That’s the key to what I do.”ĭoug wrote the entire song without a beat, opting instead to put the verses to paper as they came to him during his stay in Africa. “People will forget a lot of the things you say, but they’ll never forget the way you make them feel,” he says. “I was just trying to convey energy and emotion and a message that I felt would come across sincerely.”įor Doug, conveying the proper emotion in his music has always outweighed having the most quotable verse of all-time. “I wasn’t really concerned with being the top lyricist,” he says. Ruled at different times by the Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French, the island continues to serve as an important but incredibly painful reminder of a very dark chapter in human history.Īs he penned the most lyrically ambitious song of his career at that point, Doug avoided hyper-analyzing his wordplay and rather focused on expressing his feelings and raw emotion to the listener. Located off of the coast of Senegal, Gorée was the epicenter of the slave trade on the African coast from the 15th to 19th century. The song, which first took shape before recording for the album began, was inspired by a 1987 trip the group took to the Island of Gorée. Of all the standout moments, one of the most notable songs on The World’s Greatest Entertainer is the album’s final track "Africa (Goin’ back Home)". Fresh and The Get Fresh Crew’s second effort is notable for experimenting with new production styles and expanding Doug’s lyrical content. In addition to featuring an incredible array of accomplished musicians, Doug E. The involvement of esteemed musicians became a staple of the group's creative process and would prove integral to their 1988 album The World’s Greatest Entertainer. Though Rick wound up leaving the group shortly after the success of their breakthrough single to pursue a solo career, the group’s path to success had already been set.Īs they worked on their 1986 debut album Oh My God!, group manager Dennis Bell-an accomplished songwriter, producer, and music educator who co-produced “La Di Da Di” and “The Show”-introduced them to several high-profile musicians who lent their services to various songs. ![]() When they released the two-sided single “The Show”/ “La Di Da Di” in 1985 and both songs became hits, it catapulted the group into a new stratosphere of success, with “The Show” spending 21 weeks on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts and peaking at #4. Utilizing a unique setup that incorporated Fresh’s beatboxing and rapping, Rick’s mic skills, and Barry B and Will’s dual turntable mastery, the group quickly gained a reputation for their awe-inspiring live shows. That all changed when they added DJ Barry B and Slick Rick to their ensemble and formed Doug E. Although they made a decent chunk of change selling their highly sought-after tapes, they never imagined that rap music would take them all over the globe and give them financial security in their later years. ![]() Before long they were cranking out customized mixtapes for people in Will’s bedroom studio that sold for $25 a pop, roughly $60 in 2018 dollars. As a sophomore at Charles Evans, Will remembers watching Fresh mesmerize a crowd with his beatboxing skills one day at lunch after hearing about his inimitable abilities from a friend.įresh and Will agreed to join forces a short time after the captivating lunchroom performance, with Doug taking on beatboxing and MCing duties while Will held down the turntables. It was here that he first met Get Fresh Crew's DJ Chill Will in 1980. To further sharpen his skill set, he took to conducting impromptu lunchroom performances at Charles Evans Hughes High School in Harlem. “I created the beatbox from playing the trumpet.” ![]() “I come from a background of studying music, percussion, and things like that,” Fresh says. When his school started to cut music offerings due to budget restrictions as the 1970s gave way to the 1980s, he applied the techniques from class to his newfound artform-often beatboxing along to songs he heard in his neighborhood while walking down the street. Fresh credits his ability to emulate any musical instrument with his mouth to countless hours of deliberate practice and careful study in school music programs.
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