My Introduction to Hip Hop

This is a photo of The Grandmaster 3, the first crew I started my journey in Hip Hop with. The brother in the blue (Dee Money) is the one that actually introduced me to Hip Hop. It was the spring of 1979, we were sitting on his grandmother’s stoop on 220th Street and 134th Road in Laurelton Queens New York.

Dee Money brought his older brother Mike Action’s boombox and cassette tape outside, and played a tape that would change my life. The tape had the Cold Crush Brothers on it. One of the emcees stood out to me. That emcee was Grandmaster Caz. I said a rhyme about a girl named Evette. His cadence and story telling over the breakbeat painted a perfect picture. That was the moment I knew what I wanted to do from then on.

I was so excited, when I went back next door to my grandparents house (where I was raised), I wrote me very first rhyme titled “Kim”. I used Grandmaster Caz’s blue print and came up with my first rap. My nana was the first person to hear me rap. She told me I was good. Wow!! My first co sign came from my grandmother. The next day I told my friends the rhyme, and we formed the Grandmaster 3 (Lovable Little B, Dee Money aka Ever Loving Kid Ice, Playboy Mikey D, and Dj Mr Freeze, who would later become Johnny Quest) soon after.