Friday, February 26, 2010

RIP: Chilly B, Founder of Newcleus: One of the Best Old Skool Hip Hop Bands


Newcleus-Jam On It

DIAZ | MySpace Video


If you grew up in the 80's, songs like "Jam On It" were played almost non-stop on all the mix tapes you traded with your buddies. Chilly B, Thank you for the unforgettable soundtrack of my youth.

chillybth
Bob "Chilly B" Crafton, founding member of the influential 80's electro/hip-hop band Newcleus, passed away this week from complications associated with a stroke. He died at age 47. The stroke had left him brain dead and in a coma. On Tuesday, February 23rd the decision was made to remove him from life support and he passed on not long after. Chilly B's signature moments were his classic verse from "Jam On It", his funky bass guitar licks from "Jam On Revenge (The Wikki Wikki Song)", and his booming deep vocal and sizzling synthesizer solo from "Computer Age (Push The Button)". In recent years he was involved in independent production, including working on a new Newcleus album, and touring with Newcleus. He is survived by his wife Valerie and his sons Justin, Jason, Joshua and Isaiah.

About Newcleus
The origins of Newcleus lay in a 1977 Brooklyn DJ collective known as Jam-On Productions, which included Ben “Cozmo D” Cenac, his cousins Pete “Master Quadro” Angevin and Monique “Niqué D” Angevin, and Ben’s best friend David “Dr. Freeze” St. Louis, (all teenagers and still in high school). Many members (MCs as well as DJs) came and went as Jam-On rocked parks and block parties all over the borough. In 1981 Cozmo decided to create a recording group as an extension of Jam-On. The group included Cozmo, his wife Yvette (“Lady E”), Niqué, and Niqué’s future husband Bob “Chilly B” Crafton. The foursome originally took on the name Positive Messenger, but would later name their group Newcleus as a result of the coming together of their families.

By this time, Cozmo had begun to accumulate a collection of electronic recording equipment, and the quartet recorded a demo tape of material. With several minutes left at the end of the tape, Newcleus included on the tape a song that was a favorite at their parties, which had vocals that were sped up to sound like munchkins. The track, “Jam-On’s Revenge,” immediately impressed producer Joe Webb, and it became the group’s first single, released as “Jam-On Revenge” by Newcleus featuring Cozmo & The Jam-On Production Crew in 1983 on Mayhew Records. A huge street success, the track became known unofficially as “the Wikki-Wikki song” (after the refrain); when it was re-released later that year on Sunnyview Records, it had been re-titled as “Jam On Revenge (The Wikki-Wikki Song)” by Newcleus. “Jam On Revenge” became a smash R&B hit, launching a new sound on the world and adding the phrase “wikki-wikki-wikki” to the English language.

In 1984 Newcleus followed up by rocking the planet with the all-time Hip-Hop/Electro-Funk classic “Jam On It”. It was a worldwide smash that still packs dance floors all over the globe today. They had also established themselves as the very first self-contained Hip-Hop band, playing all of the instruments themselves live. They toured nationally with funk masters Cameo throughout ’83 and ’84, and then were part of the very 1st national Hip-Hop music tour in history, The Fresh Festival, with Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, Whodini and The Fat Boys. They then released one of the most revered albums in Electro-Funk history, “Jam On Revenge”, and added another all-time classic Electro song with “Computer Age (Push The Button)” and also an Electro Breakbeat classic with “Automan”. Then, in 1985 they released their light-selling yet highly acclaimed and respected 2nd album “Space Is The Place”, which was one of the first albums to fully utilize the brand new MIDI technology that would change music and the world forever! In just 3 short years Newcleus had solidified their position in Hip-Hop and Electro-Funk history as true innovators and pioneers in the genres.



via: Boing Boing and the Daily Swarm

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