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Strong Island Hip-Hop Culture:
About Long Island, and the people who where there.



By Princess Grace



Parrish (PMD) Smith, Jaz and their studio engineer, Greg ("Daddy Gee").Photo by Gerard



The Next Generation:
In The Studio with Strong Island’s Hip Hop Pioneer Parrish Smith (PMD/EPMD) & Jaz, CEO and Founder Of All World Entertainment





It is Sunday night, the night before Memorial Day, 2004 and a Long Island recording studio is packed with hunger. Hunger to take Long Island back to the top of the hip-hop game.
Parrish Smith (SGIB’s January cover artist) is in the vocal booth recording his verse for a track on a new independent label, “All World Entertainment.” The CEO and founder of All World Entertainment, Jaz, looks on and probably thinks to himself how great it is to have a Long Island Hip-Hop pioneer like Parrish on his label. Parrish is to many, a representation of Hip-Hop on Long Island. He is a part of a clan that helped put Long Island on the map in the Hip-Hop industry, so many years ago.
Many movies show scenes of parties in the boroughs when Hip-Hop started. There isn’t any old school Hip-Hop movie that uses areas on Long Island as their main setting. Back then, Hip-Hop on Long Island looked like Hip-Hop in the Bronx. Imagine Regis Park in Brentwood, with teenagers break-dancing and freestyling. Imagine parties at Electrician’s Hall or Shirley Arena. Imagine, Fresh Festivals at Nassau Coliseum and visualize Jaz, age eleven, going to all the Hip-Hop parties, hanging out with his buddy, Biz Markie and learning from his elders.
The Hip-Hop industry is a hard game to play. Although it is similar to baseball, Hip-Hop has no rules. The only rule is, to remember where you came from and to NEVER sit on the bench and just watch. Ironically, just watching may cause you to strike out; it doesn’t make sense, right? That is because Long Island needs to stop watching the Hip-Hop game and start its own team up again. We were undefeated once with Rakim, Biz Markie, EPMD, Keith Murray, Public Enemy, etc. These are the people Long Island needs to look at, to get it back to where it was.
Parrish says, “As long as you give back and you teach, the future for us is the present for y’all. I was one of the guys that they all wanted to remove it, so y’all wouldn’t have a shot. We made sure Hip-Hop wasn’t just a fad.” It wasn’t just a fad because over twenty years later, Hip-Hop is everywhere and those who were big when it originated, are still around. They may not be recording tracks in the studio but their names are still known. They are our legends. Parrish says, “If you want to keep something, give it away.” It was not until EPMD that Long Island artists who were reaching success, starting bringing in other Long Island artists. EPMD helped bring in artists like DAS-EFX and K-Solo. “It’s fun on that side, to grab artists and bring ‘em in. Not to hang up and carry your bag but to blow up and be on your level,” says Parrish. Even when EPMD wasn’t recording, people would see DAS and think EPMD. Jaz says, “ Before EPMD, nobody else was puttin’ other artists on. That started with Parrish and Erick.” In Hip-Hop, you have to learn from the best and Long Island needs to recognize that some of the best are located in our own backyard.
Look at Jaz. He was born and raised in Bay Shore. He has done shows in over seven countries and is starting his own label, “All World Entertainment”. The label has a partnership with a German label called “Starting Lineup.” Jaz is signed with Sony in Germany and his album, “Global Warming,” is due out overseas in September. Germany does the production and “All World’s” engineer Greg (Daddy Gee), puts it to work. Besides Parrish, Jaz has others working on his label. He incorporates both the artists he has learned from, and also artists that will learn from him. MC Shan (Strong Island Hip Hop Culture- in the January issue), Mobb Deep, Black Attack and Problemz, Kelvicious, Joell Ortiz, S-On and possibly, maybe, get Erick Sermon and Parrish together again. Parrish did say, “It was a possibility. It would be mass hysteria. Pandemonium!”
“It would be great for Long Island if a group of artists reppin’ Strong Island could form a coalition and bring Long Island back to the high point it once was,” states Gerard (Editor-in-Chief of SGIB magazine). Jaz says, “ We need to cultivate Long Island. Know your past before you know your future and if you don’t understand where Hip-Hop came from, you won’t understand where it’s going. Long Island needs to realize that we were huge, back in the day and it is time for us to be big now.” Parrish sees it as, “Long Island is about to blow up again. There is so much talent in our past history and we need to recognize that.” Jaz says, “ I believe in karma, things always evolve. It is time for Long Island to take its place back in Hip-Hop.”
Both Jaz and Parrish consider Bay Shore, Central Islip and Brentwood as Long Island’s triad of Hip-Hop. But they want to know, “Where is everyone else? What are you doing in Nassau? What are you doing out east in Riverhead? What do you need?” Long Island needs to find that hunger that existed in that studio and learn from it. Never forget where you came from ‘cause the Hip-Hop game will eat you alive!