Song:One To Grow On
Album:Funkin' It Up
The rap duo The U.M.C.'s had very brief success with the 1991 single One To Grow On and a second single Blue Cheese. They split up when a second album didn't do well and they have gone on to other things. The U.M.C.'s are Kim "Kool Kim" Sharpton and Carlos "Haas G" Evans from Staten Island. The name means Undisputed Masters of Charisma. They signed with the hip hop label Wild Pitch with EMI distribution. Their debut album Fruits of Nature was released in 1991. The singles Blue Cheese and One To Grow On did very well on the rap charts but One To Grow On crossed over to be a top 40 pop hit. As you can see in the video, both guys rap but Evans produced the music. They sample a couple of jazz songs, the 1968 song Ursalena by Bill Cosby and the 1968 song Good Humour Man by trumpeter Blue Mitchell. Bill Cosby? He did occasionally record music. Cosby usually sang. The album Hooray For The Salvation Army Band! was produced by Fred Smith and The Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band. Ursalena is a pretty obscure song to be used as a main sample in a rap song. After the 1994 album Unleashed didn't do well, The U.M.C.'s split up. Evans has gone on to a long career as a producer. He is known as Fantom of the Beat. He produced the 2003 single Magic Stick for Lil Kim and 50 Cent which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. He has also worked with Ghostface Killah and Inspectah Deck of Wu Tang Clan. Sharpton calls himself NYOIL (New York's Original International Lover). He released the controversial song Y'All Should All Get Lynched in 2006 which called for the lynching of big name rappers. I guess he thinks rap is like a modern minstrel show. I don't disagree but YouTube banned his video. It got Sharpton some media attention. He's recorded a couple of albums since then. You can get One To Grow On on this K-Tel various artists CD. Here's the video for One To Grow On by The U.M.C.'s.
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