The extremely shy and usually elusive Irish born singer/songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan made a rare public speaking appearance over the weekend and addressed his landmark court case against Biz Markie that forever changed the direction of hip-hop music. Fielding questions Sunday afternoon at the Branchage Film Festival in Jersey, UK, following a screening of the Aidan McCarthy directed bio-doc Out On His Own: Gilbert O'Sullivan, the artist, who scored a series of hits in the UK (and to a slightly lesser degree in the US) in the early 70's including "Nothing Rhymed," "Alone Again (Naturally)," "Clair," and "Get Down," gave his side of the story of the notorious 1991 court case that he won but also gained the ire of countless hip-hop artists and fans alike.


The landmark case, settled in a New York court, was the first sampling lawsuit to go to court and became historic because it forever altered the course of recording hip-hop music. Up until then hip-hop artists were accustomed to freely borrowing snippets of previous recordings, and pretty much sampled whatever they wanted to. If challenged they tended to settle out of court, or in many instances the rap artist would ask permission (sometimes offering money) right before using a particular sample. This was actually the case with Biz Markie and Gilbert O'Sullivan, but things did not go as hoped for by the Biz and his O'Sullivan sampled song, "Alone Again (Naturally)."

1) Eyedea & Abilities By The Throat (Rhymesayers Entertainment)

2) Awol One & Factor Owl Hours (Fake Four Inc)

3) Twista Category F5 (GMG/Get Money Gang/EMI)

4) Yukmouth The West Coast Don (Smoke-A-Lot/RBC Records)

5) Biz Markie Ultimate Diabolical (Traffic Entertainment)

6) MHZ Table Scraps (Man Bites Dog Records)

Classic Hip-Hop Album Reissue:

The Beastie Boys Ill Communication (Capitol) (originally released in '94 -- extra tracks)

Super-duper thanks to Luis -- the hip-hop buyer at Amoeba Music San Francisco -- for providing this week's Top Six chart of the new hip-hop sellers at the Haight Street store, in both text and video formats. In the number one slot with a bullet is the new By The Throat album from Eyedea & Abilities, on which Michael "Eyedea" Larsen (aka Oliver Hart) demonstrates the mad mic skills that won him his rep as a killer freestyle battle rapper. Meanwhile, his partner, DMC champ DJ Abilities (Gregory Keltgen), has truly come into his own as a powerful producer with turntable skills to match. Fans of the duo should note that they are on the Rock The Bells tour, which will be stopping in SoCal at the San Manuel Amphitheatre in San Bernardino on August 8th and in the Bay Area the next day, August 9th, at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View.

Biz Markie, who came to fame during hip-hop's golden era as the beatboxing rapper with a sharp wit & comedic streak, initially won fans with such records as "Just A Friend," "Vapors," Pickin' Boogers," and "Make The Music WIth Your Mouth, Biz." But these days he is better known for his movie and TV roles, including playing the beatboxing alien in Men In Black II or his ongoing entertaining part in the Nickelodeon TV kids show Yo Gabba Gabba! where he does his short but fun "Beat of The Day" segment.

Along with the Fat Boys and Doug E Fresh, Biz Markie ranks as one of the early ambassadors of beatboxing, credited with bringing the hip-hop art form to the masses. In the music history books the Biz will also be immortalized in the early 1990's landmark sampling court case with Gilbert O'Sullivan which would forever alter (read: stifle) the direction that hip-hop production would thereafter take.

Born Marcel Hall in Harlem, and later living in Long Island, Biz Markie started out beatboxing and rhyming in the early eighties while just barely into his teens. But it would be his beatboxing skills specifically that would first get him noticed. Thanks to crossing paths with then up-and-coming producer Marley Marl in the mid-eighties, he got a break doing his human beatbox routine for Marl related Juice Crew acts like MC Shan and Roxanne Shante, with whom he would make his rap world debut, appearing on her 1986 record "Def Fresh Crew." That same year he released his debut 12", the EP "Make The Music With Your Mouth, Biz" on Prism Records. Two years later this Marley Marl produced record would be followed by his debut (and best) album, 1988's Goin' Off. His consequent three albums, 1989's The Biz Never Sleeps, 1991's I Need a Haircut, and 1993's All Samples Cleared! were not produced by Marley Marl and consequently never reached the pinnacle of greatness that his debut did.

To me, the drum or percussion is the basis of all music. I believe that the drum has to have been the original instrument played by our earliest forefathers on this earth. All they needed was a stick and some (preferably hollow) object to bang out a rhythm on. In fact, they didn't even need that when they had their mouths to make percussive sounds with, a la Biz Markie.

In fact, I would bet money that at the beginning of human life on this earth -- long, long, long before hip-hop was born in the Boogie Down Bronx there were some cavemen in a circle (who couldn't even articulate words to communicate with one another) making music with their mouths, primitive beat-boxing.

And to this day there is some distinctive quality about the drum that is automatically universally communicative, not to mention healing. Everyone  understands and feels the drum, even if they don't speak each others' language. That is why, I believe, house or electronic music, which is typically vocal-less and based on rhythm, is the most popular (even over hip-hop) on a global scale. People of all races and backgrounds can readily relate to the hypnotic, tribal feel of the drum. For proof, go sit in or nearby a drum circle in any place in the world.

So for this fifth installment in the ongoing In Celebration of the Drum Amoeblog series, I say let the drummer get wicked, well wicked -- in the form of these three great video clips including the French beatboxer Joseph, the Japanese drummers whose formal attire should not fool you into thinking they can't get funky, and the wonderful American marching band, hip-hop drummers in the clip on top of this Amoeblog.