In the history of Hip Hop, there are a few acts that deserve credit for opening the doors for Hip Hop's current global success, but never got their due.
These acts might not have exhibited the lyrical flow of Rakim or the hypnotic beats of DJ Premiere, but these artists deserve to be praised for blazing the trail for Hip Hop's future. The Fat Boys are one of those acts.
If The Fat Boys didn't make films like "Disorderlies" back in the mid 80's, Will Smith's "Hancock" wouldn't have made over $100 million dollars in its opening weekend.
Granted, Will Smith's movies are usually pretty good, while The Fat Boys movies (for the exception of Krush Groove) were well, quite bad, their combination of The Three Stooges meets Hip Hop films were successful enough that it allowed talented black filmmakers like Spike Lee and Robert Townsend to make better films and the end of the decade and rappers like Smith, Tupac Shakur, Ice T, Ice Cube, Queen Latifah and others to establish themselves as respected actors in the 90's.
Musically, if you go back and listen to The Fat Boys debut album( produced by Kurtis Blow) it is a Hip Hop classic, (Just click and listen to "Jail House" rap video below and tell me that song isn't a classic joint). Also, all praises due to Doug E. Fresh, but most people never heard of beat boxing, until the now deceased Buffy popped on the scene as "The Human Beat Box".
Unfortunately, The Fat Boys tried to become so mainstream by making songs like "Wipe Out" with the Beach Boys that they became more of joke than being recognized as the trailblazers that they truly were; So here's to The Fat Boys, the first inductees of "Unsung Flava"
--Kevin Lockett
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