Hip hop legends Rodney O and DJ Joe Cooley are reuniting to release their first studio album in more than a decade.
The Compton, California based duo first hit the Billboard charts in 1989 with “This Is For The Homies” and then four years later landed on the Billboard charts again, securely becoming part of the collective consciousness of a West Coast hip hop generation, with solid hip hop tracks and memorable songs like their radio hits “Humps For The Blvd” and the iconic and ever-quoted “U Donﾒt Hear Me Tho.”
The group first struck gold when their label secured a distribution deal through Macola Records, the historic pressing plant that issued discs including NWA’s seminal “NWA And The Posse,” the late Eazy-E’s “Dopeman,” Dr. Dre’ Wrecking Crew releases and Ice-T’s first single “Six In The Morning.”
Their initial formation as a group also included Egyptian Lover and General Jeff which saw them explode onto the scene with the release of their groundbreaking single “Everlasting Bass,” which would become hugely influential in Miami bass music.
During the 90’s they performed on the The Arsenio Hall Show as well as countless concernts. Rodney recalls, “We did shows with NWA, Mariah Carey, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Ice-T, Roger and Larry, you know, Zapp, En Vogue, New Kids On The Block, E-40, DJ Quik, Jermaine Dupree, Westside Connection and Digital Underground. There were more. We did so many shows back then, I couldnﾒt keep up with who all we played with. There arenﾒt a lot of people we didnﾒt play with. We did a lot of summer jams and radio station gigs, and shows with more cats from New York, too, like Grandmaster Flash, Kool Moe Dee and MC Lyte.
He remembers, “Tupac used to come to our shows with his manager Leila Steinberg when we played up North. That sort of thing really meant al lot to us, to get love for our music from our peers, ones that we really respected.”
Rodney and Joe decided to call it quits after successive albums up until 1999 and following their two-set volume of greatest hits in 2000. Twelve years after a long vacation from working in the music business together, Rodney and Joe started doing shows together again last fall, including one at AEGﾒs L.A. Nokia Theatre with Ice Cube, The Dogg Pound and DJ Quik.
“We got a big response, and realized this was what we needed to do again,” said Rodney. From this the idea came to do a reunion album.
The album, set to be entitled “Joe and Me,” has already begun receiving airplay in Los Angeles on Power 106 FM from Felli Fell. “That Supa Radio” is the singles name and – although not slated for retail or digital release until late June or June – we at Dubcnn have got a full length, high quality streaming audio copy of the track.
Rodney O & Joe Cooley – That Supa Radio (Audio)
Enjoy the new music, drop feedback on the return of Rodney O & Joe Cooley on our forum and as always stay tuned for more news and media from the duo right here on Dubcnn as we build to the release of “Joe and Me.” In the meantime Make sure you follow RodneyOandJoeC on Twitter.
