18-11-1999, Nighttown Rotterdam. Sugar Hill Gang featuring Grandmaster Melle Mel. O.K, so AQ asked us (Loot and John Dope) to do an interview with the Sugar Hill Gang. Rumors were Grandmaster Melle Mel would be touring with the Sugar Hill Gang. First we started to discuss what we wanted to ask. It was kinda hard because the Sugar Hill Gang had their biggest hit even before we were born, AQ: "You make me feel old.". In 1979 it was their hit ‘Rapper’s Delight’ which was the first HipHop song released on vinyl. On Sylvia Robinson Suga Hill records, it was recorded with a live band playing the ‘Good Times’ loop of Chic. Together with Rock Steady Crew’s ‘Hey You (The Rock Steady Crew1983)’ and Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s ‘The Message (1982)’ it belonged to the songs that accelerated the spreading of the HipHop culture worldwide.

We were about to go back

We began to collect some background info on the group, and we came up with some questions. A couple of them were ‘Do people still recognize you?’ and ‘What happened to Master Gee, since we heard that he left the group a couple of years ago?' Glad we didn’t ask it, because we only recognized him when the Gang was performing. When we arrived at Nighttown in Rotterdam, the first thing we did was asking for the backstage manager at Nighttown. We were told to go backstage and ask for Peter, who would inform if we could do the interview. He told us to return fifteen minutes after the show. We were about to go back to see the show but woow, we bumped into the Grandmaster Melle Mel, talked with him for a minute or two. We thanked him for coming to Holland and it seemed he was enjoying himself.

Jump on it.

Back to the main-floor, where the Sugar Hill Gang were about to perform. First up was Deanté who warmed the crowd up with some soul-full R&B singing. Then all of a sudden the Sugar Hill Gang and Davy DMX, (who was Kurtis Blow’s DJ back in the days) entered the stage. They performed ‘Jump On It’ which is also the title of their current project, which is specially made for children, and features songs in which they learn the kids the syllables and counting. This song really made the crowd move. The atmosphere was really good and obviously everybody was having a good time. After that song Melle Mel joined them on stage. He will drop his new LP next year, he recorded it with Big Bank Hank (he was big and working at a bank) and Wonder Mike. Together they performed Melle Mel’s infamous ‘White Lines’, a campaign against the use of cocaine, which originally was a celebration of the use of drugs. Melle Mel looked like he had been watching ‘Pimp’s Up, Ho’s Down’ (you know that documentary with Ice T the night before). He was in a three-piece yellow suit, kinda pimpalicious.

Into their groove.

After a short pause they came back hard with their version of the ‘Message’, Hip Hop’s best known song ever. Big Bank Hank, Master Gee and Wonder Mike did some verses too, which was dope. The crowd really was into their groove and to get the younger people in it too, they did some verses of well know songs from the 90’s from artists like Busta Rhymes to Puff Daddy. They said they wanted to let us hear some snippets of songs, which featured Sugar Hill Gang and Melle Mel samples. This got some of the younger cats off the wall on to the dance-floor. To wrap it all up they did their biggest hit ‘Rapper’s Delight’ together with Melle Mel. They showed all the people who try to move the crowd how it should be done. The song lasted, just like the original 12" single version, 15 minutes. When they were about to leave the stage, the crowd asked them to come back. So they performed ‘Rapper’s Delight’ once more, and with even more energy than the first time, Master Gee jumped off stage and hyped the crowd up to show them love, which off course the crowd returned. After 10 more minutes of performing they left the party to go back to the hotel, and took some groupies with them.

Loot & John Dope