Brain Rot: Hip Hop Family Tree, Keith LeBlanc Malcolm X: No Sell Out

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A moment of viral cultural propagation indeed! This one episode ends up being part of a little known but important nexus that ends up creating a new sort of Triangle Trade between the East Coast of the US, Jamaica and London.

The first Tommy Boy promo 7" & 12" of Malcolm X: No Sell Out came out in 1983 with the full release 12" to follow in 84.

Seems that right around this 83/84 time frame, Keith & Doug along with Skip McDonald (another Sugarhill Gang band member) meet up with Adrian Sherwood and release a few records under variations on the band name Fats Comet but more importantly go on to become TACK>>HEAD with Sherwood credited as the fourth band member.

This is where things start to get really interesting (or weird) in that TACK>>HEAD was/is a sort of industrial dub funk reggae hip hop hybrid sound. The various band members through Sherwood in London start connecting with a Who’s Who of Kingston reggae, London punk and Eurodance folks. Mapping all the connections out becomes quite the effort!

EDIT: As a bit of stateside connection, were it not for the above I doubt the chances that either Trent Reznor nor Al Jourgenson would have ended up working with Adrian Sherwood who shaped their sounds into what launched their respective fame.

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