The Fascinating Connection Between Prince, Egyptian Lover, Ice-T & Dr. Dre

Egyptian Lover carried out a sold-out present on the Hello-Dive in Denver, Colorado on March 29, bringing his electro-Hip-Hop brilliance to the stage.

Opening with Kraftwerk and peppering artists like Melle Mel and Duke Bootee, Twilight 22, Sugarhill Gang and, in fact, songs from his personal catalog into his set, the Los Angeles digital music pioneer delivered.

Backstage, Egyptian Lover had a couple of moments to talk with AllHipHop in regards to the fascinating connection between himself, Prince, Dr. Dre and Ice-T.

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For the uninitiated, Egyptian Lover has been making information for the reason that early Eighties. His first single, “Dial-A-Freak” with Uncle Jamm’s Military, was a neighborhood membership hit and “Egypt Egypt” quickly grew to become a cult favourite, significantly amongst breakers—however it began with Prince.

“Prince did a music referred to as ‘Controversy’ and on the finish of the music, he did this chant rap: ‘Individuals name me impolite, I want all of us have been nude/I want there was no black and white, I want there have been no guidelines,’” he explains. “I used to be like, ‘Rattling! That’s sensible.’ He’s not rapping, he’s chanting like a monk or this freakish type of factor, proper.

“So I stated, ‘OK, I gotta write one thing like, ‘Give me a freaky kinky nation…’ so it’s extra of a chant rap than a rap, rap. So, I kinda acquired that fashion from his vocals and the beats from ‘Planet Rock’ and [Kraftwerk’s] ‘Numbers,’ married these collectively and got here up with the Egyptian Lover sound. [Afrika Bambaataa’s] ‘Planet Rock’ and [Twilight 22’s] ‘Electrical Kingdom’ have been the primary songs on the golf equipment in L.A.”

Egyptian Lover’s debut album, On The Nile, was launched in 1984. True to his newly established sound, it got here with numerous “uh uh, uh uh’s,” as evidenced on songs equivalent to “And My Beat Goes Growth” and “Ladies”—one more component impressed by Prince.

“I acquired the ‘uh uh, uh uh’ from Prince’s ‘Horny Dancer’ and I made it my very own,” he says. “All of the vocal stuff, all of the fashion got here from Prince. The music ‘The Alezby Inn’ got here from a music Prince made referred to as ‘Bambi,’ which was a few lady liking women. Lots of the vocals have been impressed by Prince and the texture of the music. He modified my life. I used to be graduating when he was popping out with all these information. That was whole world. I used to be born and raised with it then.”

Egyptian Lover was additionally making his personal mark on Dr. Dre, who was frequenting the identical L.A. golf equipment. Earlier than Dr. Dre grew to become a trailblazing member of N.W.A, he and DJ Yella have been a part of World Class Wreckin’ Cru. The group’s largest single, 1985’s “Surgical procedure,” was unmistakably influenced by Egyptian Lover.

“Once I first heard ‘Surgical procedure’ and heard him respiration, I used to be so mad,” Egyptian Lover says with a chuckle. “Like, ‘That’s my s### proper there. Oh nooooo! That’s the Egyptian Lover fashion! Not West Coast!’ However then any individual stated, ‘You copied Prince. It’s a type of flattery.’”

In the meantime, Ice-T—who was within the Military on the time—was anxious to get again to L.A. and begin throwing dance events like Uncle Jamm’s Military. In 1983, the identical 12 months Egyptian Lover and Uncle Jamm’s Military launched “Dial-A-Freak,” Ice-T dropped the electro-flavored “The Coldest Rap (Half 1)” and “The Coldest Rap (Half 2)” by way of Saturn Data, a drastically completely different sound than the gangsta rap that made him well-known.

“When Ice-T got here on the scene, man, there was solely a handful of individuals doing avenue rap, which they now name gangsta rap,” he says. “So the primary one I heard was Mixmaster S####. After which I had a file in highschool, and me and Mixmaster S#### switched tapes. I heard his rap and he heard mine. However then I didn’t wish to maintain doing avenue rap, I needed to do extra of a celebration rap. I acquired out of it and simply did all get together rap, no extra avenue rap.

“Then I heard Ice-T do it. After which there was a couple of others across the neighborhood that was doing it. In order that they have been taking the fashion of like ‘Rappers Delight’ however solely doing it in a gangster fashion, avenue fashion, and I believed that was sensible for what it was, however I couldn’t see myself enjoying that at a celebration. Once I noticed Ice-T acquired signed, it was unimaginable. I hustled my a## off for a file deal. He talked his manner into that file deal and it labored out.”

Uncle Jamm’s Military and the World Class Wreckin’ Cru, together with Dr. Dre, The Unknown DJ, Egyptian Lover, Ice-T and Child Frost went on to outline the early West Coast Hip-Hop sound all through the Eighties. After a number of albums like 1989’s King of Ecstasy and (extra just lately) 2021’s 1986 and a number of world excursions, he has the type of profession longevity that’s rising more and more uncommon today.

“Forty years later,” he says with a way of bewilderment. “Hell no I didn’t assume I’d nonetheless be doing this. The primary file I did, I did it simply ’trigger it was enjoyable. Then I did my solo undertaking, ‘Egypt, Egypt.’ I put my identify on the file in order that they’d know what my identify was after I DJ’ed on the get together. That was the Egyptian Lover sound, so I simply stayed true to that sound.”

Egyptian Lover additionally credit his father, whose expansive file assortment broadened the younger Egyptian Lover’s musical horizons.

“My father had a file assortment and at some point, I grabbed a Dean Martin file,” he remembers. “I noticed this film referred to as Dean Martin: Matt Helm and he was like a James Bond type of man, proper? And I’m like, ‘Who’s Dean Martin?’ He’s type of attractive singing, proper? He wasn’t singing singing, however he was singing like with a sexiness. So my dad stated, ‘I acquired his information over there.’ So I put one among them on, then I took one other album, I put that on.

“I took a 3rd album and stated, ‘All of them sound the identical.’ That’s Dean Martin’s fashion. I knew if I ever was a singer, I might do the identical factor. I might create my fashion after which proceed to make information in that fashion. So I created the Egyptian Lover fashion and to this present day, I’m nonetheless doing music that manner.”