Oct 13, 2009

Cycle Drama

motorcyclemike

Motorcycle Mike – “Super Rat“

from Super Rat 12″ (Hodisk, 1981)

Back again with another off site interview with a pioneering Mike from Richmond. Motorcycle Mike was the first Bay Area rapper to release a record. The homie Matthew Africa brought this Roots and Branches podcast interview with Mike to my attention in the comments. I’ve posted “Super Rat” before, but its significance is heightened after Mike elaborates on its true meaning. This interview like a rap commentary track, revealing “Super Rat” as a smart extended metaphor with the rats representing the repressed but thriving black community. There wasn’t much of a precedent for this sort of multi-tiered and (dare I say) conscious rap in 1981. Prescient.

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5 Comments, Comment or Ping

  1. noz

    I feel like it is virtually impossible to get any comments on posts about rap recorded before 1987. True?

    Oct 14th, 2009

  2. stimmet

    almost true! interesting how not only the music but vocal style is still rooted in 70s funk; the non-rapping parts seem quite Bootsy-esque

    Oct 15th, 2009

  3. BASTA

    NOZ, im juiced you re-upped this and i see you swooped my scan of the promo photo that the OG gave me. I got some stories about this cat, he was my neighbor for a year or so. you should check the track i featured him on from Roots and Branches Sound System Vol. 3 that i dropped this year @ http://rootsandbranches.bandcamp.com.

    No joke watch out for Super Rat 2010 when his son gets out.

    Oct 19th, 2009

  4. asciigod

    It’s nice and quite in here with just us old folks. Please keep posting more rap from the death of the disco era. ;-) :-)

    Kidding aside, this is dope.

    Nov 7th, 2009

  5. asciigod

    Quiet too. Damn. What’s N-X-E-T? Pardon the spelling eras.

    Nov 7th, 2009

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