On June 2nd, in 1970, hip hop musician, MC, legalization of marijuana advocate, former gang member, actor, solo recording artist and member of Cypress Hill-B-Real (Louis Freese) was born in Los Angeles, California. He’s most known for his nasal vocals on Cypress Hill tracks like How I Could Just Kill a Man, Stoned is the Way of the Walk, Shoot Em Up, Hits from the Bong, Insane in the Brain and Pigs. He started out as a gang banger with the Family Swan Blood set in Bell, California. He met Sen Dog and Mellow Man Ace (brothers) via the gang. When he was 17, he got shot. It wasn’t fatal, but it did puncture his lung. B-Real and Sen Dog decided that they wanted out of the gang life, but were still down for the ‘homies’-affiliated.
In the late 80s, DJ Julio G (KDAY) introduced B-Real and Sen Dog to DJ Muggs who wanted to make an LP that depicted the lifestyles of those that grew up in their hood-Cypress Avenue in South Gate, California. They called themselves Cypress Hill and got signed to Ruffhouse/Columba Records in 1991. Later that year, they released their self-titled debut LP. B-Real’s with the nasal flow, Sen Dog as the hype man/co-rapper and DJ Muggs true school beats made them an overnight sensation in the hip hop community. Cypress Hill went on to become the first hip hop Latin act to go Platinum. In the 2000s, B-Real started doing songs for movie soundtracks and started Serial Rhyme Killas with Son Doobie and Mellow Man Ace. B-Real also doubles as a producer for his solo projects and others like D12’s Proof (deceased) and WWE. He’s also co-captain of his own paintball team-Stoned Assassins. B-Real is 49 today.
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On June 2nd, in 1999, we lost a prominent Jamaican musician, ska pioneer, vocalist and former member of the Wailing Wailers-Junior Braithwaite (Franklin Delano Alexander Braithwaite). He’s most known for his association with the Wailers during the early 60s. He was the youngest member of the group consisting of Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh and Bob Marley. He’s an original member that started singing with them when they were founded in 1963. Other members that joined while Braithwaite was a Wailer include: Cherry Smith and Beverly Kelso. Coxsone Dodd-infamous producer and owner of Studio One stated that Braithwaite was the best singer in the group. Bob Marley said Braithwaite sounded like one of the members of the Jackson 5.
A direct reference to Braithwaite’s falsetto voice and ability to hit higher notes than Bob, Peter and Bunny. Junior didn’t stay with the band long. He left the Waliers in 1964 and moved to the US to pursue a career in medicine. He spent the rest of the 60s, all of the 70s and some of the 80s in the Midwest-Wisconsin & Chicago, Illinois. He returned to Jamaica and music in 1984, helping Bunny Wailer with some of his upcoming releases at the time. There was a project that former Wailers were scheduled to release, but after Peter Tosh got killed in 1987, the project was shelved. He continued to work in music after 1987, becoming great friends with fellow musician Chadda Scott. Both men were killed at Scott’s home in Kingston. He was 50 when he passed.
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On June 2nd, in 2008, we lost a seminal bluesman, rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, R&B innovator, guitarist, songwriter, violinist, producer, drummer, multi-label recording artist and the man that may have built the bridge between blues and rock ‘n’ roll by himself-Bo Diddley (Elias Otha Bates). TOV covered the artist’s birthday on the December 30th post. Please refer to it for more information. If there’s one musician that can be credited with inventing Rock ‘n’ Roll, it’s Bo Diddley. He was a bluesman but he didn’t play the blues like his contemporaries did-Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Little Walter. Bo was a standout on the Checker/Chess imprint in his style of dress, shape of his guitar (box) and faster style of playing-like Chuck Berry.
However, Chuck Berry’s vocals had more of a country twang to them, where as Bo’s vocals were straight ahead Soul/Rock ‘n’ Roll. He’s a member of 8 different music related Hall of Fames: Washington Area Music Association’s (1986), Rock ‘n’ Roll (1987), Grammy Hall of Fame (1999), North Florida Music Association (2000), Florida Artists (2009), Hit Parade (2010), Rhythm & Blues Music (2017), and Blues Foundation’s Blues (2004). Nike even had a Bo Jackson and Bo Diddley campaign called-‘Bo Knows’/’You Don’t Know Diddley’ that was created to help the promote Bo Jackson’s products. There’s too many artists that he’s worked with directly or influenced to list. Essentially, everyone making music today has been influenced by Bo Diddley in some form or fashion: style, guitar licks, drumming, lyrical content, stage performance, originality and vocals. He was 79 when he passed.
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.HONORABLE MENTION: On June 2nd, in 1944, lead singer of the Tavares and Chubby and the Turnpikes-Chubby Tavares (Antone Lee Tavares-2nd r) was born in Providence, Rhode Island. Chubby and his 4 brothers-Ralph, Pooch, Butch and Tiny made up the vocal quintet called the Tavares. They are Cape Verde/Cabo Verde descendants that started the doo wop group-Chubby & the Turnpikes in 1959. In 1968, P-Funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell joined briefly before going to Funkadelic. In 1969, Joey Kramer-Aerosmith’s drummer played with the band (renamed the Turnpikes). In the 70s the group had several hits like It Only Takes a Minute and She’s Gone (written by Hall & Oates). He’s 75 today
On June 2nd, in 1987, Whitney Houston released her second LP-Whitney (Arista Records). It featured production work from the infamous house producer, DJ and former significant other of Madonna-Jellybean Benitez, smooth jazz musician-Kashif, 80s R&B artists-Narada Michael Walden, and Michael William Masser. She had several hits on this album that propelled her into stardom like-I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), Where Do Broken Hearts Go, Didn’t We Almost Have it All and So Emotional. The record won 4 American Music Awards, 2 Billboard Music Awards and 2 People’s Choice Awards and 1 Grammy.
On June 2nd, in 2011, we lost a seminal jazz musician, pianist, composer, arranger, multi-label recording artist, bandleader, post bop and soul jazz innovator-Ray Bryant (Raphael Homer Bryant). Aside from releasing more than 40 LPs as a bandleader from 1955 to 1997, He also recorded with several musicians as a sideman. Some include: Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Jimmy Rushing, Aretha Franklin, Benny Carter, Buddy Tate, Max Roach, Carmen McRae and Art Taylor. Bryant was a prolific pianist/organist that was heavily influenced by Count Basie, Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson. He was 79 when he passed.
On June 2nd, in 2011, we lost a prominent political activist, former Black Panther Party member, Godfather of Tupac Shakur, FBI COINTELPRO target, Vietnam War veteran, adopted citizen of Tanzania, former UCLA student, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party and Black Power Movement participant-Geronimo Ji-Jaga Pratt (Elmer Pratt). He’s most known for his efforts in the Vietnam War (decorated veteran) and the war for equal rights for Black in America. He was wrongfully accused and convicted on murder, serving 27 years in jail before he was released. He was 63 when he passed.
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