The Alumni

The Alumni: Hip Hop’s Renaissance

Hip Hop legends Chubb Rock, Special Ed, Kwame’, Dana Dane and Monie Love have come together to form “the Alumni”. This collective have joined forces to educate, entertain and reinvigorate the Hip Hop culture. The Alumni are accepting performance and lecture dates.

As a group they have sold and established a fan base of over ten million worldwide.  Each artist as an individual provides an energetic live show! As a unit the Alumni bring a parade of hits with non-stop engaging energy. The group does not perform as individuals, but as one cohesive unit, no other Hip Hop show can match this one-of-kind experience!

The Alumni each have over a quarter of century of experience and knowledge in the Hip Hop and the entertainment industry. They are well versed in Hip Hop the culture, Music, Radio, Film & Media, Literature & Publishing and Business!  This Hip Hop collective is the perfect panel for speaking engagements at colleges and entertainment and/or business conferences.  Your attendees will take away with them a wealth of knowledge and inspiration.

Topics of discussion: Re-gentrification of Hip Hop, The Business of Music 101, Your Brand, Copy Right basics, Making Social Media work for you, publishing your book, The Female experience in Hip Hop, Radio and Communications Savvy, Live performance, 3 P’s (passion plus planning), and Hip Hop the culture!

Chubb Rock was discovered and produced by his first cousin DJ / Producer Howie Tee, Chubb Rock first appeared on the national scene with his 1988 self-titled debut “Chubb Rock” and 1989’s “And the winner is…” The latter produced the minor hit “Ya Bad Chubbs” which garnered air play on Yo! MTV Raps during that time.

His 1991 release entitled The One, reached #13 on Billboard’s “Top Hip-Hop/R&B” chart for that year. Three singles from that release, “Treat’em Right”, “Just The Two Of Us” and “The Chubbster”, made it to #1 on Billboard’s “Top Rap Single” chart list for the same year.

Chubb Rock was a member of the 1995 incarnation of the Crooklyn Dodgers, a rap act that also featured O.C. and Jeru The Damaja. Chubb has spent the last several years as radio personality for the top rated syndicated Classic Flavors show on WBLS. Rock also has an acting and voice-over career  that’s in full effect.

Kwamè was 16 when he released his debut album Kwamé the Boy Genius featuring A New Beginning in 1989, which was produced by him and executive produced by Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor. A New Beginning was his backing band and Kwamé was one of the rare emcees at the time to use a live band. The album spawned the singles “The Man We All Know and Love” and “The Rhythm.”

The accompanying music videos featured a polka-dot motif in the costumes and production design. This became Kwamé’s trademark, and started a Hip Hop fashion trend as fans began wearing polka-dotted clothing.

In 1990, his second album A Day in the Life: A Pokadelick Adventure also produced by Kwame’, was released. It was a concept album about a day in the life of a high school student. The album spawned the hit singles “Oneovdabigboiz” and “Ownlee Eue.”

In 2002, Kwamé reemerged as a music producer nicknamed “K-1 Million.” He worked for many artists such as LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige and Dru Hill. In 2004, he had a major success as the co-producer (with Eminem) of Lloyd Banks’ smash hit song “On Fire”.  In 2005, he had even more success with Will Smith’s single “Switch”.  He continues to work steadily as a music producer and has since returned to using his real name.  To date, he has produced and contributed to records selling over 30 million copies.

Special Ed is best known for the songs “I Got It Made” and “I’m The Magnificent”, produced by Hitman Howie Tee and released in 1988 on the Youngest in Charge album, recorded when Ed was 15-years-old. The album sold more than half a million copies. In 1990, he released his album Legal, the title a reference to his turning eighteen, with the singles “Come On Let’s Move It and “The Mission”

He was later a member of Crooklyn Dodgers, an ad hoc group who came together to perform for the Spike Lee films Clockers and Crooklyn^, and he performed “Crooklyn” with Shillz on the 2003 compilation album MuskaBeatz. Ed released a third solo album, Revelations, with the single “Neva Go Back” in 1995, with the track “Freaky Flow” receiving a remix by DJ Premier.

In 2004, Ed released the album Still Got It Made on his own label “Semi.”  Ed at present is building his SEMI records and OSSE (Old School Special Edition) a record label and promotions company respectively.

Dana Dane’s career began as part of the Kango Crew with fellow MC Slick Rick.  Dana Dane’s debut album, Dana Dane with Fame, peaked at #46 on the Billboard album chart, #2 on the Billboard R&B chart and was certified gold three months after its release. His biggest hit in the United States was “Cinderfella Dana Dane”, which peaked at #11 on Billboard magazine’s R&B charts in 1987.

Dana is the first solo artist from Brooklyn to sell gold (over 500,000 units). Dana was also nominated for a Soul Train Music Award for best album of the year. Dana is a former On-Air personality for the nationwide Sirius satellite radio and is also a published author. At present Dana runs a multi-media production company developing Music, TV and Film content.

Monie Love, in the late 1980’s was signed to the London based record label-Chrysalis Records. She achieved chart success with hits: “Grandpa’s Party”, “Monie in the Middle” and “It’s a Shame.” Love quickly became a well-­‐respected figure in British Hip Hop, and made an impact with American Hip Hop audiences as a protégé of female American emcee Queen Latifah, as well as through her membership in the late 1980s/early 1990s Native Tongues.

Love was one of the first BritHop artists to be signed and distributed worldwide by a major record label. Signed to Warner Brothers for the US and Canada, Love achieved acceptance among her U.S. peers and received Grammy nominations for “Monie in the Middle” and “It’s a Shame.”

In the 90’s, Monie took a break from the music scene to raise her growing family. She has been married and divorced twice and has four lovely children. These days, Monie can be loudly heard on Sirius XM with Ladies First Show. She is a budding author and this fall she will be releasing a cookbook with her brother, Monie & Wills Foodie Fav’s, and her memoire – No Love Lost.

Most recently, she formed The Ladies First Women’s Empowerment organization. Currently, Monie travels, performs, hosts and DJ’s and has a thriving voice-over career.

For interviews and press or booking information, contact dove@tygereye.net