Kool Moe Dee

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Kool Moe Dee
Kool Moe Dee on his Knowledge Is King album cover
Background information
Birth name	Mohandas Dewese
Born	August 8, 1962
Origin	New York City
Genre(s)	Hip-hop
Years active	1986-present
Label(s)	Jive Records

Mohandas Dewese (born 8 August 1962), better known as Kool Moe Dee, was an American old-school rapper prominent in the late 1980s and early '90s. He is from Manhattan, New York City.

In high school in the late 1970s, he met Special K and DJ Easy Lee. Kool Moe Dee joined with other rappers Special K and L.A. Sunshine as well as DJ Easy Lee to form the influential old school hip hop group the Treacherous Three. It is with The Treacherous Three that Kool Moe Dee performed his freestyle, on stage roast of old school party rapper Busy Bee Starski, a performance frequently cited as a pivotal moment in the development of the battle rap. In 1986, Kool Moe Dee went solo, releasing a self-titled album.

He is also well-known for his long-running hip hop rivalry with LL Cool J; he claims that LL Cool J stole his rapping style. The cover of Kool Moe Dee's 1987 album How Ya Like Me Now features a red Kangol hat (LL Cool J's trademark) being crushed under the wheel of a Jeep.

His song I Go To Work from the album Knowledge Is King is considered by some the pinnacle of his work, with high speed, high energy and intricate lyrics masterfully mixed in to the stacatto sounds of a marching band.

Kool Moe Dee also appeared on Will Smith's #1 pop hit "Wild Wild West" from Smith's 1999 motion picture, on which he re-performs the chorus to his 1987 single of the same name.

In 2003 he authored a book called "There's a God on the Mic" (ISBN 1-56025-533-1). The book breaks down his 50 favorite MCs in terms of originality, concepts, versatility, vocabulary, substance, flow, flavor, freestyle, vocal presence, live performance, poetic value, body of work, industry impact, social impact, longevity, lyrics and battle skills.

[edit] References in popular culture

In The Simpsons, when Marge Simpson fears that she is pregnant again in I Married Marge, Bart Simpson wants to name the child Kool Moe Dee.
On the internet cartoon series, Homestar Runner, Coach Z dresses up as Kool Moe Dee during a Halloween Special.
In the Beastie Boys' song "Intergalactic", lyrics state "I got an A from Moe Dee for stickin' to themes". This is a reference to the "rap report cards" doled out by Kool Moe Dee in the liner notes to How Ya Like Me Now, where the Beastie Boys received mostly Cs, except in the category of "sticks to themes".
Kool Moe Dee's lyrical style and pronouncition predicated the rise within British urban youths of talking in a robotic and verbally definite style which became know as "MoDeeing" or latterly as "MoDo"^{[citation needed]}.
Kool Moe Dee is referenced in the Ben Folds Five song "Your Redneck Past."
He is mentioned in Chappelle's Show Season One, episode 10, in the History Channel's Coverage of great inner city gang wars from the 1980s.