it goes like this from the left to the right all day or night it doesn't make a difference
she kicks some stuff that is hype without a cursing i won't slur but uh excuse me sir let's
continue when william missed along the clean met mike g of the jungle brothers and dj red alert
they encouraged him to start his own hip hop group after they witnessed his dj's set at a show in the
early 80s barely in his teens and on the shorter end of the spectrum long known then as shorty
dewop needed to stand on milk crates to even reach the turntables his skills though were undeniable
and he blew everyone with an ear shot away later long the producer would go on to recruit andres
dres titus the rapper and lyricist to form the hip-hop group black sheep in 1989 even
though the duo was said to be from brooklyn and queens new york respectively they actually met as
teenagers in sanford north carolina where both of their families relocated at one point music
was always in the cards for dress he grew up with musical parents who sung in bands and he himself
won numerous talent shows as a child singing r b he also played the trumpet in his high
school's marching band and jazz ensemble born in brooklyn long was just two when his father died
and his mother moved to sanford to be close to her parents he would still get sent back regularly to
new york though to visit his father's family on one such visit he linked up with dj redler
long was soon spending his summers with the jungle brothers de la soul and a tribe called quest just
as they were creating the hip-hop collective native tongues long was also able to do minor
cuts and scratches on a few of the artists songs as soon as he graduated high school several years
after dress it was goodbye sanford and hello new york city once again but even with the connections
he'd already made he still had difficulty finding an emcee to partner with he was close to giving
up when he bumped into none other than his old friend dress dress had his own apartment in the
city so he offered long a place to stay and they got right to work as black sheep drez and long
also became part of the native tongues collective a crew of like-minded hip-hop artists who would
help bring abstract and open-minded lyricism to the masses that addressed a range of topics the
duo would make the interesting decision to sign with mercury polygram a label that didn't have
much experience dealing with hip-hop artists at all dress explained years later that they actually
liked the fact that the label made them feel like the duo would be doing them a favor by signing
instead of the other way around just before they could get their own project out the duo made their
first official appearance as black sheep on their native tongue's collective cohort de la soul's
1991 album de la soul is dead black sheep then hit the music scene with their very first track
called flavor of the month and later released their debut album a wolf in sheep's clothing in
october 1991. their first single stirred up a little bit of controversy between the duo
and another major artist in the genre at the time in the intro long is heard saying
dress thought the lyrics could be interpreted as a diss to two very popular artists vanilla
ice and big daddy kane especially the latter since drez was a big fan when questioned about it long
insisted that all he was saying was that they black sheep were the new flavor people should
be paying attention to after the record dropped everyone including big daddy kane's brother
were not feeling that specific lyric at all then as the leader of the group
dress not long was the one everyone targeted with their displeasure later kane himself
attended a black sheep show where he was given a respectful shout out by the duo
to proactively squash any potential be the album's second single also created a major
buzz but for very different reasons the choice is yours revisited captured the number one spot
on the hot rap singles chart and became the song the group would be best known for the choices
but it almost wasn't there are actually two versions of the song on the duo's album the
original and the revisited version the decision had already been made to put out the original
as the next single that is until everyone heard this particular beat long was working on minus
any lyrics for another artist it was clear that the track was going to be a hit no matter what
so dress convinced long that they should keep it and use it themselves in june 1992 black sheep
made history becoming the first hip-hop act to perform on the tonight show with jay leno
unfortunately black sheep failed to take advantage of the momentum of their debut it took them three
years before releasing their next album nonfiction and by this time the rap world had moved on
in 1994 nas biggie outcast and the fuji's all released their debut albums snoop tupac and
wu-tang were at the top of the heap black sheep had done little to create buzz in the years
between releases and now had to play ketchup the hold up apparently had a lot to do with the duo's
production style samples which they used quite a bit were expensive and time consuming to clear
so the record label kept putting them off their sophomore effort managed to achieve only
lackluster sales in comparison to their debut years later drez would say in interviews that
he believes that the album didn't do well because fans really wanted a wolf in sheep's clothing part
2 which they could have done but opted not to in favor of showcasing a different side of themselves
long would also cite issues with their label as well as personal conflicts between him and dress
after over a decade together black sheep disbanded in 1995 citing creative differences it shouldn't
go unmentioned though that the timing of the dissolvement of their record company 2 played
a role long went on to do tracks and remixes for other artists while dress continued to
release various projects as a solo artist in 2006 a short-lived reunion would happen
and another black sheep project would finally be released the album originally
released as a download-only project titled 8wm novocaine was put out under the name blacksheep
but with long only appearing on a few tracks he would end up splitting from the group just
before the album's release years later dress explained that the tension between the duo
all started with his suggestion de long that he reached out to some other producers
to help put some tracks together since at the time long didn't even have his own equipment
apparently that idea didn't sit well with him and he chose to vent his frustration by
working on his own solo project behind drez's bag with the equipment dress bought him no less
dress helped him out because long was struggling financially at the time
long also kept coming to shows and taking his half of the money but didn't or wouldn't attend studio
sessions or label meetings then their mutually shared publicist dropped the bomb on dress
about the secret album the news ended the relationship for good that body of work long was
working on ended up being released as a mixtape called the class of 89 for a time a tribe called
quest member jerobi andres came together to form a new duo called evitan natives spelled backwards
and a take from the moniker of their original native tongue's crew in 2016 there was talk of
a tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut album announcements were made on the group's
social media accounts and a dedicated website was launched however there doesn't seem to be concrete
proof anywhere that the tour actually took place it appears that for now dres and long have gone
their separate ways for the foreseeable future as they continue to be estranged long doesn't appear
to make music publicly anymore but he did launch a youtube talk show in 2020 called guess who's
talking interviewing well-known guests from a variety of industries including entertainment
sports and business dress on the other hand stays in the studio and continues to release his
own solo projects regularly thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget to
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