Remembering Biz Markie (Darrell McNeil)
King Biz Markie…
Nobody beat The Biz… Because nobody hated The Biz…
It’s just that simple. That’s LITERALLY the greatest achievement you can attain in hip hop: universal respect and adoration. East coast, West coast, Dirty Southerners, gangsters, bangers, Hoteps, backpackers, B-boys and B-girls, old school heads, trap kings and queens, club kids, crossover pop rappers and DIY underground emcees…
EVERYBODY loved Biz Markie.
Jay Z is arguably the LeBron of hip hop right now—the Acclaimed Gold Standard—with more money than God and all the accoutrements of the Number One Spot in his portfolio…
But even HE can’t say THAT…
In this era of imaginary beefs, social media slap-fights, online undercover haters, “Versuz” instigators and peanut galleries, dirty laundry on a flagpole, petty jealousies, the Cult of The Trifling, The Un-clever and The Ratchet, and standard industry “crabs-in-a-barrel” melodrama, the fact that Marcel Theo Hall, from The Peoples’ Republic of Uptown, would have a solid, damn-near four decade (!!!) career in hip hop and zero enemies in the game… ZERO enemies in the game… is a testament to how much people and hip hop loved him and how much he loved people and hip hop…
He enjoyed entertaining so much it literally exuded from him. He’d give every ounce of himself in a performance and never once left a stage without being drenched in sweat. Even doing cameos on TV and movies, he was all-in… And equally sweaty…
Biz was also head and shoulders one of the nicest, realest and funniest cats God ever Gave one grace to meet. On at least six (maybe seven) occasions—three or four times while working with my CUC crew on Apollo Comedy Hour and Townsend Television, once after a 24-7 Spyz hit at Knitting Factory (he had a DJ residence there), once (or twice) at a couple of WPS1 Internet radio interviews and once on a show he did at Bryant Park with Don Byron—we’ve crossed paths, and dude was always the biggest personality in the building, always looking to make people smile or laugh or just feel good to be around him…
Just feel good to be alive…
All of this, plus, Biz was, hands down, the greatest overall showman and entertainer that hip hop has ever produced or SEEN… Bar none…
No argument, no debate, just self-evident truth. For any fool who demands proof, YouTube is FULL of it. If y’all don’t know, you’d best GO FIND OUT. And feel free to post that on ANYBODY’S boards and tell ‘em I sent you…
Nobody beats The Biz… Because nobody hated The Biz…
It’s just that simple. That’s literally the greatest achievement you can attain in hip hop: universal respect and adoration…
Notorious B.I.G., Patron Saint of White Brooklyn Gentrifiers and Murder Rate Emcees, had a song called “You’re Nobody (Until Somebody Kills You).” The saddest thing about hip hop to me right now is a whole generation, almost 25 years after dude got killed with only two official album releases under his belt, still buys into that bullshit…
As if that shit’s okay… As if the worst thing you can possibly do as an emcee is to live well through retirement age and die of natural causes…
Just maybe… And this is no doubt a far-flung notion on my part… Just maybe the reason nobody hated Biz is because Biz hated nobody…
He loved what he did… He loved sharing it with everybody… Because he loved everybody…
And it showed…
Maybe that’s why everybody loved him…
I’m no philosopher… That’s just my naive take…
Eternal blissful rest, King Biz… There was nothing like you before. There’ll never be anything like you after. Thanks for choosing to be here with us during your time on Earth…
(Editor’s Note: Black people and diabetes DO NOT MIX! Get yourself checked out NOW! And do WHATEVER IT TAKES to give yourself as many more years of life as you can get!)
