Antonio Hardy
(born September 10, 1968 in Brooklyn, New York) [1] better known by his stage name, Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper. He started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group, the Juice Crew. He is considered one of the most influential and greatest MCs in Hip Hop [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]. Regarding the name Big Daddy Kane, he said: "The Big Daddy part and the Kane part came from two different things. The Kane part came from my fascination with the Martial Arts flicks when I was young. The Big Daddy came from something that happened on a ski trip one time involving a young lady." [14]
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BIG DADDY KANE TICKETS
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Biography
1980s
In 1984, Kane became friends with
Biz Markie, and he would co-write some of Biz's best-known lyrics. Both eventually became important members of the Queens-based Juice Crew, a collective headed by renowned producer
Marley Marl. Kane signed with Marl's
Cold Chillin' Records label in 1987 and debuted the following year with the 12" single "
Raw," an underground hit. Kane is known for his ability to syncopate over faster hip hop beats, and despite his asthmatic condition he is acknowledged as one of the pioneering masters of
fast-rap
. His sense of style is renowned and set a number of late-1980s and early-1990s hip hop trends (high-top fades, velour suits, and four-finger rings). The
backronym "King Asiatic Nobody's Equal" is often applied to his moniker. His name "Kane" came from Caine from the popular TV show
Kung Fu
. The "Big Daddy" came from
Vincent Price's character in an old
Frankie Avalon movie,
Beach Party
.
He released his debut album under Cold Chillin' Records in the early summer of 1988 called
Long Live the Kane
which featured the hip hop hit "Ain't No Half Steppin". The following year, he released his second album and biggest hit to date
It's a Big Daddy Thing
which included 1970s sample throwbacks like "Smooth Operator" and the
Teddy Riley produced track "I Get the Job Done" which hit the R&B top 40 during the closing of the 1980s. He also had a memorable verse on the Marley Marl produced track "The Symphony" released in late 1988 which included Juice Crew member Craig G,
Masta Ace, and
Kool G. Rap (later remixed to include
Big Pun,
DMX and
KRS-One).
1990s
Big Daddy Kane appeared on
Patti Labelle's 1991 effort, "Burnin'". He provided the rap chorus to the single "Feels Like Another One". He also appeared on the video release "Live in New York".
Widely regarded as one of the greatest rappers during
the "golden age" of hip hop (1986–1993), Kane's experimentation with
R&B beats and his alignment to the
Five Percent faction drew criticism. Later albums, such as
Looks Like a Job For…
, were acclaimed, but he was never able to return to the commercial and artistic success of
It's a Big Daddy Thing
. However, he still tours extensively.
As an actor, he debuted in
Mario Van Peebles' 1993
western,
Posse
, and appeared in
Robert Townsend's 1993
Meteor Man
. Big Daddy Kane also posed for
Playgirl
and
Madonna's Sex
book during the 1990s.
During the early 1990s, Jay-Z is known to have been Big Daddy Kane’s hypeman
[15], and Kane helped him early on in his career - Ice-T says, “I actually met Jay-Z with Kane. Kane brought Jay-Z over to my house”
.
Kane himself says that Jay-Z wasn’t technically his hypeman in the true sense of the term –“he wasn’t a hypeman, he basically made cameo appearances on stage. When I would leave the stage to go change outfits, I would bring out Jay-Z and Positive K and let them freestyle until I came back to the stage.”
[16].
Jay-Z was also featured on Big Daddy Kane’s track ‘Show & Prove’ from
Daddy’s Home
(1994), as well as in the video
[17].
2000s
Recently (especially as of 2002), a rejuvenated Big Daddy Kane has occasionally been visible collaborating with
alternative hip hop artists, including
Jurassic 5,
Little Brother, and
DJ Babu of the
Beat Junkies. He has released two singles, the
Alchemist-produced "The Man, The Icon", and the
DJ Premier-produced "Any Type of Way" (on which he discusses urban collapse in post-
9/11 New York City ["
Giuliani got New York lookin' like it's
Amistad"] and the erosion of the
middle class.)
Big Daddy Kane appeared on the
trip-hop group
Morcheeba's 2003 single "What's Your Name". In 2004, "Warm It Up, Kane" appeared on popular
video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
, playing on
classic hip hop radio station
Playback FM.
In 2006, he appeared as a guest MC on the track "Get Wild Off This", produced by
The Stanton Warriors for their Stanton Sessions Vol. 2 breaks mix.
