Champion of The Underdog: An Appreciation of The Life & Work of Biz Markie, Vol. 10 By: Height Keech (Cold Rhymes Records)

Biz Markie Ink Illustration (CREDIT: Dan Lish @danlish1)

Marcel Theo Hall, better know as Biz Markie and oftentimes, affectionately referred to as The Biz, The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop, The Inhuman Orchestra, The Diabolical Biz Markie, and The Emizah-Emizah, was highly revered as one of the most genuine emcees to ever do it. Biz passed away on Friday, July 16, 2021 at the tender age of 57, likely due to complications from Type 2 Diabetes, although, no official Cause of Death has been revealed just yet. Biz Markie is most well-known for his infectious 1989 break-out single, "Just A Friend," but he was a truly multi-talented artist, as well. Biz Mark's lesser-known talents included beat-boxing, dancing, producing, DJ'ing, acting, singing, and song-writing.

It was proven time and time again that "Nobody Beats The Biz," but he surely didn't mind collaborating with just about anyone; racking up genre-defying features with everyone from the Beastie Boys to Spin Doctors. Biz's film and television appearances included roles on In Living Color, Men In Black II, black-ish, and Yo Gabba Gabba! as well as Paul Simon's "Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard" music video. Since Biz Markie's untimely passing, his friends, fans, peers, fellow musicians, and admirers have been sharing their fond memories online. We'll attempt to collect some of the most meaningful tributes here with Champion of The Underdog: An Appreciation of The Life & Work of Biz Markie. Rest Easy to the man, the mouth, the legend, Marcel Theo "Biz Markie" Hall.


Sincerely,

Matt "The Witz" Horowitz
The Witzard Founder/Editor


"When I was 19, I felt like I didn't understand anything and that everything was always going wrong. One good thing had already happened—I had released a solo album and put together a streak of D.I.Y. tours. It was everything I could have asked for, but when it was over, it felt like it had all been a dream. Back in Baltimore, I was crashing in my then-girlfriend's dorm room, working a ridiculous job for $5.15 an hour, unsure how to keep going with music. Nothing that bad happened to me, but every small thing that went wrong turned into a giant problem because I just didn't have enough money to exist (like most 19-year-olds.)

I had a stroke of luck when my friend, Zach, told me he was leaving Baltimore for New York and that I could inherit his room, paying next-to-nothing in rent. He lived in the basement of a house that many of my musician friends had been living in for years. I remember walking into my new room for the first time, digging the Forest Green wall-to-wall carpeting and the wood paneled walls with no windows. My man left the place impeccably clean and totally empty, except for one thing: The Biz Never Sleeps on tape. I remember exactly how it looked, propped up on the desk in the lamp light. I never asked him about it, but there was no way he left it there like that by accident. Maybe, he was just thinking "Height's a rapper so he'll want this," but it felt more like, "this is something you're going to need for this chapter of your life."

With all my cassettes collecting dust in my parents' basement, this album became my lone soundtrack, as I cruised around in a beat up van, trying to find my way. Of course, I knew the smash hit, ["Just A Friend,"] and I knew "Spring Again" as a staple of my man Shield's early DJ sets, but I had never taken in the album as a whole. The beats instantly blew me away... "What the Hell? This is the guy they call The Clown Prince of Rap? Nah, everybody else is clowns." The Baby Huey beat before Ghostface [Killah] used it? Rhyming over his own multi-tracked beatbox on "Me vs. Me?" How did no one tell me about this? The songs all felt so warm and wonderful and seamlessly put together. His voice sounded like a friend talking to you."


"What really did it for me was the spirit of sweetness in his rhymes. I love how Biz loves everybody. He loves The Juice Crew. He loves his man, Rich. He loves Monique. He loves little kids going to school and learning. He wants everybody to be okay and live a happy life. That kind of thing doesn't get expressed unabashedly in Rap that often, but when it does, everybody loves it because part of us loves everybody, too.

I don't always relate to the pitch of "this album got me through some hard times..." but that's exactly how I feel with The Biz Never Sleeps. When a stoned neighbor smashed into my van, I needed to hear someone tell me that "Things Get A Little Easier." When the van finally died and I naïvely headed out on foot looking for a job within walking distance, I heard Biz saying, "we kept searching, searching, looking, and looking; it seems everywhere we went, the jobs was tooken." It felt like he cared about every regular person trying to get by and wanted things to work out. I love the music and the spirit that Biz brought into the world and my life is better for having been put on to it. I'm one of many. Endless gratitude to The Diabolical One."

- Height Keech (@HeightKeech)