MC Breeze aka Joey B Ellis, Sage (Stallones son), Sylvester Stallone and Tynetta Hare at the premiere of Rocky V
If only every local legend 80’s rapper was considerate enough to have a website with a decent bio, I’d never have to do more than recording some vinyl and cut ‘n paste some text…
“How can you talk about Philadelphia (rap music) without talking about M.C. Breeze? How are you going to go from Schooly D to Jazzy Jeff? You can’t. He’s the link in the chain.” – Philly Rap Pioneer Schooly D.
“Of all the Old School Philly Rappers, Breeze most represents this city,” says filmmaker Mike D on why Breeze was chosen to be the subject of the first Bring The Beat Back production. “While other rappers were busy talking about how fly their sneakers, cars and gold chains were, from his very first record, Breeze was reppin’ Philly.” That first record, an EP released in the winter of 1985, featured “It Aint’New York,” “Discombobulatorbubulator” and a ballad, “Another Sad Song,”and was entirely produced by Breeze. He wrote and performed all the music (keyboards, guitar and Dr. Rhythm drum machine) live in a four track studio and did the lead vocals. He even drew the artwork for the label and (later) album cover. Handmaster Flash, a member of his original crew, The Mighty B-Force, did turntable scratches and additional raps. The record was released on Breeze’s own label and funded with money he saved delivering pizza for Dominos.
While “It Ain’t New York” was a hit (its title was lifted to promote the first ever “Philly vs. NY” rap battle at the Spectrum in 1986), the song that created controversy and helped vault Breeze to his legendary status was “Discombobulatorbubulator.” A comical rhyme about the day in the life of Breeze, it was banned from local radio play because of its offensive remarks about Chinese food and the people who serve it. The ban effectively kept the song from “blowing up” outside Philly. Undaunted, Breeze would come back with a series of hit 12”, both on his label and several majors that showcased his unique style of singing and rapping with a sense of humor. The pinnacle of his commercial success came after he signed to M.C. Hammer‘s Bust It imprint and was afforded the chance to write and perform 3 songs on the Rocky V soundtrack including the main theme. The second single, “I Thought U Were The One For Me,” a dance track, was a Platinum seller overseas.
Philly ignorance at it’s finest…
Singing MC Breeze – ‘Discombobulatorbubulator’
Hell yeah! Discombobulatorbubulator is a classic.
Chris Brown lookin mafucka
Yo! Charlie Mack (First out the Limo) used to be this dude’s bodyguard! We did a few shows with them. He came to NC with Evette (or Yvette) Money who made that reply to LL’s “Dear Yvette”. Dude tried to f*ck up our stage show. Security was deep we were rolling in 5 rented Bonnevilles about 25+ deep (that was hot then LOL!). If it wasn’t for Charlie Mack running up to on us and squashing the whole beef, dude would have gotten served in FayetteNam! Anyway, Mack said Breeze would apologize and he did – on stage. That night there were so many fights in Nikki’s Lounge that they needed our security to get out. Crazy fun! Dudes with chairs and shit just clashing like they was jousting. I gorilla fisted a dude who touched Yvette Money’s ass thinking she’d be grateful and give up some a$$! Ho gave me a fake hotel number and all my crew laughed at me cause I wrote a dis about her. They knew I was heartbroken! LOL!
this is iiiiiilllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!
Classic maybe, but I like my Chinese racism to be a tad less aggressive, y’know like Dana Dane’s Delancey Street variety: “choi-oi-oi-oi-oi-oi-oi-oing!”
I was wondering also, for it to have gotten banned from radio, did a lot of “Chinese food” call up the station to protest? That must have been some huge interest group!
Ha, Ha! Yo, Breeze is a cool dude and he is always, I mean always hustlin’. If he’s not designing websites, he’s making live action or computr animated movies. I remember buying “Discombobulater…” the weekend Lady B played it. I still got the whole jawn memorized from the whistle on. Nice post and thanks for showing Philly some love. One
Jawn brings back maaaad memories. This kid who called himself CHEESE moved around my way in NC and he was from Philly right around the time this came out. I was the local MC that you had to see to get props so naturally they brought him around to my neighborhood. We battled at the cardboard at the dead end behind my house. I TOASTED him. He couldn’t believe a NC cat could freestyle like me. We became instant homies. Whenever we saw each other out, even as young adults, we’d show each other love and respect. Heard he got killed a few years back.RIP. I always think of CHEESE when I hear this song or KING CUTS. Shouts for the post.
Whatever happened to LA’s MC Breeze?