The Fat Boys

The Fat Boys
The Fat Boys, Prince Markie Dee (top), Kool Rock-ski (bottom)
Background information
Birth name	Disco 3
Also known as	Original Fat Boys
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Years active	1982–1991, 2008–present
Labels	Sutra Records Tin Pan Apple/Polydor/PolyGram Records Uncle Louie Music Group
Associated acts	Run-D.M.C. Kurtis Blow
Website	OriginalFatBoys.com
Members	Prince Markie Dee Kool Rock-Ski
Past members	Buff Love

The Fat Boys are an American hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York City, that emerged in the early 1980s. Briefly, the group was known originally as the Disco 3.

Members

• Mark Morales a.k.a. "Prince Markie Dee"
• Damon Wimbley a.k.a. "Kool Rock-Ski"
• Darren Robinson a.k.a. "Buff Love" a.k.a. "The Human Beat Box" (June 10, 1967 – December 10, 1995)

History

Big Buff Love, the Human Beatbox, was a pioneer in beatboxing (using his mouth to create hip hop percussion sounds). He and another contemporary, Doug E. Fresh, popularized beatboxing, inspiring other artists to innovate, including Biz Markie and, later, others such as Rahzel. Attempting to capitalize on the appearance-oriented name of the Fat Boys, another hip hop group dubbed itself the Skinny Boys, and yet another the Fat Girls. The popularity of those groups was mild in comparison, however.

The group's 1984 self-titled debut, The Fat Boys, is considered by many to be an early hip hop classic, with artists like Boogie Down Productions and Redman, among others, making references to the album. For its 1987 album, Crushin', the Fat Boys made a cover version of The Surfaris' hit "Wipe Out" with The Beach Boys singing back-up vocals. The single made it to #12 on the Billboard chart, and #10 on the corresponding R&B listing. The Fat Boys also recorded a version of "The Twist" with Chubby Checker, who performed it originally in 1960.

Manager Charlie Stettler was a Swiss national who had embraced hip-hop culture. In 1983, putting the two together he contacted the nascent Swatch company and offered the talents of his group. The American office marketing group, headed by Steven Rechtschaffner and Nancy Kadner, were starting to do some offbeat, interesting campaigns, and agreed to star the Fat Boys in one of MTV's earliest commercials. Stettler, knowing the video channel was playing no hip-hop, readily agreed. Even with no fee he sensed the exposure would catapult his trio into youth's mainstream. The company returned to The Fat Boys for a 1985 Christmas commercial, created by former MTV creative heads Alan Goodman and Fred Seibert.

Capitalizing on their good-humored personalities, the trio starred in the 1985 Run-D.M.C. feature film Krush Groove and in the feature film Disorderlies (1987), which featured Ralph Bellamy as a millionaire invalid who receives bumbling care by his good-natured orderlies (played by the Fat Boys), with a cameo by manager Stettler. The group was later approached to record the theme song for A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), called "Are You Ready for Freddy," which featured Robert Englund performing as Freddy Krueger.

The group's popularity ballooned by the 1990s. For example, Jay-Z laments the breakup of the Fat Boys in his song the "Heart of the City." Prince Markie Dee left the group to pursue solo interests, which included producing many early tracks for Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige which included her debut single, "Real Love." In 1991, the remaining two members, Kool Rock Ski and Buff Love, carried on as a duo and released Mack Daddy (1991), but shortly thereafter, the group disbanded (until 2008).

On December 10, 1995, Buff Love died of a heart attack in Rosedale, Queens, New York. He was 28 years old and reportedly weighed 450 pounds (200 kg). Prince Markie Dee is a current radio host for WEDR 99 Jamz in Miami, Florida working weekends. Kool Rock-ski resides in New York.

The surviving members of the Fat Boys launched OriginalFatBoys.com its first official homepage on November 5, 2008.

According to its official website, the Fat Boys have recently recorded its first track "Fat Boys Unite" in nearly two decades and have plans of doing a reality TV show in search of a new member.^[1]

In March 2009, Kool Rock-ski announced the launch of his official website, the Official Kool Rock website. His first solo project, "Party Time" (EP) was released on April 14, 2009.

