Warren Sabir McGlone (born September 17, 1969), known by the stage name Steady B, is an American hip hop emcee who, along with

Schoolly D Jesse Bonds Weaver Jr. (born June 22, 1962), better known by the stage name Schoolly D (sometimes spelled Schooly D), is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Career Schoolly D teamed up with DJ Code Money in the mid-1980s. His ...

, the Fresh Prince, and

Three Times Dope Three Times Dope was an American hip hop/rap group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania consisting of EST ( Robert Waller), Chuck Nice (Walter Griggs) and Woody Wood (Duerwood Beale). 3xD, as they were called for short, were a part of the Hilltop Hu ...

, was one of the first wave of Philadelphia-area emcees to gain notoriety in the mid-to-late 1980s. Steady B was a member (and ''de facto'' leader) of Philadelphia's Hilltop Hustlers crew. His musical career was relatively short-lived, and he is currently serving a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes ...

in a Pennsylvania state prison for his role in the murder of

Philadelphia Police The Philadelphia Police Department (PPD or Philly PD) is the police agency responsible for law enforcement and investigations within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The PPD is one of the oldest municipal police agencies, fourth larges ...

officer Lauretha Vaird during a botched bank robbery in 1996.

Early life

McGlone, affectionately known as "Boobie", was raised in the Overbrook section of West Philadelphia. More specifically in the Hilltop area, which runs roughly between the corridors of 59th Street and Lansdowne Avenue and 63rd Street and Lancaster Avenue. McGlone was introduced to hip hop while attending the former Hanna Elementary School and started practicing his freestyle skills. He would later attend and matriculate at the former Shoemaker Jr. High School. Whilst attending Overbrook High School, McGlone began testing his rap skills in battles with, among others, future Hollywood icon Will Smith, who was then known as the Fresh Prince. It was during this time that he changed his name to Steady B (Boobie).

Career

Early career

Steady B's original DJ was Grand Dragon K.D., later replaced by DJ Tat Money, who later became the DJ for Kwamé and a New Beginning. At his best, Steady B mixed well-written metaphors and wordplay with sparse yet catchy drum tracks. He released five albums over the course of his career, with mixed success. Steady B and Grand Dragon K.D. released a few early hip hop 12" singles on the Pop Art label in 1985. These included "Take Your Radio" (an answer record to

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...

's "I Can't Live Without My Radio"), "Fly Shanté" featuring Roxanne Shanté, and "Just Call Us Def". Neither of these early 12" singles feature on albums. Steady B and Grand Dragon K.D. appeared at "UK Fresh 86" at

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500- ...

in London on July 19, 1986, known as the Hip Hop Woodstock. Recordings of his set only featured one track, "Do the Fila", his answer to Joeski Love's "Pee-Wee's Dance".

C.E.B.

In 1991, Steady B formed the

hardcore hip hop Hardcore hip hop (also hardcore rap) is a genre of hip hop music that developed through the East Coast hip hop scene in the 1980s. Pioneered by such artists as Run-DMC, Schoolly D, Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy, it is generally ch ...

group C.E.B. with fellow local Philadelphia emcees

Cool C Christopher Douglass Roney (born December 15, 1969), known by the stage name Cool C, is an American former rapper active in the late 1980s. He is also known for his involvement in the murder of Philadelphia Police officer Lauretha Vaird during ...

and Ultimate Eaze, in an effort to update his style and record sales. C.E.B.'s name was a

backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...

for "Countin' Endless Bank", but it was also an acronym for the names of the group's three members. The trio released its only album, ''Countin' Endless Bank'', on

Ruffhouse Records Ruffhouse Records is an American record label founded in 1989 by Chris Schwartz and Joe Nicolo as a joint venture with Columbia Records. In 1999, Schwartz and Nicolo closed the label, and Schwartz and Kevon Glickman continued with RuffNat ...

in 1992. The single "Get the Point" reached No. 5 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

''s

Hot Rap Singles Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stati ...

. The album was poorly received.

Armed robbery and murder

On January 2, 1996, Steady B, along with C.E.B. bandmate

and another local Philadelphia rapper, Mark Canty, attempted a bank robbery at a

PNC bank The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (stylized as PNC) is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 states and the District ...

branch in

Feltonville, Philadelphia Feltonville is a working-class neighborhood in North Philadelphia. It is located east of Logan and Hunting Park, west of Lawncrest and Juniata, south of Olney, and north of Fairhill and Harrowgate. Feltonville is bounded by Erie Avenue to t ...

. During the botched heist, in which Steady B served as the

getaway driver A crime scene getaway is the act of fleeing the location where one has broken the law. It is an act that the offender(s) may or may not have planned in detail, resulting in a variety of outcomes. A :crime scene is the "location of a crime; e ...

in a stolen

minivan Minivan (sometimes called simply as van) is a North American car classification for vehicles designed to transport passengers in the rear seating row(s), with reconfigurable seats in two or three rows. The equivalent classification in Europe is ...

Officer Lauretha Vaird, who responded to the bank's silent alarm, was shot and killed by Cool C. Vaird, an African American woman and the single mother of two children, was the first female Philadelphia police officer slain in the line of duty. The incident inspired the song "Slipped Away (The Ballad of Lauretha Vaird)", which appeared on Philadelphia trio G. Love and Special Sauce's album '' Yeah, It's That Easy''. Steady B was arrested at his apartment shortly after the bank robbery. Two handguns left at the scene by Cool C and Canty, including the murder weapon, were traced back to Steady, and he eventually confessed to his role in the crimes to police during

interrogation Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful inf ...

. At his trial, the State presented evidence, including testimony from Steady's wife, that Steady B, Cool C, and Canty met at Steady B's apartment shortly after the robbery, where they watched media coverage of the event on television and discussed their escape. Incriminating statements by Canty were also admitted into evidence at Steady B's trial. On October 30, 1996, Steady B was convicted of the second-degree murder of Officer Vaird. On December 13, 1996, he was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

without the possibility of

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

Discography

Solo albums

Group album

References

External links

* AllMusic.com Biography – Steady B {{Authority control 1969 births 1996 murders in the United States African-American male rappers American bank robbers American people convicted of murdering police officers American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Jive Records artists Living people People convicted of murder by Pennsylvania Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Pennsylvania Rappers from Philadelphia Criminals from Philadelphia 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians