Sylvia Robinson, Englewood, recording exec behind Sugar Hill Gang'

[tjluke68]

Story here

I loved RAPPERS DELIGHT when it came out. Still fun to listen to...

[Chuck Nessa]

Love Is Strange!

[mjzee]

Sugar Hill owned the Chess masters for awhile (I believe they sold them to Universal), and led to a resurgence for that label... I had their issue of Chuck Berry - The Great 28.

[MomsMobley]

eff her-- effin' THIEF as bad or worse than ** ANY ** record exec; Don Robey might be Alfred Lion in comparison; i've not looked but i'll be surprised if you find even ONE of her acts who has a good word to say.

whatever grief she suffered as a woman is more than trumped by her using her skin color to jack dudes who-- while they could have known better-- didn't think a black woman could be that shitty.

that she has an accidental "artistic" legacy at all is a sham and insult to the creativity of those who actually did it for peanuts.

some sentimental sap will say well it's like Half-Pint Jaxon cutting sides for a flat fee & exposure but in FACT it wasn't like that all-- Sugar Hill legacy is one of LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES.

Story here

I loved RAPPERS DELIGHT when it came out. Still fun to listen to...

Edited September 29, 2011 by MomsMobley

[JSngry]

Oh Mickey...

[Chuck Nessa]

[BruceH]

I'll have what he's drinking.

On second thought, no.

[MomsMobley]

It had to be said-- I only wish I had more time to report and detail Slyia Robinson's frauds... If anyone cares, follow the next few days to a week, and see if even ONE former Sugar Hill artist will speak in her favor. Note too that Sugar Hill was formed as step away her previous label, which was awash in lawsuits.

Meanwhile, if all but a small handful of Sugar Hill act members croaked, you'd never hear about it except maybe on some enthusiast's blog.

About the "best" face I've heard put on Sugar Hill is they were in it for exploitation straight up, maybe score a quick hit and run, but when "rap" proved itself a vital/viable genre (which, as a live music, it was well before Sylvia glommed on, tho' it's overlap with funk, disc etc party music was great)... and Melle Mel in particular revealed himself a superior writer (much better than J.B. Figi, tho' Mel never wrote liner notes) well... you just got contracted, lied, shyster lawyered and bullshit accounted yourself into a LEGACY of well-earned scorn.

I'll eat my Budd Johnson panda bear shirt if the encomiums start rolling in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ChjLMbXVrU

[Christiern]

Another record industry mogul who I had the great pleasure of never meeting.

[Harold_Z]

I did some work for Sylvia and All Platinum and Moms has a point.

Despite that I'm sorry to see her go.

[Larry Kart]

...and Melle Mel in particular revealed himself a superior writer (much better than J.B. Figi, tho' Mel never wrote liner notes)...

Why the hell are you dragging J.B. Figi into your cat fight? He was a hell of a writer and did much more than write liner notes.

[MomsMobley]

Distinction noted-- and Larry, I know J.B. well, who the else on this board besides you and I even mention him? (A few, I know: Chuck, John L, others.)

My intended point (which was in my head, not on screen) is that Melle Mel at his peak was better poet than J.B. though there surely might be tons of unpublished/unknown verse there.

Conversely, while J.B. was estimable prose writer, Melle Mel hasn't done much writing outside of music.

As for 'cat fight,' besides the knee jerk memorials noting her passing, I stand by my prediction that it's highly unlikely ANY Sugar Hill artists will pay tribute to Syliva Robinson's executive career.

And while musicians can be a notoriously ungrateful lot, when NOBODY you worked with has a good word to say...

Irving Rosenthal and Ross Feld next!

[Larry Kart]

Irving Rosenthal and Ross Feld next!

I've read "Sheeper," and Ross was one of the two or three best friends I ever had -- a great novelist IMO, a cross between Schubert and Chekhov, perhaps.

[paul secor]

Irving Rosenthal and Ross Feld next!

I've read "Sheeper," and Ross was one of the two or three best friends I ever had -- a great novelist IMO, a cross between Schubert and Chekhov, perhaps.

Ross Feld's Plum Poems is well worth checking out too.

[Larry Kart]

Irving Rosenthal and Ross Feld next!

I've read "Sheeper," and Ross was one of the two or three best friends I ever had -- a great novelist IMO, a cross between Schubert and Chekhov, perhaps.

Ross Feld's Plum Poems is well worth checking out too.

Yes, indeed, though Ross like to say in later years that he was "a recovering poet."

[johnlitweiler]

Very interesting. Ross Feld is an unfamiliar name to me. What of his writings should I start with? Were his words as sensuous as J.B. Figi's?

[Larry Kart]

Very interesting. Ross Feld is an unfamiliar name to me. What of his writings should I start with? Were his words as sensuous as J.B. Figi's?

Here's a goodish piece about Ross:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-138397374.html

The first of his four novels I'd try is "Only Shorter," but they're all different (though clearly by the same writer) and all remarkable. I found "Shapes Mistaken" hard to get a grip on the first time; the second time I was knocked out by it. "Years Out" is a young man's book, if Ross was ever not all grown up. The final novel "Zwilling's Dream" is heartbreakingly tender and wise, especially taking into account that it was written by a man who probably knew he hadn't long to live.