spoonie gee: long, but informative. just the facts, no opinion.

Jeff Slattery (slats@uclink3.berkeley.edu)
Mon, 23 Oct 1995 15:38:26 -0700 (PDT)


is this appropriate? maybe, maybe not, depending on where you stand.
the roots of aj reach far, deep, and wide, and besides, somebody asked...

On Mon, 23 Oct 1995, Chris Ireland wrote:

>
> A last thought. I've acquired this old 12". Its by Spoonin Gee and called
> Spoonin Rap. Its pretty old school style. He raps and raps, no chorus, nice
> basssline, cheesy echo put on his voice halfway through. Anyway, I listen to
> this now and again but the other night I looked and realized the year.. 1979...
> that's pretty early for such a rap record. Anyone know of Spoonin Gee?

spoonie g, maybe? if so, he is the nephew of bobby robinson (Enjoy
records) and sylvia robinson (Sugarhill records), who was writing rhymes
in the front room of their apartment as a kid, and thus helped inspire
the concept of the sugarhill gang (in addition to several other
influences, including paul winley's (Winley records) daughter's
fanaticism with rap). once bobby robinson had a few things going his way,
he and peter brown were looking for talent, and someone reminded him in his
record store one night that, "spoonie can rap."

After the success of the gang and grandmaster flash & the furious five,
bobby robinson paired the treacherous three (kool moe dee, special k, and
l.a. sunshine) in their debut with spoonie g. one side was the
tongue-twisting "the new rap language", a rap with a nod to mary poppins
which set a new style of quickfire rhyming against a 112bpm beat with a
slowish feel. on drums was pumpkin, and on congas was spoonie's brother.
the b-side was "love rap", a solo rap by spoonie g, with strictly
drum/conga accompaniment. one of the very first commercially released
raps with only beats for backing, it has been a consistent seller right
through to the present.

After the take on mary poppins, spoonie gee cut "spoonin' rap", on
'sounds of new york, usa' records, one of peter browns many labels. it
also appeared on an album on 'queen constance' records called "the big
break rapper party" and was remixed and re-released in 1984 on 'heavenly
star' records. "spoonin' rap" was like a diamond in a pile of rubble in
peter brown's recordings, usually classics of low-budget incompetence,
e.g. label says 33 on a 45 recording, raps out of time, drummers losing
the beat, and sound like your dad's garage...spoonie gee shone through as
a real talent.

spoonie is currently working as a supervisor in a rehabilitation center
for the mentally disabled under his real name of Gabe Jackson (his
nickname came from his habit of eating with a spoon as a small boy).

"spoonin' rap" was the first release on a journey through three different
labels before his latest signing at 'tuff city' records. he already
sounds self-assured, fluently rolling out the seduction routine that has
become his trademark over a slinky backing track of bass and drums, some
flexatone and whistles. with his tall tales, spoonie is closest to the
mythical jody, the woman stealer and death dealer. however regrettable
outsiders may find the sexism of his songs, thay are part of a line in
black oral literature and song which extends at its furthest limits to
spoonie's favorite form of music, the romantic soul ballad: "i'm into all
types of music but i like the type of music i can lay back to and
listen. i like old records, old and new, but i like slow ballads. i'll
take slow music over fast music any day. i like marvin gaye, nat king
cole, brook benton. i like, god bless the dead, jackie wilson. i even
liked elvis. and i can't forget barry white."

other releases include "monster jam" (1981), "the godfather" (1985), and
"i'm all shook up", (1989).