The Story
Kool Mo Dee helped write the early rules of hip-hop as a member of the Treacherous Three. On StarPower Collective, he went back further, to the records that shaped him before he ever picked up a mic.
One song stopped him cold: Michael Jackson's "Rock with You." He couldn't believe a single record could carry street credibility, win over pop radio and still work for hip-hop all at once. For a young Black boy, he said, it made anything feel possible.
His musical education started at home. His mother loved Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin, and she told him stories about Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, singing the songs to him a cappella. Through the family he also heard Harry Belafonte, calypso, Miriam Makeba and African chants, music he felt long before he understood the words.
Kool Mo Dee is honest that he doesn't love all music. He loves the music he loves. But when a record hits, he says, it becomes a universal language, and the songs with something to say are the ones that stay with him.
In Kool Mo Dee's Words
“I didn't love music. I love the music I loved.”
Kool Mo Dee
“It's like you can feel stuff and communicate without speech.”
Kool Mo Dee
On the Playlist
- Michael Jackson – "Rock with You"
- Aretha Franklin
- Dionne Warwick
- Harry Belafonte – "Day-O"
- Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers
- Miriam Makeba
Questions & Answers
What did Kool Mo Dee talk about on StarPower Collective?
Kool Mo Dee talked about how Michael Jackson's "Rock with You" inspired him, the music his mother sang at home, and why songs with a message stay with him.
