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Davy DMX is the stage name of David Reeves, a figure in hip-hop music. His career began in his hometown of Queens, New York as a DJ in the late 1970s. He is mostly known for his popular single "One for the Treble" released in 1984. This song was also included on the rap station in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

History[link]

Early 1980s[link]

Davy DMX was a member of Orange Krush along with Larry Smith. They are credited with a few singles in their own right such as "Action" (1981), but their chief credit was providing all the music for Run DMC's first two albums. Orange Krush are also credited on Lovebug Starski's "You Gotta Believe" and Sweet G's "Games People Play", both on Fever 1983.

Davy DMX went on to replace DJ Run as Kurtis Blow's DJ (including a Madison Square Garden performance opening for The Commodores). He was also writing songs and playing guitar for some of Blow's tracks.

As contemporaries, Run DMC, Davy DMX, and Kurtis Blow were all involved in the early development of sampling in hip hop^{[citation needed]} during the early 1980s.

Late 1980s[link]

Davy DMX later submitted Davy's Ride, an LP in 1987 at Def Jam. It featured a track called "Keep Your Distance" which featured DJ Hurricane who later found fame as a solo artist but also was the Beastie Boys' touring DJ. The album is out of print.

Davy DMX's last major mainstream project was as a member of the Run DMC project The Afros.

Current[link]

Currently Davy is the chairman of Street Credit Music Group diverse organization that can be credited with the production and promotions of new artists.

He tours with Public Enemy on bass guitar.

Credits[link]

Davy DMX has produced for several prominent artists.

• Wrote and produced Run DMC's "Pause", "Not Just Another Groove", co-produced "Beats to the Rhyme" and "Run's House", co-produced their album Tougher Than Leather
• Created the Orange Krush drum track that eventually became the beat for the B-side of ‪Run–D.M.C.‬'s first single release ‪Sucker M.C.'s‬
• Produced Public Enemy's "Hit The Road Jack"
• Co-produced the Fat Boys' "Hard Core Reggae", wrote "Jailhouse Rap", wrote and produced "Pump Me Up", produced The Fat Boys are Back LP
• Wrote and produced Kurtis Blow's "If I Ruled the World", "Rockin", "Hello Baby", "AJ is Cool", "The Breaks", and "AJ Scratch Meets Davy D"
• Wrote Spoonie Gee's "Big Beat" and "Street Girl"
• Did some music with The Go! Team

External links[link]

• Davy DMX at Allmusic
• Davy DMX at OldSchoolHipHop.com
• Davy DMX Discography

Spoonie Gee (born Gabriel Jackson) is one of the earliest rap artists, and one of the few rap artists to release records in the 1970s. He has been credited with originating the term hip hop and some of the themes in his music were precursors of gangsta rap.

Career[link]

Jackson was born in Harlem, New York City, receiving his 'Spoonie' nickname as a child because the spoon was the only utensil that he used to eat with.^[1][2] His mother died when he was twelve years old, and he went to live with his uncle, the record producer Bobby Robinson, in whose apartment he began to practice rapping.^[1][2][3]

His first recording came about after Peter Brown visited Robinson's record store and mentioned that he was looking to make a rap record.^[3] Spoonie's name was suggested, and he recorded "Spoonin' Rap", which was released on Brown's Sound Of New York, USA imprint, featuring a lyric that included jailhouse references that would later become common in Gangsta rap, and with echo applied to vocals in a similar way to many Jamaican deejay records.^[4] Spoonie Gee has been described as "the original gangster rapper".^[5][6]

He then recorded for Robinson's Enjoy! Records, his first release for the label being the similarly minimalistic "Love Rap" (on which he was accompanied on Congas by his brother Pooche Costello), issued on the B-side of the Treacherous Three's "New Rap Language" (on which he also featured), leading to his early nickname of 'The Love Rapper'.^[1][4] Jackson was a founding member of the Treacherous Three, along with L.A. Sunshine and Kool Moe Dee. The group added Special K as a member when Jackson left to record his first single. The group was named Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three when Jackson returned for a period before going solo.^[7]

He left Enjoy! and moved to Sugarhill Records, where he enjoyed further hits with "Spoonie's Back" and the collaboration with The Sequence on "Monster Jam".^[1][4] He moved on again to Aaron Fuchs' Tuff City label, on which the majority of his later output was issued, including "That's My Style", on which he attacked Schoolly D for copying his style.^[2] By the mid-1980s, he was also working in a rehabilitation centre for people with learning disabilities.^[1][3] His career took off once again in 1987 with his debut album, The Godfather of Rap, produced by Marley Marl and Teddy Riley, and issued on the Tuff City label.^[1] His career has since been hampered by several spells in prison.^[2]

In the mid-1990s a compilation of his work, Godfather of Hip Hop, was issued on the Ol' Skool Flava label, In the mid-2000s he returned with a new EP, The Boss is Back.^[4]

In 2008, "Love Rap" was ranked number 65 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.^[8]

Spoonie Gee has been credited with inventing the term "hip hop", as well as originating the phrase "yes, yes, y'all" which has become a rap trope.^[2]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• The Godfather of Rap (1987), Tuff City
• Old And New Jams (1989), BCM (compilation)
• Old and New Jams/The Godfather (1993), BCM (compilation)
• Godfather of Hip Hop (1996), Ol' Skool Flava (compilation)