In 2005, Big Daddy Kane was honored during the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors. After a medley of hits performed by
T.I.,
Black Thought, and
Common, he came out to perform his beloved track "Warm It Up, Kane" with his old dancers, Scoob and Scrap. The performance was tremendously well-received. Kane and Kool G. Rap can both also been seen briefly in
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
documentary. Most recently, he appeared alongside the
Wu-Tang Clan,
Rakim, and his longtime friends
Busta Rhymes and
Q-Tip in a segment of the 2006
Summer Jam concert (
June 7,
2006), as part of an initiative by
Busta Rhymes to honor the legacy of New York City hip hop.
On
June 5,
2007,
Chinga Chang Records released the mixtape
Official Joints
, which featured "BK Mentality", a new track by Big Daddy Kane.
Big Daddy Kane made a cameo in the video for
Game's Pain, a track by Compton rapper
The Game. The video also featured appearances by
Raekwon,
Three Six Mafia and
Ice Cube. The Game also referenced
Jay-Z's former occupation as Kane's hypeman with the line
Ask a Jay-Z fan about Big Daddy Kane: Don't know him, Game gon' show 'em
. The line can also be interpreted as a subtle shot at Jay-Z.
Big Daddy Kane made a surprise appearance on the remix of the song
Don't Touch Me by
Busta Rhymes
In 2007, Big Daddy Kane featured on "Brooklyn (Remix)" on
The Brick (Bodega Chronicles)
, the debut mixtape by upcoming rapper
Joell Ortiz.
Legacy
Big Daddy Kane is regarded as one of the most influential and skilled
golden age rappers
[3] [4] [5] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [28].
MTV put him at No. 7 in their
Greatest MCs Of All Time
list
, he is placed at No.4 in
Kool Moe Dee’s book
There's A God On The Mic: The True 50 Greatest MCs
[3], and
RZA lists him as one of his Top 5 best MCs
[4].
Allmusic says, “his best material ranks among the finest hip-hop of its era, and his sex-drenched persona was enormously influential on countless future would-be players”
[5], and describes him as, “an enormously talented battle MC”
, “one of rap's major talents”
, refers to his, “near-peerless technique” ”
and “first-rate technique and rhyming skills”
[32] and says he “had the sheer verbal facility and razor-clean dexterity to ambush any MC and exhilarate anyone who witnessed or heard him perform”
[28].
Kool Moe Dee describes him as “one of the most imitated emcees ever in the game”
[34] and “one of the true greatest emcees ever”
[35], and
Ice-T says:
"To me, Big Daddy Kane is still today one of the best rappers. I would put Big Daddy Kane against any rapper in a battle. Jay-Z, Nas, Eminem, any of them. I could take 'Raw' right now and put it up against any record [from today]. Kane is one of the most incredible lyricists… and he will devour you on the mic. I don't want to try to out-rap Big Daddy Kane. Big Daddy Kane can rap circles around cats".
His first two albums are also considered Hip Hop classics
[7] and
Rolling Stone says, “he has received consistent critical kudos”
[37].
In the book,
Rap-Up: The Ultimate Guide To Hip-Hop And R&B
, Cameron and Devin Lazerine say Big Daddy Kane is “widely seen as one of the best lyricists of his time and even today regularly gets name-checked by younger dudes”
[38], and music journalist
Peter Shapiro says Kane is “perhaps the most complete MC ever”
[12].
Eminem references Big Daddy Kane in the lyrics to his song ‘Yellow Brick Road’ from his
Encore album, saying, “we (
Eminem and
Proof) was on the same shit, that Big Daddy Kane shit, where compound syllables sound combined”
[10] and he quotes the same lines in his book,
The Way I Am
– this illustrates how Big Daddy Kane had an influence on both
Eminem’s and
Proof’s rhyme technique
[11].
