Biz Markie

Marcel Hall
BORN: April 8, 1964, Harlem, NY

Biz Markie's inclination toward juvenile humor and his fondness for goofy, tuneless, half-sung choruses camoflouged his true talents as a freestyle rhymer. The Biz may not have been able to translate his wild rhyming talents to tape, but what he did record was worthwhile in its own way. With his silly humor and inventive, sample-laden productions, he proved that hip-hop could be funny and melodic, without sacrificing its street credibility. His distinctive style made his second album, The Biz Never Sleeps, a gold hit and its single "Just A Friend" into a Top 10 pop single. While its success made Biz Markie a semi-star, it also cursed him. Not only was he consigned as a novelty act, but it brought enough attention to him that Gilbert O'Sullivan sued him over the unauthorized sample of "Alone Again (Naturally)" on Biz's 1991 album, I Need A Haircut. The lawsuit severely cut into Markie's career and 1993's All Samples Cleared was the last record he released during the '90s. However, his reputation was restored somewhat in the mid-'90s, as the Beastie Boys championed him and other alternative-rap groups showed some debt to his wild, careening music.A native of New York, Biz Markie (b. Marcel Hall) first came to prominence in the early '80s, when he began rapping at Manhattan nightclubs like the Funhouse and the Roxy. The Biz met producer Marley Marl in 1985, and later that year, he recorded his first set of demos. By 1988, he had signed with Cold Chillin', and later that year he released his debut, Goin' Off, which became a word-of-mouth hit based on the underground hit singles "Vapors," "Pickin' Boogers" and "Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz." A year later, Markie broke into the mainstream when "Just A Friend," a single featuring rapped verses and out-of-tune sung choruses, reached the pop Top 10 and its accompanying album, The Biz Never Sleeps, went gold.The Biz Never Sleeps put Biz Markie near the top of the hip-hop world, but he fell from grace as quickly as he achieved it. Markie's third album, I Need A Haircut, was already shaping up to be a considerable sales disappointment when he was served a lawsuit from Gilbert O'Sullivan, who claimed that the album's "Alone Again" featured an unauthorized sample of his hit "Alone Again (Naturally). Sullivan won the case in a ruling that drastically changed the rules of hip-hop. According to the ruling, Warner Bros., Cold Chillin's parent company, had to pull I Need A Haircut from circulation and all companies had to clear samples fully before releasing a hip-hop record. The Biz countered with his 1993 album All Samples Cleared!, but his career had already been hurt by the lawsuit, and the record bombed. For the remainder of the decade, he kept a low profile, occasionally guesting on records by the Beastie Boys and filming a freestyle television commercial for MTV2 in 1996. The alliance with the Beasties raised his profile considerably, but as of 1997, Biz Markie had not released an album of new material in four years.

~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide