This is Slick Rick, he’s a
famous rapper whose popularity peaked in the late 1980s. He raps with an
English accent and tells hilarious first-person stories, he’s a genius.
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Nothing says 'genius rapper' like
gold rings and eye patches
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This is his lesser known
friend, Dana Dane, whose popularity also peaked in the late 1980s. Like Rick, Dana also raps
with an English accent and tells amusing first-person anecdotes about his adventures
and how cool he is. I love him
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Nothing says “1987” like a
Kangol hat
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Slick Rick was born in
South London and moved to New York as a child. Dana Dane is a big fat phony, he’s New York born and raised. He used to be in a rap crew with Rick and I would wager that Dana stole the accent gimmick from him.
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London: Home of Dana Dane
apparently
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Back in 2010 I stumbled
upon his Wiki. I learned that there was this guy called Dana who used to bum around
with Slick Rick and pretended to be British. I was sold immediately. The trusty
guys from AllMusic.com informed me that his first album was basically a collection of
amusing stories and gave it an impressive 4.5/5 stars.
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AllMusic’s word is Oak
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I needed no more
encouragement and checked out his 1987 debut, Dana Dane With Fame and it was
great. It is certainly no Great Adventures of Slick Rick but that does not mean
that it is not without his charms.
The first thing that you
notice about Dane is that he really thinks that he is the hot shit, so cool in fact, that it borders on delusional.
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Dana Dane’s love letter to
himself
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Pretty much every song
involves some sort of story about how girls find him amazingly attractive and
are physically unable to resist his charms. It’s brilliant. My personal
favourite example of this can be heard on the track Delancey Street.
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Delancey Street Apparently
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So he starts by telling us
how good of a rapper is and that Delancey Street is a pretty rough part of town,
so far so good. So, Dana’s on the dreaded Delancey Street and is minding his own
business when suddenly a group of women come up to him and start flirting. He
drops his guard and they pull out some guns and try and rob him. Dana’s like “fuck
this” and runs away.
In today’s modern hip-hop
everyone cares about their tough guy image too much to even dare to tell a story in
which they are chased by anyone, let alone by a group of women. I find Delancey
Street a refreshing tale from a simpler time.
So anyway back to the story.
The women catch up to Dana and make him strip, but as he takes off his jacket
the ladies realise that he is infact that man Dana Dane. They give up the
robbery and are so overcome with lust that they have sex with him right then
and there.
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Artist's Impression
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Delancey Street says
everything you need to about Dana and why his album is so great. He’s Dana Dane
world renowned ladies man and all-around cool guy. He doesn’t really boast
much, he just informs the audience in a very matter-of-fact manner that he is
basically the shit and that women love him. On another song he is going to
visit a doctor, once he gets into the office he tells the receptionist who is,
and she loses her shit.
Clearly the man has major
delusions of grandeur, he not only thinks that he is English, but he also
thinks that he is one the of the most attractive men to ever walk the face of
the Earth. It makes for a great album. He is also quite the rapper and he excels at telling stories.
It is a crying shame that the world forgot Dana
Dane, with more exposure he certainly would have become a hip-hop legend.
Anyway, I give Dana Dane
With Fame 4 Kangol hats out of 5
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As soon as Kangols come back
into fashion I am going to get one in every colour
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Labels: 1980s, Dana Dane, Hip-Hop, Slick Rick