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Friday, November 13, 2020

Blowfly - Rappin', Dancin', and Laughin'

Name: Blowfly
Album: Rappin', Dancin', and Laughin'
Year:1980
Style: Rap / Hip Hop
Similar Bands: Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, Two Live Crew, Afroman, Sugarhill Gang, Kool Keith, ODB
"One-Word" Review: vulgar old school rap
Based Out Of: Georgia / West Palm Beach, FL
Label: TK Productions, Weird World
Cover, Record
Record, Back

Rappin', Dancin', and Laughin' (1980)
  1. Convoy 7:15
  2. Blowfly Vs. Darth Vader 7:40
  3. Cricka 5:00 /
  4. The Incredible Fulk 8:40 (single)
  5. The Word Game 6:00
  6. The Insects Theme 4:00
Album Rating (1-10): 7.0

Members & Other Bands:
  • Blowfly/Clarence Reid - Writer, Producer, Vox (Clarence Reid & the Delmiras, Betty Wright, Sam & Dave, Bobby Byrd and KC & Sunshine Band, Helene Smith, Paul Kelly, Gwen McRae, Flea, 2 Live Crew, Deep City Band, Palmerforce Two, Funky Party Band, Miami, Le Coffret Ideal Blaxploitation, many)
  • Freedy Stonewall - Recording, Mixing
  • Marc Vaughn - Cover Photo
  • Rob Vaugn - Art Direction
Unknown-ness: Never heard of Blowfly. Although most of what seemed envelope pushing in the 80's would seem more common place, the hype behind the sexually tinged name and the "X-Rated" classification on the cover & back make me think this is going to be some juvenile, suggestive hip hop music with basic beats and lots of lyrics about the singer himself. Especially interested to see the take on Blowfly vs. Darth Vader...is he posing as the hero, up against the villain? 

Album Review: The album is 80's old-school hip hop with familiar, laid back bass lines and guitar hooks and more talking in skits rather than straight up rapping over the music. But the lyrics are quite vulgar and raunchy; talking about dick size and hard sex, with "fuck" used ad nauseum. Unfortunately, there are no parodies of popular tunes here, as that is what Blowfly made his name for.

His nickname was earned from his grandmom, called him "worse than a blowfly" when he'd sing explicit parodies of radio hits like "Come on baby, and suck my dick (do the twist)" for money on a farm where he worked. He had natural musical skills, as he was an accomplished, renown song writer in his day job as a staff songwriter at TK Records, working with Betty Wright, Sam & Dave, Bobby Byrd and KC & Sunshine band. His mixed style of soul, funk & Caribbean helped coin the term "The Miami Sound." He was also a pioneer in "Soul Talking," the direct predecessor to rap, and might have self-pressed the first rap record in 1964 with a rough version of "Blowfly's Rapp" . Because of that, had to use the stage name Blowfly to protect his integrity. He was one of the first musicians to perform masked, and his gross parodies earned him legal trouble and record store bans (first artist ever?), which eventually led to him selling all his rights to his music in 2003. But in 2005, he signed to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label. His later career saw a couple more albums and international tours and even had a documentary "The Weird World of Blowfly" in 2010. But his career was a huge influence to many rap and hip hop stars on top of his material being highly sampled. in He passed away in Jan 2016, just before his final album came out. On a side note, his daughter, Tracy Reid played in the WNBA.

Stand Out Track: Convoy

Links:
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