Schoolly D - Say It Loud, I Love Rap and I'm Proud

"I don’t like rock and roll" is the ultimate sin. Joan Jetts original is turned inside out as Schoolly D brings inter rap boasting onto a new, broader level of competition. Add the line "say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud" to "rock music is a thing in the past, so all you long haired faggots can kiss my ass" and you have a pretty controversial situation. Can Schoolly D justify the tirade of insults?

"Because RUN DMC play rock & roll, everyone expects us to do the same. But I’m concerned with my own personal style & feelings and I’m just taking rock and roll back to the rawness from which is virtually rap. I’m also dealing with the hypocrisy in rock and roll. Everyone comments on the violence in hip hop and the fact that I make no secret of carrying a gun but everyone in America carries one including old ladies. They say that whatever you play hip hop it gets violent but we’ve been playing in front of rock audiences with Big Audio Dynamite and their reaction of throwing things and spitting on us to show their appreciation just confirms what I’m singing. And look at groups like Led Zeppelin and those other freaky long haired guys who were breaking up their equipment on stage and in hotels. I’m proud of the honesty of my rap".

DJ code money sits quietly, punctuating the sermons of Schoolly D with a few nods & "yehs" of approval. Also born in the Parkside area of Philadelphia, this 20 year old DJ’s style of naked cutting & scratching provides the backbone to Schoolly D’s raw roots music. Like Schoolly, he’s sure that theirs is the hip hop with the greatest longevity. "It’s gonna be rare to find hip hop soon that hasn’t been commercialized. If you went down to a hp hop live dance, you’d expect to see rappers rapping & DJ’s throwing the records down on a turntable, not someone with a saxophone and keyboards, because hip hop ain’t about lugging instruments around. Hip hop’s about DJ’s who can make a beat from two records on a turntable.

Even when it started, it wasn’t really hardcore hip hop. Those earlier records all had girls, horns, guitars and handclaps, which ain’t anywhere near pure. By the time rappers got to the studio they were rapping to instrumentals and the DJ wasn’t even there. Once the record companies jumped on hip hop, they were only interested in pushing it to radio and that’s where the team of DJ & rapper got broken up. If you listen closely to a lot of these so-called hip hop records, they’re drumbeat worked out to precision & perfection. But me & Schoolly D are here to compliment each other. In fact, I’d like to take on those DJ’s who are into sampling and all that because it’s possible to get the same sounds through cutting & scratching & it’s more real".

"Yeah", adds Schoolly D. We even make a point of practicing no more than a week before we go in the studio, because it takes the feel & rawness out of it if it’s too rehearsed".

Schoolly D & DJ Code Money are moving hip hop back to the basic with a vengeance, making it raw, while contrived productions make it real for the unassuming ear. Can they take it even further back in the future?

"We’ve got a new single called "Saturday night" and a new LP due out that will be even harder than the present one so there will be no compromise. And I’ve written a movie that’s nothing like "Krush Groove" or "Beat street". This one’s called "we don’t rock, we rap" and it tells the truth about hip hop. I know I’ve got the personality of a hoodlum & for that reason I’m going to have to break through the clubs & word of mouth instead of the radio stations playing my records because they don’t want their kids listening to all that rough stuff. I’m just gonna keep it raw ‘cos that way I know I’ll be around much longer. People think we’re a couple of hardcore idiots, but we know what we’re doing and where we are going". Meet Schoolly D & DJ Code Money, hip hop’s new order of old.

SCHOOLLY D SPECIAL - A TRIBUTE TO ONE OF THE GREATEST RAPPERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY

RELATED:
Schoolly D - Gangster Boogie: A street Hit Hip Hop Connection 1994
Last Temptation of Schoolly D (Interview) 1994
Schoolly D: The Reservoir Dog 1997
Schoolly D - Original Gangsta Interview by Andrew Emery 1997

LISTEN (real audio):
Schoolly D - Am I Black Enough For You
Schoolly D - Do It Do It
Schoolly D - Gucci Time
Schoolly D - I Dont Like Rock & Roll
Schoolly D - I Know They Wanna Kill Me
Schoolly D - PSK
Schoolly D - Saturday Night

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