Fab 5 Freddy – the original Microphone Fiend?

Eric B.Is Never Scared…to take your music

In the opening foreword of Havelock Nelson and Michael A. Gonzales’ 1991 book, Bring The Noise: A Guide to Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture, Fab 5 Freddy discussed working with The 45 King on some music in 1987:

‘DJ Mark, The 45 King. I had met him around the time I was thinking of getting back into music…The two of us were developing some ideas for songs based on stuff I had started with Matt Dike and them in California…He had played me a couple of beats for me to rap on. One of ‘em was ‘School Boy Crush’ by the Average White Band. I rhymed a little bit over it and Red Alert was playing it on his show. Eric B. & Rakim had heard it, and the beat became ‘Microphone Fiend’. I thought they had looted it but Mark told me he was starving at the time and he actually gave it to them.’

When asked how the rhyme went, Fred responded:

‘Part of it is on the Soul II Soul record I did on 1990: A New Decade: ‘Lay your cards on the table and place your bets/I’ll lay you odds this is something that you haven’t heard yet/It’s fine, divine like a vintage wine, best of all, yes y’all, it’s genuine…’

I got the chance to confirm this version with The 45 King in 2007:

Fab Five Freddy said that you made the “Microphone Fiend” beat for him originally.

Yeah, I gave that to him and then I turned around and gave it to somebody else. He eventually found out – I don’t think he was mad. I think it’s because it was Eric B. and shit – Eric B. is intimidating. Haa! “There you go Eric. You can have it too!” And then I did the remix for it, so that was cool.

I guess that used to happen a lot during that period.

Did Freddy pay me for the beat? I dunno, he might’ve gave me some money. He might’ve gave me something. Who knows?

Did you supply any other beats for that Eric B. album?

I did “The R” I think. The drum beats or the bass line…yep. Eric B. was the first person to give me some real money.

However, Rakim recalls things very differently in his 2019 autobiography, Sweat The Technique:

‘Mike D., one of our boys we met hanging out in Power Play Studios back in the day, brought us the beat for “Mahogany” already done. “Mahogany” sampled Al Green’s “I’m Glad You’re Mine.” (The Average White Band’s song “School Boy Crush” was another one of the beats he brought us.)

When we were working on Follow the Leader, he said, “Y’all gotta do this joint, both of these joints – Al Green and the Average White Band,” Mike exclaimed, in a way that suggested he just knew we were going to love it. Since the Average White Band’s song was called “School Boy Crush,” I wanted to do my crush: the microphone. But I didn’t want to call it “Microphone Crush.” So I called it “Microphone Fiend.” That was my way of keeping the title similar to the original title but still adding that hip-hop flavor to it.’ 1

This had me a little confused, so I did a little more digging and discovered this quote from Rakim via an interview conducted by Rob Marriott for Complex in 2013:

Tell me a little about “Microphone Fiend.” Do you remember when you wrote that?
Oh, no doubt. Again, that was a Power Play joint in Queens. I just remember this cat I know kind of helped us find a record and when we finally found that record, Eric B. took it into the studio. It was one of the beats that he looped up before I even got there, you know what I mean? So I got there and heard it and as I was listening to it, the guitar was constantly driving, nah mean?

Now the pieces are falling into place! My take on what may have happened is as follows:

1. Rakim’s buddy Mike D. (not to be confused with Cookie Puss enthusiast Michael Diamond) put Rakim onto the Average White Band record, he picked-up a copy of the Cut The Cake album and gave it to to Eric B. to sort out.

2. Eric Barrier, being the enterprising fellow that he is, then heard the Fab 5 Freddy song on KISS-FM one Saturday evening and, figuring it would be a lot easier to just buy the finished beat instead of having to turn on the sampler at Power Play, made The 45 King an offer he couldn’t refuse.

3. By the time Rakim arrives at the studio to record the song, Eric B. has the beat all loaded up and ready to go. Being the busy man that he is, Eric is distracted deciding what suit he wants to wear to the Grammys and forgets to mention that he bought the beat from The 45 King. 2

4. Rakim gets in the zone and writes and records a stone-cold classic.

5. Eric cuts The 45 King another cheque to remix the song for the 12” release and get a proper credit this time.

6. Eric B. repays the favour once again by enlisting The 45 King to remix ‘Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em’, which even makes it onto the CD version of their third album so I guess it all worked out pretty well for everybody except for Fab 5 Freddy’s second attempt at a rap career.3

https://youtu.be/bUmqJPYG3qw