Stetsasonic is an American hip hop band. Formed in 1981 in

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 City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, 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 hip hop bands such as

The Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

. The band combined

beat-boxing Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.

, sampling technology, and live band performance, incorporating R&B,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

dancehall reggae Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

, and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

into its sound. Stetsasonic is also considered one of the acts that pioneered

jazz rap Jazz rap (or jazz hip hop) is a fusion of jazz and hip hop music, as well as an alternative hip hop subgenre, that developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. AllMusic writes that the genre "was an attempt to fuse African-American music of the ...

. Though rumored to have disbanded in 1991, soon after the release of its third album, ''

Blood, Sweat & No Tears ''Blood, Sweat & No Tears'' is the third and final album by hip hop band Stetsasonic. The CD version replaces the songs "To Whom It May Concern," "Corporate America," and "Do You Remember This?," which were included on the cassette version, with ...

,'' Stetsasonic continues to record and perform together, as evidenced by their subsequent release, "People In The Neighborhood", and their performance at the Urban Matterz Hip Hop Festival in 2019. Individual members branched out to explore solo careers, while still maintaining Stetsasonic. Frukwan and Prince Paul were founding members of the

Gravediggaz Gravediggaz was an American Hip hop music, hip hop group from New York, known for its Black comedy, dark sense of humor and abrasive, menacing soundscapes. Gravediggaz blended hardcore hip hop, gangsta rap and Heavy metal music, heavy metal with ...

, while the latter also became a

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, as did

Daddy-O ''Daddy-O'' is a 1958 B-movie starring Dick Contino, Sandra Giles and Bruno VeSota. It was directed by Lou Place and written by David Moessinger. The film is notable for its soundtrack as being the debut film score for John Williams. The fil ...

History

Originally, the band was known as The Stetsasonic 3 MC's. The original group consisted of

, Delite, and Crown Supreme. Daddy-O and Delite changed the group's name and style to Stetsasonic the Hip-Hop Band. Additional members were: Wise The Human Mix Machine; Prince Paul; the Devastating Beat Creator (DBC); drummer Bobby Simmons; and Frukwan, who replaced Crown Supreme. Stetsasonic clinched a deal with

Tommy Boy Records Tommy Boy Entertainment is an American independent record label and multimedia brand founded in 1981 by Tom Silverman. The label is credited with helping and launching the music careers of Queen Latifah, Afrika Bambaataa, Stetsasonic, Digital U ...

when DBC created and played the funky bassline for its debut single "If You Can't Say It All Just Say STET", live for Tom Silverman, owner of Tommy Boy. After a few months of the single being in regular rotation on radio stations, the band released its first album '' On Fire'' (1986). The album received mixed reviews, though the follow-ups, ''

In Full Gear ''In Full Gear'' is the second studio album by American hip hop band Stetsasonic, released in 1988 by Tommy Boy Records. Music and lyrics ''In Full Gear'' is a double album that draws on various influences in its hip hop style, including R ...

'' and ''

'', were critically acclaimed. A 1988 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' article said that the band mirrored the rise of artistic, profound rap music: "While pop's political commentary often seems secondary to catchy melodies and commercial acceptability, rap's tough sound sharpens its commentary". As a "hip hop band", dependent on instruments as well as turntables, the band was also known for live shows, though sometimes the "rap-show format prevented Stetsasonic from employing the band instrumentation and studio layering that make their records so distinctive."Palmer, Robert
"Rock: 'Def Jam 87,' Rap at the Garden"
''The New York Times'', 5 September 1987. Fruitkwan and Prince Paul were founding members of the

, while the latter also became a

went on to a solo career, while also working as a record producer, working with

Freestyle Fellowship Freestyle Fellowship is an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California. It consists of Aceyalone, Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E., and Self Jupiter. The group was a prominent part of the Good Life Cafe collective, and are part of the Project Blowed col ...

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

Positive K Positive K (sometimes stylized as +K) (born Darryl Gibson on August 9, 1967) is an American MC and songwriter from the Bronx, New York City, New York, and one of the original artists of the First Priority Music camp. He is best known for his hi ...

and the

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, among others. Prince Paul went on to produce the trio

De La Soul De La Soul () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1988 in the Amityville area of Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative ...

. Drummer Bobby Simmons pursued work in public access, forming the show ''Flava Videos'' in the mid-1990s on Channel 26 (New York). In 2017, Simmons was a contestant on the

FOX Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

game show ''

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'' where he was partnered with singer Shannon. MC Delite is currently the President and CEO of Flight Entertainment and a public speaker. DBC proceeded to produce tracks for

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and the

Cookie Crew Cookie Crew were a rap music duo formed in Clapham, South London in 1983. Career Their career took off after winning a national rap championship and recording two sessions for the John Peel BBC Radio 1 show. They gained a recording contract f ...

, among others. In 1995, he became the owner and operator of Raw Beat Productions, a music & video recording studio, located in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. In 2016, he invented the MN-1 Advanced Portable Power System, which is a sustainable energy source with a swappable battery compartment and solar-based charging system. Wise also participated in a few commercials in which he lends his beatbox sounds. One was for

Campbell's Soup Campbell Soup Company, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has grown to become ...

in which a cartoon of a

B-boy Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

bear beatboxes. The commercial was broadcast amid Saturday morning cartoons. Wise was also featured in a documentary on the art of the human beatbox, ''Breath Control: the History of the Human Beat Box'', which was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival and also featured fellow human percussionists such as

Doug E. Fresh Doug E. Fresh (born September 17, 1966) is a Barbados-born American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer, also known as the "Human Beat Box". The pioneer of 20th-century American beatboxing, Fresh is able to accurately imitate drum machines an ...

Biz Markie Marcel Theo Hall (April 8, 1964 – July 16, 2021), known professionally as Biz Markie, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, and record producer. Markie was best known for his 1989 single "Just a Friend", which became a Top 40 hit in ...

Ready Rock C Clarence Holmes, better known as Ready Rock C, is an American hip hop record producer, beatboxer, and rapper. He is best known for his early career with Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff, then known as DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. According to ...

, and

Emanon Emanon is an American musical duo formed in 1995, in Los Angeles, California, composed of rapper and singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc and record producer Exile. Allmusic history/ref> History Emanon released the extended play (EP) ''Anon and On ...

. Stetsasonic's most recent release was "(Now Ya'll Givin' Up) Love" (2020). They proposed an upcoming album called ''Here We Go Again''.

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Guest appearances

References

Notes

Citations

External links

Interview with Daddy-OUnofficial lyrics page for ''On Fire''Official Facebook Page
{{Authority control East Coast hip hop groups Tommy Boy Records artists Musical groups from Brooklyn American hip hop groups African-American musical groups Five percenters Musical groups established in 1979 Musical groups disestablished in 1991 Musical groups reestablished in 2008 Alternative hip hop groups