Tuesday, April 25, 2006

The High School MC... Billy Boyo

Billy Boyo (born Billy Rowe, September 21, 1969) was probably the most prolific of the early-80’s child MC’s, sure Beenie Man was the only one that achieved the majority of his success far after puberty, but Billy Boyo was the man back in the day. Junjo Lawes, who was his brother-in-law, was chiefly responsible for getting the youth in a recording studio. Though his lyrics may not have been on par with the cultural and seasoned DJs of the time they are nonetheless entertaining. In 1982 Greensleeves released the album “DJ Clash Volume Two” with Billy sparring off with Little Harry (another teenage DJ at the time) and I don’t know if the Radics’ riddims made the album or what but I think it’s a pretty cool album.

Unfortunately Billy Boyo never achieved success beyond his teenage years and he sadly died on October 29, 2000 from a brain tumor.

I present for your enjoyment 3 Billy Boyo releases. The first is from a Volcano 7” called, “School I Attend.” The second track is “Bushmaster Connection" with Little John, produced by Toyan and taken from a 1982 Greensleeves 12". The third is "The Good, The Ugly And The Bad" produced by Junjo and also a Greensleeves 12" from '82. When I was going through the vinyl I realized that I have about 5 other Billy Boyo singles that I could have shared but these were the first three that popped in my head so here they are. Enjoy!







Billy Boyo

While doing the research for the bio I came across this CD released by Silver Kamel! Gotta add that one to the list of upcoming purchases!

4 comments:

John AKA Reggaexx said...

Hey Mark - glad you're liking the blog! I'd definitely be interested in an oldies night - let me know the specifics!

king Ed said...

little John & Billy Boyo - 12" from 1982 - 'what you want to be' (every tongue shall tell riddim)

http://tinyurl.com/n2glk

enjoy,

Do you perhaps have any rockers and or message singles?

I have collected more than 100 of them right now, but there must be a lot more.

http://tinyurl.com/pfrfw
http://tinyurl.com/pm73p

John AKA Reggaexx said...

Mark - wish I had known about it sooner because I'd definitely make it out - I'll shoot you an e-mail!

HH - thanks for the Billy Boyo/Little John track - I don't have that one! As for Rockers and Message singles... I know I've got a couple Augustus Pablo singles but I'm not sure of what label they're on - I'll look them up and see if they may be something you'd like to hear and I'll post them for you. The majority of my Augustus Pablo is on CD... I got into 'rockers" a little late and by the time I was really digging it I couldn't afford to buy any of it! I'll keep you posted.

rico said...

Billy boyo RIP .
Best tune "janet sinclair" with little john on greensleeves 12.
Also killer 12 on rustys int prod by captain sinbad ????? 4 raw cuts of "another one bites de dust"......again billy boyo and little john, and followed by don carlos and captain sinbad ,god old days