Audio Two was the

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York hip hop duo of emcee Kirk "Milk Dee" Robinson and DJ Nat "Gizmo" Robinson, most famous for its first hit "

Top Billin' "Top Billin'" is a single for American hip-hop duo Audio Two, released as the B-side of the single "Make It Funky" from the album '' What More Can I Say?'' It was released before First Priority Music inked a distribution deal with Atlantic Reco ...

History

Top Billin' by Audio Two US 7-inch vinyl Side A

The duo's debut single, "Make it Funky", was released in 1987, but it was the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

, "Top Billin, that became the chart hit. The beat — made by Milk Dee and produced by Daddy-O of

Stetsasonic Stetsasonic is an American hip hop band. Formed in 1981 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, Stetsasonic was one of the first hip hop acts to perform with a full band and use live instrumentation in their recordings, paving the way for future ...

— and Milk Dee's lyrics would be sampled and referenced time and time again, even by the group itself: both the group's full-length debut, 1988's ''What More Can I Say?'' and its 1990 follow-up, ''I Don't Care: The Album'', were titled after lines from the song. However, the duo would never recapture its initial success. The singles of its second album, "I Get the Papers" and "On the Road Again," were only moderate hits. It was a time of rapid change in the hip hop market;

gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, emerged in the mid- to late 1980s as a controversial hip-hop subgenre whose lyrics assert the culture and values typical of American street gangs and street hustlers. Many gangsta rappe ...

was rising in popularity, and Audio Two found itself unsuccessfully struggling to maintain recording contracts and a fanbase. Audio Two did, however, pave the way for the duo's labelmate

MC Lyte Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper, DJ, actress and entrepreneur. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first ...

, who launched her career with the hit single

I Cram to Understand U (Sam) "I Cram to Understand U (Sam)" is the debut single by American rapper MC Lyte, in which features their DJ, DJ K-Rock, released in 1987. The song was part of her first album ''Lyte as a Rock'', released the following year. Produced by Milk Dee a ...

. Lyte's 1998 album ''Seven & Seven'' featured a remake of "Top Billin — with the original instrumental — this time a duet between her and Milk. It has been a widely circulated rumor that both members of Audio Two were brothers of MC Lyte; however, this is untrue. In 1994, Milk released a solo EP titled ''Never Dated'' on

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popula ...

's American Recordings. While the EP was notable for its single "Spam," a duet with the

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

Adrock Adam Keefe Horovitz (born October 31, 1966), popularly known as Ad-Rock, is an American rapper, guitarist and actor. He was a member of the hip-hop group Beastie Boys. While Beastie Boys were active, Horovitz performed with a side project, BS ...

with

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mus ...

Mike D Michael Louis Diamond (born November 20, 1965), better known as Mike D, is an American rapper, musician, and music producer. He is best known as a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys. Early life Diamond was born in New York Cit ...

, aside from the devoted Beastie Boys fanbase the album generated little interest. Milk eventually rediscovered success by producing the singer Eamon, who recorded the 2004 hit "

Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back) "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)" is the debut single of American singer-songwriter Eamon. The song was co-written by Eamon, Kirk Robinson and Mark Passy. It was released on November 10, 2003, as the lead single from his debut album, ''I Don't ...

." In 2007, Milk Dee recorded a verse for a remix of "

I Get Money "I Get Money" is the third single from 50 Cent's third album, ''Curtis''. This song was #14 on ''Rolling Stone''s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. The song peaked at #20 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Produc ...

" by 50 Cent, thanking all the music artists that sampled "Top Billin'," which earned him royalties. In recent years, Audio Two member Gizmo became a recording engineer under the name "You Can Ask" Giz. His audio work has appeared on albums by

Donell Jones Donell Jones (born May 22, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is most notable for the hits "U Know What's Up", " Where I Wanna Be", and his cover of Stevie Wonder's "Knocks Me Off My Feet". Jones' first studio alb ...

Calvin Richardson Calvin Richardson (born December 16, 1976) is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter. In 1999, he released his debut solo album ''Country Boy''. Career In the mid 1990s, Richardson went solo and signed with Universal Records. His debut al ...

Jaheim Jaheim H. Hoagland (born May 26, 1978), known mononymously as Jaheim, is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer. He was signed by Naughty by Nature's Kaygee to Divine Mill Records in 2000, and released his debut album ''Ghetto Love (album), Ghe ...

and

Tyrese Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978) is an American actor and singer. He released his self-titled debut album in 1998, which featured the single " Sweet Lady", peaking at number twelve on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. His second ...

History

Discography

Studio albums

Unreleased albums

EPs

Singles

As lead artist

References

Notes

Citations

External links