Journalist, Political Reporter, Cultural Critic, Editor/Proofreader
Alex V. Henderson
Philadelphia, PA
vixenatr
August 2014
Kool Moe Dee
How Ya Like Me Now
During the 1980s, hip-hop’s detractors said many of the things about hip-hop that rock & roll’s detractors said about rock & roll during the 1950s: it’s a fad, it won’t last, no one will care about it ten years from now. But hip-hop not only survived, it continued to grow in popularity. And in 2014—35 years after Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five recorded “Superappin’” and the Sugarhill Gang sampled Chic’s “Good Times” on “Rapper’s Delight”—hip-hop is still going strong. Countless rappers have come and gone since the late 1970s, but one MC who can honestly say that he was part of hip-hop from the beginning is Mohandas Dewese, a.k.a. Kool Moe Dee.
Born in New York City on August 8, 1962, Kool was a member of the Treacherous Three—one of the earliest hip-hop groups. The Treacherous Three (which also included L.A. Sunshine and Special K) came together in 1978 and were part of the first generation of hip-hoppers along with Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Afrika Bambaataa, Spoonie Gee, the Funky Four Plus One, T-Ski Valley, the Cold Crush Brothers, Grandmaster Caz, Lovebug Starski and the Kingston, Jamaica-born Kool DJ Herc. The Treacherous Three lasted from 1978-1984, and by the time Jive/RCA Records released Kool’s self-titled debut solo album in 1986, many of hip-hop’s pioneers had faded in popularity and weren’t selling as many records as second-wave rappers like Run-D.M.C, LL Cool J, Whodini, the Beastie Boys, the Fat Boys and Eric B. & Rakim. Kool, however, was still going strong. Kool Moe Dee (which contained the hit “Go See the Doctor,” a commentary on venereal disease) did relatively well, reaching #23 on Billboard’s R&B albums chart—and his next album, How Ya Like Me Now, became his best-selling album ever and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales exceeding one million copies in the United States alone. How Ya Like Me Now was a rare example of someone from hip-hop’s first generation successfully competing with younger MCs on the Billboard charts in 1987.
In retrospect, it might seem silly that Kool was being described as “old school” in 1987, when he was only 25 and hip-hop had a much shorter history than R&B or rock. Boogie Down Productions leader KRS-One, in a 1988 interview, asserted that there was no such thing as old school in hip-hop and that when hip-hop had 20 or 30 years of history under its belt, then rappers could call themselves old school. But it’s important to understand how much hip-hop evolved between the late 1970s and 1987—it went from being an underground movement in Harlem and the South Bronx to being a huge international phenomenon that was influencing everything from alternative rock and heavy metal to dance-pop to reggae. And Kool had every right to be proud of his status as a hip-hop pioneer.
Fueling the success of How Ya Like Me Now were two hit singles: the title song and “Wild, Wild West,” which made it to #4 on Billboard’s R&B singles chart in the United States. And on both songs, Kool didn’t shy away from the fact that he had been part of hip-hop’s first generation—he celebrated it. With Harlem references like Convent Avenue and 129th Street, “Wild, Wild West” looks back on Kool’s Harlem upbringing and hip-hop’s early years. By 1987, participation in hip-hop had expanded way beyond New York City—and the rap scenes in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Miami, Oakland and other places were growing by leaps and bounds. But when Kool started rapping with the Treacherous Three in 1978, hip-hop was still dominated by Harlem and the South Bronx. And it is that pre-Run-D.M.C., pre-LL Cool J, pre-Fat Boys era that Kool salutes on “Wild, Wild West.”
Kool takes dead aim at material girls on “Stupid,” declaring that golddiggers won’t be getting any of his money. But much of the verbal venom Kool unleashes on How Ya Like Me Now is aimed at rival MCs. Battle rhymes abound on this album, and Kool’s combative spirit is alive and well on “Suckers” and “Rock You” (which references Queen’s 1977 funk-rock classic “We Will Rock You”). In 1987, Kool was having a well-publicized feud with LL Cool J—and there is no shortage of diss rhymes aimed at LL on this album. Even the front cover of How Ya Like Me Now dissed LL, depicting a red Kangol hat (one of LL’s trademarks) underneath a front wheel of a jeep. But eventually, Kool and LL worked out their differences—and in his 2003 book There’s a God on the Mic: The True 50 Greatest MCs, Kool picked LL as the seventh greatest rapper of all time (behind Grandmaster Melle Mel at #1, Rakim at #2, Blastmaster KRS-One at #3, Big Daddy Kane at #4, Kool himself at #5 and Caz at #6).
Lovers of classic soul and classic rock will have fun identifying the samples on this reissue, which range from Aretha Franklin’s hit 1967 recording of Otis Redding’s “Respect” on the single “No Respect” to the Incredible Bongo Band’s 1973 version of Jerry Lordan’s “Apache” on “Way Way Back” to Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” on “50 Ways.” And Kool samples the late James Brown more than once on this album, incorporating 1965’s “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” on the title track and 1973’s “Papa Don’t Take No Mess” on “I’m a Player.” The Godfather of Soul was, hands down, the most sampled artist in hip-hop in the late 1980s and early 1990s—and “Papa Don’t Take No Mess” was sampled again in 1988 when Brooklyn rapper Biz Markie used it on his hit “Vapors.”
Kool celebrated his 52nd birthday on August 8, 2014. He isn’t the oldest hip-hopper—2014 also found Herc turning 59, Bambaataa turning 57, Flash turning 56 and Blow turning 55—but he is certainly one of its pioneers. And as this reissue of How Ya Like Me Now demonstrates, Kool Moe Dee was very much on top of his game in 1987.
—Alex Henderson, August 2014
Alex Henderson’s work has appeared in Billboard, Spin, Salon.com, Creem, The L.A. Weekly, AlterNet, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Cash Box, HITS, CD Review, Skin Two, Black Beat, The Pasadena Weekly, Black Radio Exclusive (BRE), Music Connection, Latin Style, The New York City Jazz Record, Jazz Inside Magazine and many other well-known publications. Henderson (alexvhenderson.com) also contributed several thousand CD reviews to the popular Allmusic.com website and The All Music Guide’s series of music reference books.
Copyright 2022 Alex V. Henderson. All rights reserved.
Alex V. Henderson
Philadelphia, PA
vixenatr