I Can't Believe How Dope I Am!

                       

12:48am Feb 15th...My man Tony Rotton aka Blak Twang hit me with the message "Tim Dog dead for real??!!"
A minute on Google confirmed it all. It's sad. Rest In Peace Tim Dog.
While I'm up I feel like I should write a little something about my memories of the man that had the killer verse on the Ultramagnetic MC's classic 'Chourus Line'. It's a record I remember well. I'm pretty sure I first heard it on Westwood's Capital Rap Show and I'm also pretty sure that I bought my copy from Reds Records in Brixton.
Tim came in HARD on that song...."AHHH ISSSHT!!!!" I can remember dissecting the whole tune virtually line by line with my boy Taiweed. Back then we'd talk about every dope hip hop release and give them all our own critical beatdown. I can remember dj Pogo cuttin' the hell out of 2 copies almost every time he was on turntables, radio or club. He'd do double-ups of the James Brown grunt on there and totally destroy that shit! I remember lending my copy to my boy T Hakeem and him giving it back months later with food filled  fingerprints on it!!! I can remember Max and Dave releasing the 'Dope Jams' compilation album and featuring it on the line up of dope jams! I can even remember rhyming at Notting Hill carnival and spitting some combustible flow pattern, and having DJ Jay (Trouble Rap) come up to me after to tell me how dope I was and that I sounded like Tim Dog on Chorus Line! Those were great days I tell you. Great.
A few years later I was settled into my gig co-hosting Choice FM's flagship hip hop show 'Friday Night Flava' with dj 279. One of his scheduled guests that particular Friday night was none other than Tim Dog himself. This was probably around 94/95 because 'I Get Wrecked' with KRS1 had finished doing the rounds. He came into the studio and was surprisingly cool and humble for a man that almost singlehandedly started the East Coast/West Coast beef!
He was pretty funny too and to be honest seemed a million miles away from the Bronx N***a he was on those classic tracks even though he was promoting the Snoop Dogg diss 'B***h Wid A Perm'. I guess a few days after that meeting I found out that he was due to do a few shows too while he was out in Europe and UK dj legend Cutmaster Swift was lined up to spin for him. The crazy part was that Tim Dog had no copies of his own records to perform with so I was asked to loan my personal copies of Tim Dog's records to Tim Dog for his tour! How dope is that! 

"Whoooo, hot damn I'm great. I'm on the Chorus Line...."

"Rip The Damn Stage Like I'm On A Rampage!"

It's 2012 and I'm ready to hit the road, the decks and the stage! 1st stop is with hip hop's live show legend Ty. Come check me out keeping the beats tight and the adlibs tighter on the 27th January at Hootananny, Brixton. Don't say I did'nt tell you!

I'm trying to get a whole lot busier on the decks this year so keep an ear and an eye out for me!

Watch this space...

Hi, My Name Is... The Big Ted Story

"How'd you get the name Big Ted?"

I still get asked that question. Like I ain't been around long enough yet for that to not STILL be a real question anymore! No matter, I guess if folks are asking then they're interested. Well, here goes with the full truth and nothing but...

I take you back to south London in the 80's for this one. Battersea to be specific. Plough Road to be right and exact. I was headed there with Gary, one of my fellow hip hop enthusiasts and school bodypopping crew members. (man, I wonder what happened to the rest of Street Level???) He was taking me to meet some of his non schoolfriend hip hop heads. I can even remember my absolute favourite joint at the time was 'Hip Hop Beat' by The Rapologists. Dope!

Now, before I get into this part, I'd like to set the scene a little bit. This is the 8o's. Hip Hop is still pretty fresh over here. I knew I loved it, I knew it loved me. But I was still working on how to show it. So, at this point in my life my style was a little wack-ish! I had wanted the 'wet look' hair style but my Mum was NOT having it! She said I'm not allowed to spoil my hair with that. Instead, I had what back then was called a 'dry perm'. It was a treatment that came in a beautiful little glossy cardboard box with beautiful black people with beautiful black hair staring back at me on it. My mum performed the duties as hairdresser and turned my tight natural curls into a big floaty afro! Not what I wanted, but hey, you don't say that to a Jamaican mother if you value your lips!!!

Back to Plough Road. Gary and me roll up to a bunch guys laughing and joking on the street corner and he calls to one of them. Gary says to me "This is Michael." Michael looks me up and down for a split second (no doubt clocking the floaty 'fro) and then says "Wassup Big Ted!" The small crowd erupts in laughter! From that moment on I have been forever known in hip hop as Big Ted. The Michael who gave me this life changing rebranding would later become known to a generation of heads as MC Mello.

Michael, Moomin, Mello, you will ALWAYS be my hip hop father!

Gary, you get a big thank you too!