M.C. 900 Ft. Jesus / DJ Zero Biography
Dallas, Texas, USA-based Mark Griffin is one of the more credible examples of white hip-hop. His pseudonym was taken from a statement made by USA "televangelist" Oral Roberts. Roberts once reminisced about how he was wandering in the Colorado desert, distraught at being unable to raise the money to build a sanctuary, when a huge Jesus appeared in front of him to reassure him. Alongside his musical collaborator DJ Zero, Mark Griffin explores a wide variety of styles including jazz and industrial dance as well as hip-hop. The lyrics, especially on his second album, track a more personal, introspective path than many of his peers. He made his debut in 1989 with the self-titled MC 900ft Jesus With DJ Zero EP, which highlighted his distinctive vocal style, which could hardly be described as rap in conventional terms, and reflected more the spoken word narratives of the beat poets. However, he had certainly been listening to the rise of hip-hop on the east coast, as the influence of Public Enemy testified. His debut album centred on club-orientated material, though again the interest centred on his lyrics ("The faces on the covers of all the magazines are me/Only cleverly airbrushed to look like someone else" from "The Killer Inside Me"). Later, his single, "The City Sleeps Tonight", caused an outcry in Baltimore, where its inflammatory lyrics coincided with an outbreak of arson. Griffin moved to Rick Rubin's American label in time for his third album, One Step Ahead Of The Spider. Its title was inspired by, "this dream that I was standing in a field and a guy in front of me turned round and threw spiders on me. It was the first time a dream had literally woke me up in fright." His vivid imagination was again in full bloom here, blurring reality with his sneering delivery and sparse hip-hop beats, produced by his new, eight-piece backing band.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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