I’d rather have somebody else give us credit. “We’re good - real good,” Fletcher told The Times in 1987. Jonnelle Fletcher said in her statement that “John ‘Ecstasy’ Fletcher was a beloved man, the life partner to Deltonia and ex-husband to Carla, twin brother to Joseph, artist, friend, and lifetime performing partner to the Legendary Jalil of Whodini.” Whodini continued to tour on the classic-rap nostalgia circuit and received awards at VH1’s Hip Hop Honors in 2007 and Black Music Honors in 2018. On Instagram, LL Cool J called Fletcher “one of the most important people in this culture to me,” and producer Jermaine Dupri posted, “My God, this one hurts me so bad, I can’t even believe I’m posting this, Ex you know I love you.”ĭupri, who briefly worked with the group as a backup dancer, produced “Six” and cited Whodini as a formative influence on his top-selling work with TLC. The group’s ’80s and ’90s peers weighed in on the trio’s profound impact after news of Fletcher’s death. Always there to reassure w advice tips.”Īlthough the group’s sound would wax and wane in fashion over the decades to come (its last album, “Six,” came out in 1994), scores of artists from the New Jack Swing, gangsta rap and contemporary era cited Whodini through samples, and it was a clear influence on acts like the Weeknd and Tyler, the Creator, who have looked to the ’80s for retro-futurist inspiration. There were 2 MCS that directly mentored my calm that summer. “I tended to be nervous looking at 15000 fans in front of me every night. “1987 I entered the tour w PE,” he wrote on Twitter. The next wave of rappers, like Public Enemy’s Chuck D, acknowledged Fletcher’s tutelage and influence. where 40 attendees were injured in a riot that spooked some promoters of early live hip-hop. Whodini was onstage at the Long Beach Arena at a 1986 concert with Run D.M.C. ![]() But the group’s rise coincided with hip-hop’s growing pains in white suburban America. “The trio, along with producer Larry Smith, made the first hip-hop records that black radio embraced,” critic Nelson George wrote in a Twitter post Wednesday.Īfter 1986’s “Back in Black,” Whodini was the top-billed support act on Run-D.M.C.’s “Raising Hell” tour, listed above then-emerging acts LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys. They also helped prove that the genre was not a sonic fad occasionally embraced by pop artists like Blondie but a turning point for Black artists in the post-disco and soul era. Those raucous shows were a crucial test of hip-hop as a nationwide phenomenon. Under the helm of then-manager Russell Simmons, who would go on to cofound Def Jam Recordings, Whodini performed on the first major hip-hop arena tour, “Fresh Festival,” alongside Kurtis Blow and Run-D.M.C. The group ultimately won two more gold albums.) 35 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum. 87 on the Hot 100, though “Escape” hit No. Singles like the vocodered funk of “Freaks Come Out at Night,” “Five Minutes of Funk” and “Friends,” a barbed and sarcastic view of relationships as the group’s fame ascended, became its most recognizable hits (“Friends”/“Five Minutes of Funk” peaked at No. The trio had its most acclaimed LP in 1984 with “Escape,” a genre-busting album that helped expand hip-hop’s audience while sowing seeds for dance and electronic music as well. If they listen to me, they’ll know I’m unique.” People who say that don’t listen to rap carefully enough. I know some people say all rap sounds the same, but there are many differences. ![]() “I heard somebody rap one day and I said to myself, ‘I can do that,’” Fletcher told The Times. ![]() Music Florian Schneider, co-founder of electronic pioneers Kraftwerk, dies at 73įlorian Schneider, the co-founder of Kraftwerk, the German electronic group that changed the sound of pop music, has died of cancer. “We came up with the name Whodini, threw caution to the wind and watched as these two kids out of Brooklyn conquered the world and set the pace and tone for a generation of rappers that came after them.” had no money and no contract for him, but threw the rule book out the window when we heard his verse and his voice,” wrote Barry Weiss, the Jive executive who signed them. “Jalil showed up with some guy named Ecstasy. The group signed to the influential London-based label Jive and released what was arguably the first-ever hip-hop music video for its single “Magic’s Wand,” which hit No. The girls might like LL some, but I’m talking about a real, honest-to-God sex symbol. “There was really nobody out there making the girls go crazy. “Rap needed some sex symbols,” he told The Times in 1987. ![]() In his trademark wide-brimmed hat, Fletcher was the immediately recognizable face of the trio. Fletcher cofounded Whodini in Brooklyn in 1982 with singer-rapper Hutchins (DJ Drew “Grandmaster Dee” Carter joined a few years later).
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