Starchild - Live at Chilly's Place Part 2
Do Remember! contributor Zvi Edelman breaks down a Chief Rocker classic.
Written by Zvi Edelman
The only real starting point for doing the knowledge is admitting your ignorance and then seeking to rectify it. Other than maybe a passing reference from older heads in regards to the Disco Fever and a vague notion that he had some tapes with Kid Capri that I had seen on mailing lists or whatever, I did not know much about The Chief Rocker Starchild beyond his name.
One day I copped a bunch of tapes with Rock & Will’s and Hard Pack markings on the cases. All the other DJs were well known and top rankin’ to me except for four Starchild tapes which, to be honest, I did not listen to until I had absorbed the rest of the tapes.
Turns out the Starchild tapes were party-rocking masterpieces in much the same vein as Hollywood and Brucie B: sick song selection, total control of the room (you can feel the cocaine and lack of metal detectors at Chilly’s Place through the speakers—the best tapes always give you a window in to the environment in which they we’re made), and most of all, Starchild is running the same kind of vocal routines as the other legends mentioned above.
So, once again, jokes on me Jack. A consultation with the blessing/curse that is Google revealed that in fact Starchild was not merely an apt pupil of the masters, or even an exalted contemporary, but in fact a teacher. But let Brucie B tell it, not me:
Brucie B (via Off The Corner): How my DJing progressed was my man Lance used to let DJ Starchild stay at his crib. When I got with Starchild I got on to the clubs. Starchild was doing a lot of clubs and skating rinks. He told me just come hang out with him.
Back then I think he was just making $40 a night. Out of the $40 he would give me $20. I always knew how to cut, but he taught me how to mix and blend records and keep it like just one flow. I first played at the East Side Living Room, which was once called the 371! That spot was on 166th Street between Finley and College. Starchild was rocking there and he put me on.
Shit man, if they’re rocking your routines at your funeral you know you made an impact!
Okay, back to Live at Chilly’s Place Part 2. After leading off with Anita Baker and The Whispers (with heavy singalong from the Chief Rocker himself “no matchin’ for my scratchin’”) which could be the end of the ostensibly extant Part 1, he goes quickly from a tiny sliver of “It’s My Beat” to putting a rub on two copies of “Top Billin’” with a real nice stutter, and then in to the “brand new from Red Alert” “Jimbrowski” which helps give us a time frame for this priceless time capsule. And the World Famous Supreme Team and Forty Projects shouts give you a hint as to what kind of crowd was in attendance.
Soon comes a routine over the evergreen “Risin’ to the Top,” and then right back to the rap side with the “brand new” “You’re A Customer” all shredded up in the intro, followed by Kane, Biz, Dana Dane, and Salt-N-Pepa (with shoutouts from Starchild to Larry Smith and Busy Bee). It’s an incredible sampling of the records that really mattered the most at the moment.
Brucie B steps up and wrecks two copies of “Do The James” while “My Name Is Mark G But They Call Me Starchild” kicks a rap that feels very Hollywood-esque (or perhaps it’s vice versus!) And so it goes on: a perfect ‘88 time machine, and a testament to a true master whose contributions have been obscured by time.
Do remember to hit the play button below and pay homage.
*Special thanks to Zvi! Read about his Top 5 Radio Tapes inside Do Remember! as well as more from Brucie B on the late, great Starchild.
Stream Live at Chilly’s Place Part 2 below, and stay tuned for more 50 TAPES posts as we celebrate the release of Do Remember! The Golden Era of NYC Hip-Hop Mixtapes, out now via Rizzoli.
Starchild - Live at Chilly’s Place Part 2