by with two.
Chorus: And I'll need two brains, if I'm gonna solve my problems,
I'll need two brains, if I'm ever gonna make it through.
If I had two brains then I guess I'll need two heads,
And they'll go very nicely with my three arms and five legs.
Two legs running, two legs dancing, but one firm on the ground,
To pick me up in case the other four should let me down.
Chorus:
Greeting cards from creditors,
Tell me something I don't know.
Calculate 'til I lose interest,
Then I just let them go.
If I have two heads then I guess I'll need four eyes,
And maybe a fifth in the back of one head, so I never get surprised.
And on both sides of both my heads are open wide,
Listening to the harmonies, two voices intertwined.
At dead of night, a shadow floats in
I'm gripped in pleasure I'm gripped in fright
Howling once again for innocent blood
An all-time loser, but you're my God, Mr.Lee
Down on my knees with the face in the dirt, I obey the
master
Live on the scraps you scorn, treat me like a grinded
worm
[Refrain:]
Oh, prince arise from the ashes again
My prince arise come and hear my plea, come and hear
my plea
Oh, prince arise from the ashes again
My prince arise come and hear my plea, come and hear
my plea
He's an English gentleman
His bloodshot eyes they hypnotize
He just stands there and watches me
Frozen blood in my veins, but I like it
Down on my knees with the face in the dirt, I obey the
master
Live on the scraps you scorn, treat me like a grinded
worm
[Refrain:]
Oh, prince arise from the ashes again
My prince arise come and hear my plea, come and hear
my plea
Oh, prince arise from the ashes again
My prince arise come and hear my plea, come and hear
my plea
Your slave, I'm your slave punish me - A servant of
the dark
Your slave, I'm your slave punish me
An unholy creature a child of the night
Let me be, let me be your renfield I'll do everything
you want
Let me be, let me be your renfield I'll give you
everything you need
[Solo: Lohmann]