Busy Bee vs.Ikey C.
Born in The Bronx in the late 1950s, Bee burst onto the hip hop scene in 1977, before him and his contemporaries knew just what they were creating. For Bee, notoriety would be gained through his partnership with Afrika Bambaataa and his Zulu Nation, one of the pioneering factions that would define the hip hop landscape in New York throughout the 1980s. Bee was accomplished as a battler before joining the Nation, but it was this experience that allowed hime to hone and perfect his style. As for that style? Well, when Busy Bee rocked the mic, he rocked the mic right.
It is widely accepted that Busy Bee battled more MCs than anyone else throughout the 1980s. Before his most famous battle, a 1982 showdown at the Harlem World Rappers Convention against Kool Moe Dee, Bee boastfully claimed to have defeated over 800 rappers in his prime. Moe Dee wouldn’t be one of them. In one of the first recorded and most influential battles ever to take place, Bee took the L to Moe Dee’s quick paced, innovative style. The loss would not deter The Chief Rocker; in the same year he was featured in the film Wild Style, battling Lil Rodney C of the Funky 4+1, while he continued to tear up the New York underground.
This page right here is the place to be. Because the place to be is with Busy Bee. Historical significance is a difficult thing to place with battle rappers. The subculture is divided into a series of distinct eras; how can we judge the accomplishments and talents of performers from one against the other? But what cannot be disputed when considering the forefathers of the battle rap movement is their impact, not only on battling as an art form, but on hip hop as a whole. Busy Bee was not only an originator when it came to rap battles. He was an originator when it came to rap as a whole.
Born in The Bronx in the late 1950s, Bee burst onto the hip hop scene in 1977, before him and his contemporaries knew just what they were creating. For Bee, notoriety would be gained through his partnership with Afrika Bambaataa and his Zulu Nation, one of the pioneering factions that would define the hip hop landscape in New York throughout the 1980s. Bee was accomplished as a battler before joining the Nation, but it was this experience that allowed hime to hone and perfect his style. As for that style? Well, when Busy Bee rocked the mic, he rocked the mic right.
It is widely accepted that Busy Bee battled more MCs than anyone else throughout the 1980s. Before his most famous battle, a 1982 showdown at the Harlem World Rappers Convention against Kool Moe Dee, Bee boastfully claimed to have defeated over 800 rappers in his prime. Moe Dee wouldn’t be one of them. In one of the first recorded and most influential battles ever to take place, Bee took the L to Moe Dee’s quick paced, innovative style. The loss would not deter The Chief Rocker; in the same year he was featured in the film Wild Style, battling Lil Rodney C of the Funky 4+1, while he continued to tear up the New York underground.
Bee’s battling career crested in 1985 when he won the New Music Seminar MC World Supremacy Belt, the most competitive battle event at the time. Throughout the competition Bee’s charisma carried him past a crew of challengers, his larger than life persona matching his dialed up outfits and outrageous stage presence. In the finals he crossed mics with Roxanne Shante, earning a controversial victory that still divides battle enthusiasts to this day.
Today, Busy Bee continues to rhyme, appearing most recently on the collaborative album Hip Hop Lives and in the 2007 documentary Hip Hop Legends. He owns and operates Busy Bee Enterprises out of Baltimore, putting on shows and funding events in the hip hop underground. While the world of hip hop may have left the styles and conventions of its forefathers behind, an MC like Busy Bee reminds us of the culture’s roots and birthplace, every time he steps up in the place to be.
Bee’s battling career crested in 1985 when he won the New Music Seminar MC World Supremacy Belt, the most competitive battle event at the time. Throughout the competition Bee’s charisma carried him past a crew of challengers, his larger than life persona matching his dialed up outfits and outrageous stage presence. In the finals he crossed mics with Roxanne Shante, earning a controversial victory that still divides battle enthusiasts to this day.
Today, Busy Bee continues to rhyme, appearing most recently on the collaborative album Hip Hop Lives and in the 2007 documentary Hip Hop Legends. He owns and operates Busy Bee Enterprises out of Baltimore, putting on shows and funding events in the hip hop underground. While the world of hip hop may have left the styles and conventions of its forefathers behind, an MC like Busy Bee reminds us of the culture’s roots and birthplace, every time he steps up in the place to be.
