13. Roxanne ShanteThe Def Fresh Crew
When I first heard this I must have been nine or ten. I had a football, and where we lived there was some grass out front, and there were some older kids who had a ghetto blaster, BMXs, Fila tracksuits, you know? This was the late 80s. They wanted to borrow my ball, and in return they said they’d lend me a tape. I came in, put it in my dad’s player, and it turned out it was one of the electro tapes. It had this track on it, which is this female MC Roxanne Shanté, a loop of a crowd, and Biz Markie beatboxing. It was like an alien spaceship had landed in my hand. I’ve got my dad listening to Pink Floyd and I’ve got this. It’s amazing, it’s a place. It’s basically musique concrète. The whole track is made only with the voice, with these people in the background. Where is this? Who are they? What do they look like? Is that a real crowd? I genuinely had no clue, it was this bolt out of New York. I could still drop this now! It’s completely ingenious. I’ve still got the tape. I think they lost my football though.
