Mohandas "Kool Moe Dee" Dewese born in Harlem, Manhattan, passionate about hip-hop, in 1978 he formed his own group together with Lamar "L.A. Sunshine" Hill, Theodore "DJ Easy Lee" Moyé, and Gabriel "Spoonie Gee" Jackson, the latter left the group at the end of the decade, remaining an affiliate. Occasionally, DJ Bano B, DJ Crazy Eddie and DJ Reggie Reg also collaborate to the group, the Treacherous Three. With the departure of Spoonie Gee from the group, his place was taken by Kevin "Special K" Keaton, a mutual acquaintance of Kool Moe Dee and DJ Easy Lee.
One year later, Spoonie Gee released his debut single, "Spoonin Rap", with Peter Brown's Sound of New York, USA. The following year, he signed with his uncle Bobby Robinson's Enjoy Records label and released "Love Rap", a single whose b-side features the first appearance of the Treacherous Three on wax, "The New Rap Language". The group became popular for their unusual and rapid rapping style and landed a contract with Enjoy. In 1980 they released two singles ("Body Rock" and "At the Party") and the following year they released two more singles ("Put the Boogie in Your Body" and "Feel the Heartbeat"), the latter becoming a favorite with the public, but despite their great success, the boys did not get the money that should have come.
Having received no response from the manager of Enjoy, the Treacherous Three left the label and signed with Sylvia Robinson's Sugar Hill Records. Spoonie G had left his uncle's label the year before and had also joined Sugar Hill. In the same period, Kool Moe Dee made his name by participating in the first major rap battle in history against who at the time was considered the best emcee in all of New York City Busy Bee in December 1981 in Harlem, inserting the concept of narration into his raps, detailing it and giving heaviness to his lyrics, creating his own style different from all the other emcees up until then, and contributing to the innovation of the genre.
The Treacherous Three released two more singles in 1982 (the socio-political "Yes We Can-Can", which came on the heels of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message", and the hit "Whip It"), then it published three more tunes in 1983 ("Turning You On", "Action" and "Get Up"). Following the success of the tracks, the group released a vinyl for the French market in 1983, "Whip It", released by Sugar Hill and distributed in France by Vogue. The album consists of three singles released on Enjoy (all except "Put the Boogie in Your Body") and three more released on their current label, the two from 1982 and "Action". That same year, Kool Moe Dee and L.A. Sunshine appeared in the film "Wild Style" with a brief cameo and the group later appeared in "Beat Street" (1984), performing their song "Santa's Rap" with Doug E. Fresh.
In 1984, The Treacherous Three also released their first official studio album, which took its name from the group: the effort combines three singles released with Sugar Hill and other three with Enjoy, obtaining a good response from the crowd, despite the group not reaping the financial benefits of its many notable efforts, both with singles and vinyl. Kool Moe Dee convinces LA Sunshine and Special K to stay in the group and with the Sugar Hill to return to the studio and record a new single, "Gotta Rock", trying to follow the rap rock trends set by the huge following of the new group just arrived on the scene, Run-DMC, but in the b-side "Turn It Up" there's only Kool Moe Dee, because LA Sunshine refuses to record the track and Special K leaves the work halfway. The group therefore disbands.
Kool Moe Dee leaves the Treacherous Three, attended the college in New York and received a degree in communications. In 1985, the emcee (credited as Kool Mo Dee) returns in the industry publishing "Turn It Up" as his debut single with Sugar Hill, released as a split single with a Treacherous Three track, "U.F.O.", recorded with LA Sunshine and Special K. This his also the unique single published as soloist with Sugar Hill Records, because soon later he meets LaVaba Mallison, a coming artist in the label that become his manager: both leave Sugar Hill to sign with the newly founded label Rooftop Records, along with the producer Teddy Riley, with which the emcee begins to work contributing to the new jack swing movement that would gain popularity in next seasons. In 1986, Kool Moe Dee publishes "Go See the Doctor", single co-produced with LaVaba and Teddy Riley.
In 1987 (or late 1986), Kool Moe Dee releases his eponymous debut album. There's no guest and it's produced with Bryan "Chuck" New, Teddy Riley, Pete Q. Harris, LaVaba and Robert Wells. Nine tunes, three quarters of an hour of material. Lyrically, Kool Moe Dee proves himself to be one of the most competent lyricists of the period with this release, delivering bars with a clear flow, ranging from more light-hearted and fun moments to others closer to socio-conscious themes, and boasting for the most part. The production could make this effort take off among the best that rap had to offer in the late eighties, instead it does the exact opposite and keeps it stuck in mediocrity: Teddy Riley is not the best at copying Rick Rubin's skeletal and minimal style, and the result is a sound that is overall tasteless, poor in its search for being as hard and lean as possible, sometimes difficult, flat and hybridized with choices born from the typical Sugar Hill sound, with some electro-dance touches scattered around.
Released by Rooftop and Jive with RCA distribution, the album sells over 300.000 physical copies, entering the rnb albums (#20) and the pop chart (#83), driven by the hit "Go See the Doctor", which became his first solo single to enter the Hot 100 and achieved encouraging results also in Europe, doing well in the Netherlands (#3) where it was one of the best-selling songs of the year. The positive results of the release allow Kool Moe Dee to launch a solo rapper career in the industry and become one of the few pioneers in the genre to have survived the overwhelming arrival of Run-DMC.
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