Gabriel "Spoonie Gee" Jackson was born in Harlem, New York. The nickname comes from the fact that the spoon was the only object he used to eat. His mother died in adolescence, the boy goes to live with his uncle Bobby Robinson, record producer (who owns Enjoy Records) in whose apartment he starts rapping, after trying rnb without much success. At the end of the seventies, producer Peter Brown shows up in his uncle's record shop looking for someone willing to record a rap track: he meets Spoonie G and the two record "Spoonin Rap" under Brown's Sound of New York, USA label. It's one of the first tracks, if not the first, to refer to prison, a theme that later became common in gangsta rap tracks (by virtue of which, Spoonie Gee is often credited with being the first gangsta rapper), and echo is applied to his vocals. Nonetheless, the emcee decides to leave Brown's label shortly thereafter.
He's believed to be one of the very first rappers in entire history to have released on wax. "Spoonin Rap" is from 1979. The following year, Spoonie G chooses to sign with his uncle's Enjoy Records and releases "Love Rap". Also, the boy convinces Bobby Robinson to sign his friends group, The Treacherous Three, a hip-hop act formed in Harlem, Manhattan in 1978, consisting of Theodore "DJ Easy Lee" Moyé and emcees Mohandes "Kool Moe Dee" Dewese, Lamar "L.A. Sunshine" Hill and Spoonie Gee, who left the group at the end of the decade, remaining an affiliate, while his place is taken by Kevin "Special K" Keaton, a mutual acquaintance of Kool Moe Dee and DJ Easy Lee.
They record "The New Rap Language" and release it as a b-side of "Love Rap": the track gets a positive response from the public thanks to a faster than usual rapping style, and Robinson is convinced to sign the group to Enjoy. Unlike his group, Spoonie G returns solo and leaves Enjoy, moving to Sugar Hill Records. The same year, 1980, "Monster Jam" was also released, the third single by Spoonie G, the first with the new label, featuring The Sequence.
The rhythm, created by Clifton "Jiggs" Chase and Sylvia Robinson, takes up that of "Rapper's Delight" and is delicious and elegant beat, thanks to a mix of festive chaotic sounds, a vibrant bass, a good drum and a keyboard stolen from disco-dance. On this soundscape, the Sequences brilliantly support the smoothness rap of Spoonie Gee, in his second work after "Spoonin Rap". This classic jam also features some back and forth and a dance bridge, stretching towards nine minutes, but the performers make them pass incredibly quickly, between fluid rap and fresh production.
After releasing four more between 1980 and 1981 ("The Body Rock", "At the Party", "Put the Boogie in Your Body", "Feel the Heartbeat"), dissatisfied with the economic performance of the singles and despite a sop provided by Bobby Robinson, the Treacherous Three left Enjoy and signed with Sugar Hill Records in 1981, following his former member Spoonie Gee. It's the start of a diaspora, everyone will be gone from the label of Bobby Robinson almost all to Sugar Hill — Spoonie Gee will return to Enjoy in 1985 —, like Treacherous Three (1982), The Fearless Four (1983), Doug E. Fresh (1984), and even Ronnie Robinson, the son of Bobby, emcee of the hip-hop group Disco Four, signing with Profile after leaving Enjoy in 1982.
"Whip It" (1982) is their first single of the Treacherous Three with the label and marks the beginning of a long collaboration with the other Robinsons, which also leads them to produce their first LP, which will include three of the singles released on Enjoy out of six tracks. Spoonie G isn't in "Whip It". Sylvia Inc. & Jigsaw Productions bring to the table an addictive funky production, with a good bassline and a tough drum, the boys spit faster than usual, faster than the average of the moment, and help innovate the genre by making it take the next step, with verses carried forward well in back and forth. There's also a fantastic insert sung by Philippé Winne, soul singer of the group The Spinners who in 1984 will release his latest album with Sugar Hill Records. Sixth single by the group, the first of 1982, the first from their self-titled album released the following year and the first released on Sugar Hill Records.
In 1981 it was the turn of the second single of Spoonie Gee with Sugar Hill, "Spoonie Is Back": it's also the last with the label of Sylvia and Joe Robinson, then the boy will sign with Heavenly Star Records and Tuff City. Produced by Sylvia Robinson, it boasts a light funky dance beat with great bassline, good drum, good sound. Chorus left to the rhythm, light smoothness rap by Spoonie Gee who scores another classic in his discography. In 1983, the rapper publishes "The Big Beat" with Tuff City and CBS Associated Records. In the next two years, Spoonie Gee returns to the people who launched him at the beginning, first by making a vinyl of remixes of his songs for Peter Brown's new label Heavenly Star Records, then returning to his uncle's Enjoy with which he released "New Love Rap", a reference to the single published five years earlier.
In 1985, the Harlem rapper found a new deal with Tuff City and began releasing a long series of singles ("Street Girl", "Get Off My Tip", "That's My Style", "Take It Off", "The Godfather", "I'm All Shook Up") that led to the release of his first and only LP in 1987. Spoonie Gee defines himself as «The Godfather of Rap» and doesn't go too far, he boasts about it in such a calm and easy way and with such unconscious confidence that you don't want to contradict him. The first part of the record is quite accessible, thanks to several well-made beats by Marley Marl, which offers a simple soundscape suitable for the quiet delivery of the MC (for example, the light noir of "Spoonie Gee"). A couple of beats are reserved to Aaron Fuchs. In the second part, more skeletal and funky cuts arrive, thanks to the work of Teddy Riley. The last one, "Mighty Mike Tyson", looks better and livelier than the previous ones, produced again by Marley Marl.
Rating: 6.3/10.
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