Hip Hop ReBop (Ray's Beats)

Man Parrish Info:

Man Parrish produced a handful of ground breaking genre tracks of renown and is considered the founding father of the electronic dance movement that is now considered the mainstream music of today.

Manny ( Man ) Parrish is nonetheless one of the most important and influential figures in American electronic dance music. Helping to lay the foundation of electro, hip-hop, freestyle, house and techno, as well as the dozens of sub-genres that splinter off from those styles. Parrish introduced the aesthetic of European electronic pop to the American club scene by combining the plugged-in disco-funk of Giorgio Moroder and the man-machine music of Kraftwerk with the beefed-up rhythms and cut-n-mix approach of nascent hip-hop. Main stream dance artist today, still include sounds and styles that he first brought to music.

As a result, tracks like "Hip-Hop Be Bop (Don't Stop)" and "Boogie Down Bronx" were period-defining works that provided the basic genetic material for everyone from Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys to Autechre and Missy Elliot, Lady Gaga and Andrea Parker -- and they remain undisputed classics of early hip-hop and electro to this day.

A native New Yorker, Parrish was a member of the extended family of glam-chasers and freak-a-zoids that converged nightly at the infamous Studio 54 club. Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Mick Jagger, Halston, Liza Minnelli, Dianna Vreeland, Farrah Faucett and others attended his show at Studio 54 where he came down from the ceiling in a grand entrance, to a crowd of legendary cheering celebrities. Madonna was HIS opening act. He appeared a second time at studio 54 for George Lucas' Return Of The Jedi grand opening movie party.

His nickname, Man, first appeared in Warhol's Interview magazine,and was named by photographer Christopher Makos, after his own teacher, Man Ray. Man Parrish's early live shows at famous clubs like The CopaCabana and Xenon as well as funky Bronx hip-hop clubs, like the famous Fever and The Funhouse were spectacles of lights, glitter, makeup, outrageous costumes and pyrotechnics that drew as much from the artistic side of Andy Warhol mystique to the street side of Cold Crush Brothers. New York Legend Joey Arias [Cirque Du Soleil] was a collaborator during that time.

Influenced by the electronic experiments of his good friend and co - writer Klaus Nomi and Brian Eno as well as by Kraftwerk, Man Parrish together with "Cool" Raul Rodriguez recorded their best-known work in a tiny studio sometimes shared with Afrika Baambaata, whose own sessions with Arthur Baker and John Robie produced a number of classics equal to Parrish's own, including "Wildstyle, " "Looking for the Perfect Beat, " and the infamous "Planet Rock." Groups like Freeze [A.E.I.O.U] and Shannon [Give Me Tonight] were regulars and rubbed shoulders there as well.

What distinguished "Hip-Hop Be Bop, " however, was its lack of vocals and the extremely wide spectrum of popularity it gained in the club scene, from ghetto breakdance halls to uptown clubs like Danceteria, Mudd Club and the Studio 54. After he discovered a pirated copy of his music being played by a local DJ at the infamous "Anvil" club ( NYC ), Parrish found his way to the offices of the Importe 12 label (a subsidiary of popular dance imprint Sugarscoop and Disconet DJ mixing service), which whom he inked his first deal. He released his self-titled Man Parrish LP [in 1983] and shortly after, the album went on to sell over 3.5 million copies worldwide.

Unlike other "singles" artist of the time, Man Parrish was the first artist to develop the new Electro sound into a full blown album with several tracks, and in a time before computers and Midi [Musical Instrument Digital Interfaces] he broke ground with synchronization techniques and recording production that even to this day seem mind boggling.

He was signed to Electra Records and managed by David Bowie's notorious manager Tony De Fries and the infamous Main Man Ltd management team. Tony De Fries had managed careers of David Bowie, New York Dolls, Mott the Hoople, Mick Ronson and Dana Gillespie to name a few.

Following a period of burn-out that followed, Parrish recorded and remixed tracks for Michael Jackson, Boy George, Gloria Gaynor, and Hi-NRG group Man2Man, among others, and served as manager for the Village People and Crystal Waters to name a few. He's had pop and dance hits worldwide and has a huge following of fans, musicians and DJ's that considering him a living legend.

Man Parrish continues to record from his brooklyn studio and is a frequent DJ at New York's eclectic night spots, major clubs, private events and various venues worldwide. His Sunday Underground Party "Sperm" at the "Cock Bar" on New York's lower east side, is one of the longest running underground parties [11years as of this writing] in NYC, and is quite notorious, to say the least !

He was main DJ and consultant for a circuit party called "Hustlerball" which sill has parties in major cities worldwide. And is a reoccurring DJ at the Fur Ball circuit parties. He was also part of the famous Mr. Black club in NYC and helped to advise and guide it. He also had several adult websites and online music businesses [way before iTunes] in the 90's, which keep him busy as a webmaster, and certainly a "jack of all trades".

He continues to remix, lecture, compose, collaborate, world travel and stay quite active behind the scenes, in the music industry. He is currently producing music material that will be premiered exclusively here on this iPhone app.

The New York Times has said he is the "GodFather Of Hip Hop" and several newspapers, radio stations and articles consider him the founding father of Modern Dance and Electro Music. His second LP, DreamTime, appeared on Strictly Rhythm in 1997. His other albums, as well as some wonderfully detailed information, are available on his website www.ManParrish.com.

[some excerpts taken from - Sean Cooper, All Music Guide]