On October 18, 2010, the cable network TV One's aired Unsung: The Story of The Fat Boys, and mentioned that the two surviving members have reunited, and are currently touring with Doug E. Fresh, temporarily filling in for the 'HumanBeatbox.' There has been no confirmation if he is the new third permanent member. This was produced by the group's manager, Louis Gregory, publicly known as Uncle Louie.^[2]

In August 2012, The Fat Boys were scheduled to perform at the 13th annual Gathering of the Juggalos in Cave-In-Rock, Illinois.

In Spring 2015, The Fat Boys re-launched their clothing line FatBoysClothing.com official Fat Boys shirts

Discography

Albums

Singles as one-time appearances

• 1985 – "Chillin With The Refrigerator" – (Sutra)
• 1985 – "Force M.D.s Meet the Fat Boys" on the Force M.D.s' album Chillin' (Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records)
• 1985 – "All You Can Eat" – Krush Groove Original Soundtrack – (Warner Bros. Records)
• 1985 – "Krush Groovin'" (as part of the Krush Groove All Stars) – Krush Groove Original Soundtrack – (Warner Bros. Records); reached #87 on the US R&B chart
• 1985 – "Sun City" – Artists United Against Apartheid – (Manhattan/EMI)
• 1986 – "King Holiday" – (as part of the King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew) – (Mercury/PolyGram)
• 1987 – "Baby, You're a Rich Man" – Disorderlies Soundtrack – (Tin Pan Apple/Polydor/PolyGram)

Filmography

• 1985 – Knights of the City, AKA Cry of the City (New World)
• 1985 – Krush Groove (Warner Bros. Pictures)
• 1985 – TV commercial for SWATCH wrist watches (AKA "Swiss-Watch")
• 1986 – Miami Vice TV show, episode "Florence Italy"
• 1986 – Fat Boys On Video: Brrr, Watch 'Em! (MCA Home Video)
• 1987 – Disorderlies (Warner Bros. Pictures)
• 1987 – Square One music video "Burger Pattern" (Sesame Workshop)
• 1988 – Square One music video "One Billion"
• 1988 – 3×3 (Tin Pan Alley/Polydor/PolyGram Music Video)
• 1988 – T. and T. TV show starring Mr. T, episode "The Silver Angel"
• 1989 – Square One music video "Working Backwards" (1989) (Sesame Workshop)

Other media

• 1988–1989 – Police Academy: The Animated Series (in the Police Academy animated series, the Fat Boys are similar and appear as House's Friends: Big Boss, Cool and Mark).
• 1987 – New Coke Buff Love and the Human Beatbox improvised a rap live on the air with Guffy Roberts on the New Coke '87 "Thanksgiving Raptacular" radio special.
• 2000–2002 – Jackass (TV series) Tracks made by the Fat Boys were used in several MTV Jackass episodes, notably the self-titled song "The Fat Boys" in the Jackass skit called "Fat Fuck", which featured Brandon Dicamillo & Bam Margera dressed up as overweight people.
• 1989 – The Super Mario Bros. Super Show episode "Bad Rap" features two chubby rappers by the name of "the Flab Boys", a reference to the Fat Boys.
• The Fat Boys cover of the Surfaris song Wipe Out was used by National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling tag-team "Dynamic Dudes" (John Laurinaitis & Shane Douglas) as their entrance theme.
• 1997 – The Johnny Bravo episode "Hip-Hop Flop!" Johnny hears of a hip-hop group called the Round Pound, and seeks some advice from them to gain the love to a female hip-hop fan. The hip-hop group, The Round Pound, is a reference to the Fat Boys.
• In the television series Everybody Hates Chris, the episode "Everybody Hates Fake IDs" from the fourth season revolves around Chris and Greg's attempts to enter a Fat Boys concert in 1987.

References

External links

• Official website
• Disorderlies at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Fat Boys – A Large Body of Work" by Jake Austen (From Roctober #32, 2002)