Eric G
Eric G was a
Miami Bass/
Hip-Hop rapper, DJ, and producer, acting as the primary creative force behind
Triple M DJ Crew, the
Bass Station parties and night club, the rap group
Worse 'em Crew, the
Bass Station record label, and
Never Stop Productions. He also was briefly the in-house producer for
Suntown Records. Eric single-handedly changed all of
Bass music by being the first to employ
E-mu's SP1200 drum sampler when he constructed the legaendary track
Just Give the DJ a Break for the group
Dynamix II.
Eric G first appeared on record as a rapper for the
1984 Florida
Electro track
Fall Out. The track was produced by
Larry Dermer, who went on to score Disney's
Pocohontas soundtrack. The record label,
Tashamba was owned by
Noel "King Sporty" Williams, who was once a studio sideman to
Bob Marley.
The Triple M DJ's were an open-air mobile DJ unit formed by known drug dealer
Norberto "Candyman" Morales. DJ crews such as these were highly popular in the South Floridian Black Music community during the ealy 1980's. Triple M forged a rivalry with
Ghetto Style DJ's as their parties were often thrown near
Luke Skyywalker's
Pac Jam teen club. At one point,
Luke hired
WEDR on-air personality
Steven J Grey to produce a radio commercial for Pac-Jam that referred to Triple M's parties as being violent, implying that Pac-Jam was a zone free of deadly violence for dancing. This was ironic as Triple M DJ's had a show on WEDR at that time. Eventually, Candyman setup a club known as
Bass Station to host Triple M DJ's, but the crew never forgot their grudge held for
Luke's crew.
Luke Skyywalker was primarily a concert promoter, and in
1985, he brought a California rap group named
2 Live Crew to
Miami to perform. In turn,
2 Live Crew returned home to Cali and wrote a tribute song to their experience in
Florida. When
Luke heard the song, he insisted that he become the group's manager, ultimately forming
Luke Skyywalker Records to release the song in
1986. Candyman followed
Luke's lead by forming
Bass Station Records in
1987, employing Eric G as in-house producer.
The label's lead single was a diss record to
Luke's
Ghetto Style DJ's called
Triple M Bass by
The Worse'em Crew. Bass Station's following record was the massive hit,
Jealous Fellas by
Dimples T, which prompted a response from
Luke's camp entitled
Jealous Girls. The battle between Triple M DJ's and
Ghetto Style DJ's had gone beyond the party scene and found its way onto records.
The next couple records on Bass Station failed to make much of an impact, but the fifth record found a new sound for the entire genre, transcending the fued with
Luke/
Ghetto Style DJ's. Singing the
West Palm Beach Electro Bass DJ duo known as
Dynamix II, Eric began fooling around with the settings on his
E-mu SP-1200 drum sampler when he figured out how to program the bass drums tonally. This changed the direction of
Miami Bass immediately upon release. Eric featured his newly discovered rapper
Too Tough T on the vocal version of the track, but this version was eclipsed by the darker, more serious version featuring only
Dynamix II Vocoder vocal lines.
The song was such a hit that other labels wanted to cash in.
Bo Crane, owner of
Pandisc Records, hired Eric and
Dyanmix to perform edits on a
DXJ produced James Brown tribute track as a quick way to add
Dyanmix's name to a
Pandisc product.
Sadly, there would only be one more single on Bass Station before Candyman's (Norberto Morales) lifestyle caught up to him. Reportedly, Columbian drug-lords murdered him and his girlfriend the very same year he got Bass Station off the ground, leaving Eric without a financial backer for his productions.
After Candyman's death,
Edward Meriwether stepped in, taking control of not only the Bass Station catalog, but Eric G's career. Suntown gave Eric an outlet to produce new songs while Suntown re-edited the Bass Station hits, compiling much of this onto a compilation album entitled
The Best of Suntown Records in
1987. The album hit, but the relationship between Eric and Meriwether would quickly come to an end.
Eric and his apprentice
Money Dee setup the production company,
Never Stop Productions, and eventually landed a 'manufacturing and distribution' deal with
Pandisc Records. Eric would produce tracks for several groups including
Too Tough T, and himself under the alias of
Speakerhead.
Pandisc Records would compile these into a compilation entitled
Booty Shakin' Breakout: The Never-Stop Rap Roster in
1989, but the album did not make a mark commerically. Eric was freed from his deal with
Pandisc Records, and set out to run Never-Stop as an independet label. He himself compiled new tracks onto a new compilation, releasing it free from help, and it too failed to find much of a commercial impact. In
1990, he helmed an album as a frontman, but the
Eric G and The Juice Troop project also sold in limited quantities, despite being sampled by
Tampa Bay area
Miami Bass group
Quad Force.
In
1988, Eric again found a massive hit with his female rapper
Missy Mist. The
Miami Bass track entitled
Make it Mellow was based on a sample of Archie bell and the Drells' classic Southern Soul hit,
Tighten Up. This was followed by
Gettin' Bass in
1989, which was a minor hit locally. These two records caught the attention of major labels, which led to an album deal for
Missy on
RCA Records. The
1991 album,
Let the Good Times Roll, updated its sound, straying from
Miami Bass and created songs that ranged from their attempt at a traditional
Hip-Hop to
New Jack Swing. The album was a flop, ending up in cut-out bins.
During the 1990's, new material from Eric was tough, if not impossible to find. Once 2000 past,
Missy Mist emerged in the
Miami Bass History Yahoo Group unveiling the news that Eric G had moved home to
St. Louis, Missouri, where during a recording session in his home studio, the group he was recording murdered him on the spot, stealing his studio equipment. As of today, very little more is known about his death within the
Miami Bass community.
