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Whodini
Whodini, 1996
Background information
Origin	Brooklyn, New York City, USA
Genres	Hip hop, electro
Years active	1981–present
Labels	Jive/Arista Records MCA Records So So Def/Columbia/SME Records
Associated acts	UTFO, Jermaine Dupri, Terminator X, Thomas Dolby
Members	Jalil Hutchins John "Ecstasy" Fletcher Drew "Grandmaster Dee" Carter

Whodini is a hip hop group that was formed in 1981. The Brooklyn, New York-based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, aka Ecstasy (who wore a Zorro-style hat as his trademark); and turntable artist DJ Drew Carter, aka Grandmaster Dee.

Career [edit]

Early years [edit]

Whodini was among the first hip hop groups to cultivate a high-profile national following for hip hop music and made significant inroads on urban radio. As they were contemporaries of other hip hop groups such as the Fat Boys, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Afrika Bambaataa, the group was managed by Russell Simmons, brother of Joseph “Run” Simmons of Run-D.M.C. The group signed with London-based independent record label Jive Records in 1982; they enjoyed a string of hits for several years, mostly charting on urban and R&B radio stations. The bulk of production on their releases was done by Larry Smith, a bass player who also handled much of Run-D.M.C.’s early work.

In 1983, the group recorded the self titled album Whodini, and its first single "Haunted House of Rock" was a Halloween-themed number that even today is still played in some clubs. Synthpop pioneer Thomas Dolby helped produce another of its singles, "Magic’s Wand", which was originally conceived as an advertisement for prominent radio jock Mr. Magic, who worked for New York’s WBLS radio. "Magic's Wand" also has the distinction of being one of Whodini's most-sampled songs.

Escape [edit]

In 1984, the group released Escape, which included "Five Minutes of Funk", "The Freaks Come Out at Night", the instrumental "Featuring Grand Master Dee", "Big Mouth", and the relationship-driven "Friends". Many of these songs were also groundbreaking in hip hop culture, as each one of the songs told a unique story from the urban perspective. The album ended up being certified for platinum-level sales by the R.I.A.A., selling over one million albums upon its release.^{[citation needed]}

The instrumental version of "Five Minutes of Funk" was used as the theme music for WNYC TV show Video Music Box, an influential early hip hop music video show.

The vinyl album is long out of print and the CD (only released twice, once in 1992 and again in 2002) is also out of print and any copies of either of them are extremely valuable to collectors.

On May 17, 2011, Escape was released on CD with nine bonus tracks.

Back in Black [edit]

In 1986, the group released Back in Black and a number of songs from the album received heavy local New York airplay, such as "Funky Beat" and the controversial “I’m a Ho”. “Fugitive” was guitar-driven funk and "Last Night (I Had a Long Talk With...)" was introspective.

Touring [edit]

From 1982 to 1986, the group was at its most productive; they toured with the more successful bands such as Run-D.M.C., LL Cool J, the Fat Boys, and other prominent hip hop, R&B and funk bands. The group was involved in the first Fresh Fest tour, which was the first hip hop tour to play large coliseums nationwide. In July 1986 they appeared at Philadelphia's Spectrum Stadium in front of an audience of 18,000.^[1] They were the first Rap Act and Break Dance troop to Tour in the UK and Europe, with U.T.F.O also appearing with themas there break dance act. Played all over Europe to full venues as no one had seen this kind of music before. Andy Franks

Open Sesame and the New School [edit]

By 1987, the group had earned its share of gold singles and albums. With Open Sesame, its final release of the 1980s, the group had turned away from their once-playful simple beats and catchy rhymes of the old school and instead became vocally more harder and more instrument-driven, with guitars and horns and bells. They even began to sample, as a snippet of Cheryl Lynn's "Got to be Real" is heard on the song "Now That Whodini's Inside the Joint".

This new school style had been similarly done almost a year previously on the multi-million selling debut albums by L.L. Cool J and the Beastie Boys, as many groups had already turned to the kind of rap and rock music that crossed over easily, and Open Sesame failed to produce any real hits.

Although the group was still obligated to Jive Records, for the next few years the band eked out its tenure by occasionally only releasing singles, including “Anyway I Gotta Swing It” for the A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child movie soundtrack.

The 1990s to present [edit]

In the 1990s, the band made an attempt at a comeback, and in that same year the group signed with MCA Records and released Bag-A-Trix in 1991, which failed to have commercial impact, as it tried again to reinvent using the then-current sound of new jack swing.

In mid-1994, the group scored a hit single with "It All Comes Down to the Money", which was co-produced by Public Enemy DJ Terminator X on his album Super Bad.

Talks with Def Jam Recordings for a new deal stalled, and in 1996, the group was signed by Jermaine Dupri (mentor-producer of Kris Kross and Li'l Bow Wow) to his then Columbia Records distributed So So Def Recordings imprint. (As a child in the 1980s, Dupri did a brief stint as a dancer for the group.)

Their album Six produced one single, "Keep Running Back", and appeared briefly on the R&B chart.

Since the Six album, the group has not released any new music, but its older songs have been featured in many various old school compilations and three greatest-hits collections have been released: The Jive Collection, Vol. 1 in 1995, Rap Attack in 2003, and Funky Beat: The Best of Whodini in 2006, which featured the seven-minute "Whodini Mega Mix", which was a medley of some of the biggest hits.

In recent years, Whodini still tours occasionally, and its old records still surface on pop and R&B radio, especially during old-school mix shows. The group's records have now become sample sources for contemporary emcees such as Nas, Master P, Prodigy, and MF Doom.^[2]

In October 2007, Whodini was an honoree at the 4th Vh1 Hip Hop Honors.

In pop culture [edit]

• Whodini's "Magic's Wand" appeared in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the radio station, Wildstyle. "The Freaks Come Out at Night" also appeared in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories on the radio station Fresh 105 FM.
• In a second-season episode of Everybody Hates Chris, Chris got two tickets to a Whodini show from a shop owner who thought the show was about the magician Harry Houdini.
• In the movie Next Friday, characters Day-Day and Roach were singing Whodini's song "Friends" while tied up when the Main Joker told them to shut up and said, "I don't even like Whodini".
• "The Freaks Come Out at Night" is used in the 1985 movie The Jewel of the Nile.
• Bone Thugs N Harmony re-recorded "Friends" and remixed it on The Art of War.
• Jermaine Dupri's verse in "Welcome to Atlanta" samples the intro to "Five Minutes of Funk".
• Will Smith's song "Potnas", about friendship, samples "Friends" and quotes its chorus at the beginning.
• The bassline from "Friends" is sampled in Tupac Shakur's "Troublesome '96". In his unreleased song "Let's Be Friends", he also used the theme of "Friends".
• Pastor Troy remixed "Friends" into a song entitled "Benz".
• In an episode of Everbody Hates Chris, the song Friends is playing in the background.
• Comedian Chris Rock has cited Whodini as one of his favorite rap acts.

Discography [edit]

• Whodini (1983)
• Escape (1984)
• Back in Black (1986)
• Open Sesame (1987)
• Bag-a-Trix (1991)
• Six (1996)

References [edit]

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