Daddy-O
b. c.1961, Brooklyn, New York, USA. A founder member of Stetsasonic, and for some time one of hip hop's most influential figures, Daddy-O is remembered fondly as the ‘Quincy Jones’ of rap. While still a member of the band he worked in communities furthering the A.F.R.I.C.A. programme — an anti-apartheid album and study guide. He has also spoken at several college seminars. When Stetsasonic broke up in 1990, Daddy-O was called in to provide remixes for swingbeat classics like Mary J. Blige's Real Love and Shanté Moore's Love's Taken Over. Before long everyone from Jeffrey Osbourne, Third World and They Might Be Giants to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers were on his casebook, as well as more conventional hip hop concerns such as K9, Queen Latifah and Audio Two. Elsewhere he kept busy by producing jingles for Casio Electronics, Alka Seltzer and Pepsi, amongst others. His debut solo album, and promotional single Brooklyn Bounce, saw a welcome return to the freewheeling old school trickery which had been conspicuous by its absence in hip hop. However, this was a '90s version, though a more politically directed album had been recorded but scrapped in deference to the one which eventually saw the light of day.