Cookie Crew
Clapham, South London rap duo comprising MC Remedee (Debbie Pryce, a former chef for the Ministry Of Defence) and Susie Q. (Susie Banfield, sister of the Pasadenas' Andrew Banfield), both b. c.1967. They put the act together in 1983, originally as a 13 piece collective entitled Warm Milk and the Cookie Crew, after which they were picked up by the Rhythm King label. The breakthrough followed when they recorded Rok Da House with their producers, the Beatmasters. Originally to have been used as an advert for soft drink Ribena, it became a UK hit in December 1987, and is often credited with being the first ‘hip-house’ record. Signing to ffrr, they went on to work with producers such as Stetasonic, Gang Starr, Black Sheep, Davey D, Daddy ‘O’ and Dancin' Danny D ( D-Mob), and later added Dutch singer MC Peggy Lee as a ‘human beatbox’. Their DJs also included DJ Maxine and DJ Dazzle, who were among a succession of collaborators. 1989 proved their watershed year, with the hits Born This Way, Got To Keep On and Come And Get Some. They were also prominent as part of the Black Rhyme Organisation To Help Equal Rights (B.R.O.T.H.E.R.) along with Overlord X, Demon Boyz, She Rockers, and many other black rap acts in the UK. On their second album they teamed up with jazz fusion artist Roy Ayers for a new version of his Love Will Bring Us Back Together. However, all was not well between the Cookie Crew and London. The latter wished to reflate the duo's chart profile via more commercial material. The Cookie Crew, for their part, wanted to concentrate on more hardcore hip hop. A bizarre compromise was reached in the summer of 1992 when two singles, Like Brother Like Sister and Crew's Gone Mad were released side by side. The former was a hip house pop tune, the latter a biting rap track, in an experiment to decide the direction of their future career. In the event, the group had run its course anyway, and Remedee would go on to form the New Wave Sisters with Trouble & Bass (another female rap duo) and Dee II, also setting up a concert and club agency—786 Promotions.