Galt MacDermot

Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (born December 18, 1928) is a Canadian composer, pianist and writer of musical theatre. He won a Grammy Award for the song "African Waltz" in 1960. His most successful musicals have been Hair (1967; its cast album also won a Grammy) and Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971). MacDermot has also written music for film soundtracks, jazz and funk albums, and classical music, and his music has been sampled in hit hip-hop songs and albums.

Biography

MacDermot was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of a Canadian diplomat. He was educated at Upper Canada College and Bishop's University (Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada). He received a Bachelor of Music from Cape Town University, South Africa and made a study of African music his specialty. He also studied the piano privately with Neil Chotem.

MacDermot won his first Grammy Award for the Cannonball Adderley recording of his song "African Waltz" (the title track of the album of the same name) in 1960. He moved to New York City in 1964 where, three years later, he wrote the music for the hit musical Hair, which he later adapted for the 1979 film. Its Broadway cast album won a Grammy Award in 1969. His next musicals were Isabel's a Jezebel (1970) and Who the Murderer Was (1970), which featured British progressive rock band Curved Air. MacDermot had another hit with the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971), which won the Tony Award for Best Musical. For that show, MacDermot was nominated for a Tony for best music and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music. His later musicals, however, including Dude and Via Galactica (both 1973) and The Human Comedy (1984), have not been successful on Broadway.

MF Doom

Daniel Dumile (pronounced /ˈduːmᵻleɪ/ DOO-mə-lay; born 9 January 1971) is a Britishhip hop recording artist who spent most of his life in the United States. Best known for his "super villain" stage persona and unique lyrics, Dumile has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably as Metal Face Doom or MF Doom. He has appeared in several collaborative projects such as Madvillain (with Madlib), DANGERDOOM (with Danger Mouse), DOOMSTARKS (with Ghostface Killah), JJ DOOM (with Jneiro Jarel), and NehruvianDOOM (with Bishop Nehru).

Early life

Dumile was born in 1971, in London, England, the son of a Trinidadian mother and a Zimbabwean father. He moved with his family to New York and was raised on Long Island, New York, although he never became an American citizen.

Music career

1988–1993: Career beginnings with KMD

As Zev Love X, he formed the group KMD, in 1988 with his younger brother DJ Subroc and another MC called Rodan. When Rodan left the group, Zev found another MC to replace Rodan named Onyx the Birthstone Kid.A&R rep Dante Ross learned of KMD through the hip hop group 3rd Bass, and signed the group to Elektra Records. Dumile and KMD's recording debut came on 3rd Bass's song "The Gas Face" from The Cactus Album, followed in 1991 with KMD's album Mr. Hood, which became a minor hit through its singles "Peachfuzz", "Who Me?" and heavy video play on cable TV's Yo! MTV Raps and Rap City.

The Man

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either passively, openly or via sabotage.

History

As a phrase meaning "the boss" it dates from at least 1918.

In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."