Keith Haring body-painting Grace Jones. New York, 1985.

Photos by Tseng Kwong Chi

Today in Hip Hop History:

The film Belly was released November 4, 1998

A Kangol and Gator-wearing Jaÿ-Z and Rodolfo “DJ Clark Kent” Franklin, photographed during a concert at The Ritz in Manhattan circa 1993. After being founded in 1980 inside the now-Webster Hall building, in 1989 the rock club had moved to its new location at the former Studio 54 nightclub.

They had first met at rapper Fresh Gordon’s house in circa-1985, when Shawn Carter was around 15 years old. Fresh was close with both Kent and Jaz-O, who we know was Jay’s early rap mentor. The producer immediately recognized the young rapper’s talents, explaining “when we met he wanted to be the best rapper. He was ambitious and wanted to get better every day. It was funny how effortlessly it came to him. He’s just gifted.” 

Over the years Kent would feature Young H.O. on his records to try and introduce him to the masses, because he felt that those around him were just using his talent to empower themselves: “His rhymes were just better than everybody else’s. Like, head and shoulders above. When he rhymed with Kane, who I totally respect, Kane changed his style after he met Jay-Z. He started to rhyme differently after he met Jay-Z. That doesn’t happen unless you’re going, ‘Oh shit, this guy’s incredible.’” After first asking for a verse for Troop’s 1989′s “Spread My Wings (Clark Kent Remix)”—but missing out as Jay was away in Virginia on business—Kent “probably put him on ten records. And, I had him writing artist’s records that I was producing. We didn’t even call it ghostwriting. It was more like, ‘Write the god damn records because they’re wack.’ He was the best to me, so you go get the best if you want it to sound right.”

When Kent was the Director of A&R at Atlantic Records he signed [Reasonable Doubt producer] Ski Beatz and Suave Lover’s group Original Flavor and The Future Sound to the label—both who happened to be managed by Damon Dash and his cousin Darien Dash. After Kent linked Jay with OF and Dame, they had him appear on the group’s 1994 single “Can I Get Open.” “I’d never heard anybody rap so fast,” Dame would say of his first meeting with Jay. The two ambitious men would soon form a partnership, and began taking steps towards the eventual formation of Roc-A-Fella Records.

In the ‘90s Kent worked around the clock trying to convince Jay to commit to music and record an album. The rapper had seen the dark side of the music business early in his work with his mentor Jaz-O, so preferred to instead stay on his successful “95 South” route. Kent refused to give up, knowing that “if Jay made an album, it was gonna be trouble, for everybody. I’m dead serious. I don’t know if I was on some Confucius shit, but when I met him, I knew he was the one. His rhymes were amazing, like amazing. Like anytime somebody rhymes next to him or on the same song, they always seem to pale in comparison. This was happening, a lot.”

Kent would go so far as to build a studio in his house because he wanted Jay to feel comfortable recording: “It might sound a lil’ crazy, but I was tired of bringing him to studios and abusing somebody else’s budget. Previously, I would remix a record and take a 24-hour block. I’d remix the record in 12 hours. Then, the rest of the 12 hours I was making records for Jay. One day I was just like, ‘I’mma take this money and put a studio in my crib.’ It also became the hub for where Ski Beatz was making records; he made a couple of Camp Lo songs in my house.”

After producing “I Can’t Get Wid Dat” in 1994, DJ Clark Kent would go on to produce three records on Jaÿ-Z’s 1996 magnum opus Reasonable Doubt: “Brooklyn’s Finest” “Coming of Age” and “Cashmere Thoughts.” During the album’s recording sessions at D&D Studios he would introduce Hov to Biggie, setting off a year-long friendship that found the two rappers speaking daily. Kent had been bigging up Carter to Wallace for years when he traveled with him across the United States as his tour DJ. Apparently Big played it cool on the fellow Brooklynite until he heard “Dead Presidents II”—after hearing it on the tour bus Big dropped the second verse of “Who Shot Ya?” and his “Realms of Junior M.A.F.I.A.” feature to try to prove to Kent that he was nicer than Hov. This wasn’t an uncommon practice, as Kent told Complex in 2011: “Everyone who’s been around him gets better because it’s like you’re forced to stay around him. Big’s first album was great, but his second album was unbelievable. Why? He was friends with Jay-Z and Jay-Z is forcing him to say better rhymes. It’s not even spoken about, it’s just something that just happens.”

Kent is in the blessed position of possessing a lot of unreleased Jay-Z music, including lost tracks from the Reasonable Doubt-era. Hov’s childhood friend Sauce Money also came up under the guidance of Kent, and in the ‘90s they formed a group named The Hard Pack. The music they produced was “insane. Some of the best rhymes [Kent] ever heard came out of that group.” Hopefully one day tracks such as “95 South” will be released. We can all dream right?

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