Big Daddy Kane

Antonio Monterio Hardy (born September 10, 1968) better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American ^{United States} rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MCs in Hip Hop. Regarding the name Big Daddy Kane, he said: "The Big Daddy part and the Kane part came from two different things. The Kane part came from my fascination with the Martial Arts flicks when I was young. The Big Daddy came from something that happened on a ski trip one time involving a young lady."

 
1980s

In 1984, Kane became friends with Biz Markie, and he would co-write some of Biz's best-known lyrics. Both eventually became important members of the Queens-based Juice Crew, a collective headed by renowned producer Marley Marl. Kane signed with Marl's Cold Chillin' Records label in 1987 and debuted the following year with the 12" single "Raw ^{Raw (song)} ," an underground hit. Kane is known for his ability to syncopate over faster hip hop beats, and despite his asthmatic condition he is acknowledged as one of the pioneering masters of fast-rap. His sense of style is renowned and set a number of late-1980s and early-1990s hip hop trends (high-top fades, velour suits, and four-finger rings). The backronym "King Asiatic Nobody's Equal" is often applied to his moniker.

He released his debut album under Cold Chillin' Records in the early summer of 1988 called Long Live the Kane which featured the hip hop hit, "Ain't No Half Steppin". The following year Kane released his second album and biggest hit to date It's a Big Daddy Thing which included 1970s sample throwbacks like "Smooth Operator" and the Teddy Riley ^{Teddy Riley (producer)} produced track "I Get the Job Done" which hit the R&B top 40 during the closing of the 1980s. He also had a memorable verse on the Marley Marl produced track "The Symphony" released in late 1988 which included Juice Crew member Craig G, Masta Ace, and Kool G. Rap).


1990s

Big Daddy Kane appeared on Patti Labelle's 1991 effort, "Burnin'". He provided the rap chorus to the single "Feels Like Another One". He also appeared on the video release "Live in New York".

Widely regarded as one of the greatest rappers during the "golden age" of hip hop ^{golden age hip hop} (1986–1993), Kane's experimentation with R&B ^{rhythm and blues} beats and his alignment to the Five Percent Nation ^{The Nation of Gods and Earths} drew criticism. Later albums, such as Looks Like a Job For…, were acclaimed, but he was never able to return to the commercial and artistic success of It's a Big Daddy Thing. However, he still tours extensively.

As an actor, he debuted in Mario Van Peebles' 1993 western ^{western (genre)} , Posse, and appeared in Robert Townsend's 1993 Meteor Man. Big Daddy Kane also posed for Playgirl and Madonna's ^{Madonna (entertainer)} *** book during the 1990s.

During the early 1990s, Jay-Z is known to have been Big Daddy Kane’s hype man, and Kane helped him early on in his career - Ice-T says, “I actually met Jay-Z with Kane. Kane brought Jay-Z over to my house”.
Jay-Z was also featured on Big Daddy Kane’s track ‘Show & Prove’ from Daddy’s Home (1994), as well as in the video.


2000s

A rejuvenated Big Daddy Kane occasionally collaborated with a variety of hip-hop artists, including Jurassic 5, Little Brother ^{Little Brother (band)} , and DJ Babu of the Beat Junkies. He released two singles, the Alchemist ^{The Alchemist (producer)} -produced "The Man, The Icon", and the DJ Premier-produced "Any Type of Way" (on which he discusses urban collapse in post-9/11 New York City ("Giuliani ^{Rudy Giuliani} got New York lookin' like it's Amistad ^{La Amistad} ") and the erosion of the middle class.)

Big Daddy Kane appeared on the trip-hop group Morcheeba's 2003 single "What's Your Name". In 2004, "Warm It Up, Kane" appeared on popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on classic hip hop ^{old school hip hop} radio station Playback FM.

In 2006, he appeared as a guest MC on the track "Get Wild Off This", produced by The Stanton Warriors for their Stanton Sessions Vol. 2 breaks mix.

In 2005, Big Daddy Kane was honored during the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors. After a medley of hits performed by T.I., Black Thought, and Common ^{Common (rapper)} , he came out to perform "Warm It Up, Kane" with his old dancers, Scoob and Scrap. Kane and Kool G. Rap can both be seen briefly in Dave Chappelle's Block Party documentary. Most recently, he appeared alongside the Wu-Tang Clan, Rakim, and his longtime friends Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip ^{Q-Tip (rapper)} in a segment of the 2006 Summer Jam concert (June 7, 2006), as part of an initiative by Busta Rhymes to honor the legacy of New York City hip hop.

In 2007, a new track, "BK Mentality", was released on the mixtape compilation Official Joints. Kane also appeared on Joell Ortiz's The Brick: Bodega Chronicles mixtape.

Big Daddy Kane made a cameo in the 2008 video for "Game's Pain", a track by Compton rapper The Game ^{The Game (rapper)} . The video also featured appearances by Raekwon, Three Six Mafia and Ice Cube. The Game also referenced Jay-Z's former occupation as Kane's hypeman: "Ask a Jay-Z fan about Big Daddy Kane: Don't know him, Game gon' show 'em". He also appeared on the remix of "Don't Touch Me ^{Don't Touch Me (Throw da Water on 'em)} " by Busta Rhymes.Big Daddy Kane is regarded as one of the most influential and skilled golden age ^{golden age hip hop} rappers.
MTV put him at No. 7 in their Greatest MCs Of All Time list and says he “had the sheer verbal facility and razor-clean dexterity to ambush any MC and exhilarate anyone who witnessed or heard him perform” and “one of the true greatest emcees ever”, and Ice-T says:
"To me, Big Daddy Kane is still today one of the best rappers. I would put Big Daddy Kane against any rapper in a battle. Jay-Z, Nas, Eminem, any of them. I could take 'Raw' right now and put it up against any record [from today]. Kane is one of the most incredible lyricists… and he will devour you on the mic. I don't want to try to out-rap Big Daddy Kane. Big Daddy Kane can rap circles around cats".
In the book, Rap-Up: The Ultimate Guide To Hip-Hop And R&B, Cameron and Devin Lazerine say Big Daddy Kane is “widely seen as one of the best lyricists of his time and even today regularly gets name-checked by younger dudes”, and music journalist Peter Shapiro says Kane is “perhaps the most complete MC ever”.
Eminem references Big Daddy Kane in the lyrics to his song ‘Yellow Brick Road’ from his Encore ^{Encore (Eminem album)} album, saying, “we (Eminem and Proof ^{Proof (rapper)} ) was on the same shit, that Big Daddy Kane shit, where compound syllables sound combined” and he quotes the same lines in his book, The Way I Am ^{The Way I Am (autobiography)} – this illustrates how Big Daddy Kane had an influence on both Eminem’s and Proof ^{Proof (rapper)} ’s rhyme technique.
Albums




Guest appearances