Biz Markie, is an American rapper, beatboxer, DJ, actor, comedian, television personality and spokesperson. He is best known for his 1989 single “Just a Friend“, which became a Top 40 hit in several countries.
In 2008, “Just a Friend” made #100 on VH1‘s list of the 100 greatest hip hop songs of all time. Biz Markie lives in Howard County, Maryland and has helped support County Executive Ken Ulman during his fundraisers.
Markie has been called the “Clown Prince of Hip Hop.”
Early life
Markie’s career began on Long Island and he graduated from Patchogue Medford High School in 1982.
Career
Biz Markie was interviewed in the 1986 cult documentary Big Fun In The Big Town. Markie released his debut album, Goin’ Off, in 1988, which attracted a fair amount of attention, largely due to the lead single, “Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz”.
The album also featured the underground hit singles “Nobody Beats The Biz”, “Vapors“, and “Pickin’ Boogers”.
On October 10, 1989, Biz Markie’s second studio album, The Biz Never Sleeps, was released on Cold Chillin’/Warner Bros. Records, produced by Biz, his cousin Cool V and Paul C.
The single “Just a Friend”, which was a banger, became Markie’s most successful single, reaching #9 on the Billboard charts.
The song interpolates the 1968 song “You Got What I Need” by singer/songwriter Freddie Scott, whose basic chord and melody provided the base for the song’s chorus.
“Just A Friend” was ranked 81st on VH1’s 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders in 2000. And later as number 100 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop in 2008.
The music video, directed by Lionel C. Martin, chronicles the rapper’s woman problems.
This lead to a lot of attention for the love-able rapper known as Biz Markie.
1990s
Markie’s third studio album I Need a Haircut was released on August 27, 1991, on Cold Chillin’/Warner Bros. Records and was produced by Biz Markie and his cousin Cool V.
Sales of the album were already low when Markie was served a lawsuit. By Gilbert O’Sullivan, who claimed that the album’s “Alone Again” featured an unauthorized sample from his hit “Alone Again (Naturally)“.
Real scumbag hunh?
O’Sullivan’s claim was upheld in a landmark ruling, Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc., that altered the landscape of hip-hop, finding that all samples must be cleared with the original artist before being used.
Due to the ruling, Warner Bros., the parent company of Cold Chillin’, had to pull I Need a Haircut from circulation.
And all companies had to clear samples with the samples’ creators before releasing the records.
The Outcome
This development reflected the increasing popularity of hip-hop and the financial stakes over which releases were set. This resulted in Biz responding in 1993 with the mischievously titled All Samples Cleared!
But by then his career had already been hurt by the publicity from the lawsuit, and the record suffered accordingly.
Additional bad news came when the video for the track ‘Toilet Stool Rap’ was labeled Worst Video of the Year on the Fromage show from Canada’s MuchMusic.
Some of you may know this.
For the remainder of the decade, Markie occasionally made television appearances – Including guest appearances on In Living Color ( as contestant Damian “Foosball” Franklin in the recurring game show sketch “The Dirty Dozens”. Plus as Marlon Cain in “Ed Bacon: Guidance Counselor”) and in a 1996 freestyle rap commercial on MTV2.
Biz also made numerous guest appearances with the Beastie Boys on Check Your Head (1992), Ill Communication (1994), Hello Nasty (1998), and their anthology The Sounds of Science (1999).
He also rapped on the song “Schizo Jam”, on Don Byron’s 1998 release, Nu Blaxploitation (Blue Note/Capitol) and worked with Canibus on the first track on the Office Space soundtrack (1999).
He also rapped on the track “So Fresh” alongside Slick Rick on Will Smith‘s 1999 album Willennium.
More Work! Go Biz Markie
In 1996, Markie appeared on the Red Hot Organization‘s compilation CD, America is Dying Slowly, alongside Wu-Tang Clan, Coolio, and Fat Joe, among others.
The CD, meant to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic among African American men, was heralded as a masterpiece by The Source magazine.
Now In 1997, a sample of a Markie recording appeared in the Rolling Stones‘ song “Anybody Seen My Baby?” from their album Bridges to Babylon.
His part was shortened on some radio versions. Biz also teamed up with Frankie Cutlass on his third single and music video titled “The Cypher Part 3” with some of Marley Marl‘s Juice Crew veterans. Which resulted in some classic Hip Hop!
1999 is when Biz Markie appeared on Len’s song “Beautiful Day” on their album You Can’t Stop the Bum Rush, as well as on Alliance Ethnik‘s album Fat Comeback.
Check out my personal favorite below. Or check out another phenomenal old school classic female rapper HERE Roxanne Shante.