Biography
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Members
- Cocoa Chanelle
- Mike Master
- Sugar K
Kings Of Swing
Located: New York, NY, United States
Members: Sugar Kay, Mike Master, Cocoa Chanelle
"The Kings of Swing" sounds like the name of a jazz combo; "the king of swing" is the title that was bestowed upon Benny Goodman. But you won't find any Goodman, Duke Ellington, or Artie Shaw compositions on the Kings of Swing's debut album, Strategy; this 1990 release is pure East Coast rap. The trio, however, didn't look like a rap group – at least not on the cover of Strategy. Consisting of two male rappers and a female DJ who favors an Anita Baker-ish appearance, the Kings of Swing looked like a jazz or R&B group. But again, Strategy is very much a rap CD. All of the material is extremely New York-sounding – sort of Big Daddy Kane meets Run-D.M.C. meets Audio Two. There isn't a trace of either West Coast gangsta rap or Florida-style bass music on Strategy; the Kings of Swing's influences are strictly northeastern, and the album's producers (who include Audio Two and the King of Chill) never stray from an early-'90s New York hip-hop sound. While the two male MCs who do most of the rapping obviously have strong rhyming skills, most of the tunes aren't very memorable. "Betty Boop" (an ode to a rap groupie) and "Rumors" (not to be confused with the Timex Social Club's 1986 smash) are interesting, but most of the disc is devoted to average, run-of-the-mill East Coast-boasting rhymes. Strategy wasn't a big seller, and the Kings of Swing never provided a second album.
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