Toast to the Anniversary

By Irie Harris

As we make our way through Black Music Appreciation Month, it’s important for people to smell

their roses while they’re still around. That doesn’t fall far in regards to Kevin Heard, who’s better known by the moniker, MC Chill.

Approaching the 40th anniversary of signing a national recording contract with Fever Records, Chill understands what it meant when he inked the deal.

“When I hear 40 years, man, that sounds like an incredible amount of time,” Chill said. “I understood the gravity of the situation as it was unfolding, but to think back that that was 40 years ago, it's almost unbelievable, but I'm grateful to have had that opportunity.”

He knew it was more than just becoming Cleveland’s first rap artist to sign a deal, but the fact he did so with the New York City based label, the birthplace of hip-hop.

Because it further displays his importance for laying the foundation and groundwork, that rappers of

today and tomorrow coming out of the city, can use on their own odysseys.

When Chill made it, Cleveland made it.

The Origins of Cleveland Hip-Hop

Cleveland cannot be skipped over when speaking of the city’s importance in the history of music.

From Benjamin “Bull Moose” Jackson pioneering the dirty blues, to disc jockey Alan Freed who coined the term, “rock n’ roll”, before the genre ever had an official name.

The city squeezed out Bobby Womack during the era of “soul”, and The Raspberries for pop rock.

“Cleveland has a long history of being at the forefront of the music industry, especially in black music, and its many iterations, not just hip hop, but obviously, R&B, soul and gospel,” Chill said. “Cleveland artists have always kind of led the way in the overall success and artistry of all forms of black music. Cleveland has always played an important role in the craftsmanship and spreading music across the country.”

So when hip hop was conceived on August 11, 1973, in the Bronx, New York, it was only a matter of time before Cleveland marked their place in the genre’s early history.

The city’s early origins date back to the fall of 1979, when a founding father of Cleveland’s eventual hip- hop scene, DJ Cochise, was a freshman at Kent State.

He was introduced to the genre by a roommate. That soon inspired him to spin records in his dorm room and craft his skills, taking opinions from peers on hip hop, and what he could improve on.

This would lead to eventually DJing at the campus parties, and also wanting to be the best.

Cochise had a chance to show that during “The Showdown”, which was an on-air DJ battle in the fall of 1981, sponsored by WDMT FM 108. The competing DJs’ played all new rap songs, and showed off their skills.

The favorite to win was as a DJ by the name of Bud McFarland, who was well known from around the way. So much so that during the battle, Cochise listed as the second-to-last DJ to go, and leaving McFarland as the finale.

However, what separated Cochise from McFarland and the rest, was his ability to open mic and rap while simultaneously scratching the records for Northeast Ohio to hear. Not only did Cochise win the battle, but according to Chill who was present during the battle, that’s the day Cleveland’s hip hop scene was created.

“I was right there with him,” Chill said. “The very next week when Cochise won the Club Style

show, what he won was a show of his own, a full one hour show, of which I participated in that

show and was rapping. And even that day, it was like I had a rap record in Cleveland.

From there, the influence further spread across the city with people popping up to mix records, or show their skills on the microphone.

Cochise started promoting hip-hop shows in Cleveland, and that led to further advertising a rap group they he had help found, The Bomb Squad.

One of the other founding members?

MC Chill.

Chill’s pathway into Hip-Hop

The earliest memory of MC Chill wanting to become a rapper, derived from hearing The

Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” at a house party in 1980.

Chill looked to further increase his skills on the microphone, and the paths of him and Cochise crossed together while at Kent State.

Recruited to join the Bomb Squad, Chill would do so with DJ Finesse, Wayne G, and DJ Johnny O. They performed small time gigs at parties and different clubs. All while trying to further get the group’s name out into the stratosphere, knowing no major hip hop labels were prevalent in Cleveland.

At some point, Chill would go the solo route, and decided to try his luck with to the newly founded New York-based Def Jam Recordings, which was ran by Russell Simmons. But when talking to a young LL Cool J on the label phone, Chill learned he had to send a demo.

The only person Chill knew had a recording studio in Cleveland was an Ohio State student and producer by the name of Mike Chapman, who was the closest they had to a hip-hop producer.

After recruiting a few songs, and after Chapman would eventually start working with WDMT, that led to Chill receiving a call from a pioneering disc jockey by the name of Mr. Magic who worked for WDMT, and was the sole place playing the newest hip hop music.

With a demo and a dream, Chill was put in contact with Magic, which eventually led to a record deal with Fever Records.

The label was founded by promoter Sal Abbatiello, and was marketed and distributed by Sutra Recordsuntil the latter went under, which precipitated a distribution deal with Russell Simmons' RAL division of Def Jam Recordings. Nonetheless, Chill was in the door and ready to put on for Cleveland.

Chill’s with Fever Records To put his name in ink on the contract from Fever Records, not only meant he was officially on the scene, but it put the country on notice to what Cleveland would bring to hip hop.

“I think it also opened the gates for the rest of the country, and as I’ve said many times, you

don't have to be from New York,” Chill said. “It kind of sent that siren call out, like, let's go.

Everybody, we can all be a part of this movement.”

His self-titled MC Chill album, featured him on a beach with a coat, gloves, and jeans on. While

surrounded by a few women in bikinis, pouring out champagne in his glass.

The cover alone was intriguing to those wondering what Chill brought on the mic. But best believe, he left no dust behind when delivering.

With multiple hits such as “Bust This Rhyme” or “Prophecy”, it was a record titled “M.C. Story” that

became his most memorable hit.

What led to it was even more amazing for Chill, as the song featured his all time favorite MC,

Grandmaster Melle Mel.

When it comes to Mel, Chill worships every lyric written by him, and cites the impact he had in hip-hop speaking on the realities of life.

“I don't think people understand that his contribution was a paradigm shift of the way that we

attend to speak rap lyrics, prior to Mel, it was a lot of braggadocious just basically, or how many

cars you got, how many women you have, how good your rhymes are,” Chill said.

Mel was one of the members of the Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and had a part in

creating the song, 'The Message', which has become one of the most important records in the history of hip-hop, and sits as one of the first examples of conscious hip-hop.

“Everybody had to take a step back and say, 'Okay, hold on, wait a minute. We can rap about those kinds of things”, which is where we are right now with hip hop, talking about social,

whether the social is gangster, whether social is political or whether it's just street information,”

Chill said.

Chill let his pen do the talking on MC Story.

“If you sing a song, we all will sing about one day we will become the king. Not the kind of the Land, or the king of the throne, but the king that rocks the microphone.”

This is only one of the numerous hard-hitting bars from the record, and with a God MC like Mel on the song, he was pleased to say the least.

“To have Mel on my song, was incredible to me, and I'm very appreciative that he blessed me with having a feature and collabing with me, on MC Story,” Chill said.

The Impact of Chill

Chill’s early impact on the Cleveland hip-hop scene opened the doors for more to come.

Off top, you have Grammy Award-winning group, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, who hail from East 99th Street and St. Clair Avenue.

You had further brewing stars like Ray Cash and Al Fatz, and eventually the headliners of today in Kid Cudi and Machine Gun Kelly.

Chill might be chillin’ in the present day, but his legacy lives on in the city, and beyond.

“New York has that same, but Cleveland also has that saying, ‘if you can make it in Cleveland, you can make it anywhere.’”