Discography
Albums
Album information
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Long Live the Kane
- Released: June 21, 1988
- Billboard 200 chart position: #116
- R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #5
- Certification: Gold [42]
- Singles: "Get Into It"/"Somethin' Funky"/"Just Rhymin' With Biz", "Raw"/"Word To The Mother (Land)", "I'll Take You There (Remix)"/"Wrath Of Kane"
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It's a Big Daddy Thing
- Released: September 15, 1989
- Billboard 200 chart position: #33
- R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #4
- Certification: Gold
- Singles: "Smooth Operator"/"Warm It Up Kane", "I Get The Job Done"/"Big Daddy's Theme", "To Be Your Man"/"Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now", "Rap Summary (Lean On Me)"/"Long Live The Kane"
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Taste of Chocolate
- Released: October 30, 1990
- Billboard 200 chart position: #37
- R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #10
- Singles: "Cause I Can Do It Right"/"Dance With The Devil", "All Of Me"/"Cause I Do It Right (Remix)", "It's Hard Being The Kane"/"Who Am I"
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Prince of Darkness
- Released: October 29, 1991
- Billboard 200 chart position: #57
- R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #25
- Singles: "Ooh, Aah, Nah-Nah-Nah", "Groove With It", "Raw '91", "The Lover In You"
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Looks Like a Job For…
- Released: May 25, 1993
- Billboard 200 chart position: #52
- R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #9
- Singles: "How U Get A Record Deal"/"Here Comes Kane, Scoob And Scrap", "Stop Shammin'", "Very Special"/"Stop Shammin'"
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Daddy's Home
- Released: September 13, 1994
- Billboard 200 chart position: #155
- R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #26
- Singles: "Show & Prove"/"In The PJ's"
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Veteranz Day
- Released: April 28, 1998
- Billboard 200 chart position: -
- R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #62
- Singles: "Uncut, Pure"/"2 Da Good Tymz", "Hold it Down"/"Unda Presha"
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References
- Big Daddy Kane: Biography
- http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/2006/emcees/index5.jhtml
- Kool Moe Dee, 2003, ''There's A God On The Mic: The True 50 Greatest MCs'', Thunder's Mouth Press, p.303.
- http://allhiphop.com/stories/reviewsmusic/archive/2009/01/22/20803725.aspx
- http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:difqxq95ld6e~T1
- http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dpfrxqy5ldse
- http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wxfyxqyjldje
- http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bigdaddykane/biography - from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of
- Lazerine, Cameron and Devin, 2008, ''Rap-Up: The Ultimate Guide To Hip-Hop And R&B'', Grand Central Publishing, p. 17
- Eminem, 2004, 'Yellow Brick Road', ''Encore'', Aftermath/Shady, Interscope.
- Eminem, with Sacha Jenkins, 2008, ''The Way I Am'', Dutton Adult, p. 17.
- Shapiro, Peter, 2005, ''The Rough Guide To Hip-Hop, 2nd Edition'', Penguin, p. 29.
- http://www.defsounds.com/profiles/big_daddy_kane/biography.
- http://www.urbansmarts.com/interviews/bigdaddykane.htm
- http://www.defsounds.com/profiles/big_daddy_kane
- http://www.unkut.com/2007/09/big-daddy-kane-the-unkut-interview/
- http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3ifpxqyhldje
- Kool Moe Dee, 2003, ''There's A God On The Mic: The True 50 Greatest MCs'', Thunder's Mouth Press, p.303.
- http://allhiphop.com/stories/reviewsmusic/archive/2009/01/22/20803725.aspx
- http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:difqxq95ld6e~T1
- http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wxfyxqyjldje
- http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bigdaddykane/biography - from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of
- Lazerine, Cameron and Devin, 2008, ''Rap-Up: The Ultimate Guide To Hip-Hop And R&B'', Grand Central Publishing, p. 17
- Eminem, 2004, 'Yellow Brick Road', ''Encore'', Aftermath/Shady, Interscope.
- Eminem, with Sacha Jenkins, 2008, ''The Way I Am'', Dutton Adult, p. 17.
- Shapiro, Peter, 2005, ''The Rough Guide To Hip-Hop, 2nd Edition'', Penguin, p. 29.
- http://www.defsounds.com/profiles/big_daddy_kane/biography.
- http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3pfrxqy5ldse
- Kool Moe Dee, 2003, ''There's A God On The Mic: The True 50 Greatest MCs'', Thunder's Mouth Press, p.303.
- http://allhiphop.com/stories/reviewsmusic/archive/2009/01/22/20803725.aspx
- http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:difqxq95ld6e~T1
- http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fpfrxqy5ldse
- http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3pfrxqy5ldse
- Kool Moe Dee, 2003, ''There's A God On The Mic: The True 50 Greatest MCs'', Thunder's Mouth Press, p.306.
- Kool Moe Dee, 2003, ''There's A God On The Mic: The True 50 Greatest MCs'', Thunder's Mouth Press, p.308.
- http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wxfyxqyjldje
- http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bigdaddykane/biography - from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of
- Lazerine, Cameron and Devin, 2008, ''Rap-Up: The Ultimate Guide To Hip-Hop And R&B'', Grand Central Publishing, p. 17.
- Shapiro, Peter, 2005, ''The Rough Guide To Hip-Hop, 2nd Edition'', Penguin, p. 29.
- Eminem, 2004, 'Yellow Brick Road', ''Encore'', Aftermath/Shady, Interscope.
- Eminem, with Sacha Jenkins, 2008, ''The Way I Am'', Dutton Adult, p. 17.
- RIAA - Gold & Platinum Searchable Database: Big Daddy Kane