Whodini is an American hip-hop group that was formed in 1982.); and turntable artist DJ Drew Carter, a.k.a. Grandmaster Dee.
Coming out of the fertile New York rap scene of the early 1980s, Whodini was one of the first rap groups to add an R&B twist to their music, thus laying the foundation for a new genre: new jack swing. The group made its name with good-humored songs such as "Magic's Wand" (the first rap song accompanied by a music video), "The Haunted House of Rock", "Friends", "Five Minutes of Funk", and "Freaks Come Out at Night". Live performances of the group were the first rap concerts with the participation of breakdance dancers from the group UTFO. Russell Simmons was the manager of the group in the 1980s.
The group released six studio albums. Fourteen of the group's singles hit the Billboard charts. Four of the group's albums were certified Platinum by the RIAA.
Career
Early years
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. They were contemporaries of other hip hop groups such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Afrika Bambaataa, Run-DMC, the Fat Boys and Warp 9. The group signed with London-based independent record label Jive Records in 1982; Synth-pop and electro pioneer Thomas Dolby helped produce this single.
Escape
In 1984, the group released their second studio album Escape. an influential early hip hop music video show. The album is out of print. On May 17, 2011, a deluxe version of Escape was released on CD with nine bonus tracks.
Back in Black
In 1986, the group released their third studio album Back in Black, They were the first hip hop act and break dance troop to tour in the UK and Europe, with UTFO also appearing with the group as its break dance act.
The group's sixth studio album Six produced one single, "Keep Running Back", and appeared briefly on the R&B chart. The album was fully produced by Dupri, except for three tracks, which were created by Dave Atkinson and Andy "Red Spyda" Thelusma.
Since the Six album, the group has not released any new music, but its older songs have been featured in many various old-school compilation albums 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.
In October 2007, Whodini was an honoree at the 4th VH1 Hip Hop Honors.
In March 2012, Whodini was featured in Season 5 Episode 3 of the TV One hour-long music documentary series, Unsung.
In August 2012, Whodini was presented with the Icon Award by the Underground Music Awards.
In October 2012, Whodini was inducted into the 4th annual Long Island Music Hall of Fame.
On August 16, 2018, the group was awarded the Hip-Hop Icon Award at the third Black Music Honors ceremony held at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
On December 23, 2020, Fletcher died at the age of 56.
Discography
Studio albums
- Whodini (1983)
- Escape (1984)
- Back in Black (1986)
- Open Sesame (1987)
- Bag-a-Trix (1991)
- Six (1996)
Filmography
Documentary
- 1990 – Rapmania: The Roots of Rap (TV Movie documentary)
- 2004 – And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop (October 4, 2004)
- 2012 – Unsung: The Story of Whodini (by TV One) (March 12, 2012)
Television
- 1987 – It's Showtime at the Apollo (TV Series) ("One Love") (October 10, 1987)
- 1987 – Video Soul (TV Series) ("Be Yourself")
- 1987 – Invisible Thread (TV Movie)
- 1988 – 1988 Soul Train Music Awards (TV Special) (March 30, 1988)
- 1987 – Soul Train (TV Series) - episode "Freddie Jackson/Lace/Whodini" ("Be Yourself", "Life Is Like a Dance") (November 14, 1987)
- 1994 – In the Mix (TV Series) - episode "Hip Hop: Then & Now" (April 24, 1994)
- 2007 – 4th Annual VH1 Hip-Hop Honors (TV Special) (October 8, 2007)
- 2018 – 3rd Annual Black Music Honors (TV Special) (September 8, 2018)
Video collection
- 1986 – Back in Black (RCA / Columbia Pictures Home Video)
- 1990 – Greatest Rap Video Hits (BMG Video / Zomba Video / Jive)
{| class="wikitable mw-datatable sortable collapsible collapsed" style="font-size:100%; width:50%;"
|-
! colspan="4" | Music videos
|-
!Year
!Title
|-
|1982
|"Magic's Wand"
|-
|1983
|"Rap Machine"
|-
|1984
|"Freaks Come Out at Night"
|-
|1984
|"Big Mouth"
|-
|1984
|"Escape (I Need a Break)"
|-
|1986
|"Funky Beat"
|-
|1986
|"One Love"
|-
|1986
|"King Holiday" (King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew)
|-
|1986
|"Growing Up"
|-
|1987
|"Be Yourself"
|-
|1987
|"Rock You Again (Again & Again)"
|-
|1991
|"Freaks"
|-
|1996
|"Keep Running Back"
|-
|}
Samples and remixes
- The drum beat from "Friends" is sampled in Public Enemy's "Sophisticated Bitch" from the album Yo! Bum Rush the Show.
- Dr. Dre used the beat of "I'm a Ho" for the Eazy-E song "Boyz-n-the-Hood (Remix)".
- Bone Thugs N Harmony re-recorded "Friends" and remixed it on The Art of War.
- The Firm's song "5 Minutes to Flush" samples "Five Minutes of Funk," and quotes its chorus.
- 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".
- "Friends" is sampled in MF Doom's "Deep Fried Frenz," from the album Mm..Food.
- Pastor Troy remixed "Friends" into a song entitled "Benz".
- Nas used the chorus of the song "One Love" for his song of the same name.
- The bassline and chorus from "Friends" is sampled in Nas' "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)".
- In the movie Next Friday, Day-Day and Roach were singing the song "Friends" while being held captive.
- Ice Cube and Master P's song "You Know I'm a Ho" from The Players Club is a remake of "I'm a Ho".
- Lil' Flip's song "I Got Flow" from his independent debut album The Leprechaun contains elements of "I'm a Ho".
- Beck sampled "Five Minutes of Funk" in his song "Gold Chains".
- Meshell Ndegeocello covers “Friends” on her eleventh album Comet, Come to Me.