The Fat Boys are 750 pounds of hip-hop rap. 750 pounds of creativity split between Mark “Prince Markie Dee” Morales, Darren “Buff the Human Beat Box” Robinson, and Damon “Kool Rock-Ski” Wimbley. These granola cats grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and were some of the first of their kind in the early 1980’s, popularizing beat boxing to new levels.
They were initially known by the name Disco 3, winning a national talent contest in at Radio City Music Hall in New York during October of 1983. And shortly thereafter making their first single, “Reality.” They changed their name to The Fat Boys while on a European tour, where their manager received a $350 for “extra breakfast,” thus the play on fat, so to speak. If you are old enough, and you classify yourself as an American Geek, you might first remember The Fat Boys from Square One TV.
Unfortunately The Fat Boys “fat” gig reached a downturn late in the 80’s and the trio disbanded in the early 90’s. But there is some humor to these overweight boys. “There was a fourth Fat Boy, Bill "Phatamus Prime" Whitker (He was one of the original Fat Boys and was with the band during the Disco 4 Era (before the Disco Three came to be) until a fight with Buffy over a pizza and a can of chicken noodle soup caused him to quit.” (Wiki)
This is all probably a summary of why these chubby bros were considered corny comedy rappers. I guess you just can't really take a bunch of fat upbeat noise makers seriously, but they had a good decade of music.
Discography
- Fat Boys (Sutra #1015 11/84)
- The Fat Boys Are Back! (Sutra #1016 7/85)
- Krush Groove (Original Soundtrack) (Warner Bros. #25295 10/85)
- Big & Beautiful (Sutra #1017 4/86)
- Crushin' (Tin Pan Apple/Polydor #831-948 5/87)
- Disorderlies (Original Soundtrack) (Tin Pan Apple/Polydor #833-274 8/87)
- The Best Part Of The Fat Boys (Sutra #1018 9/87)
- Coming Back Hard Again (Tin Pan Apple/Polydor #835-809 6/88)
- On And On (Tin Pan Apple/Mercury #838-867 10/89)
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fat_Boys
http://thebox.free.fr/fat.html
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/fat_boys/bio.jhtml
http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-musicians/fat-boys-biography
http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-musicians/fat-boys-biography
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/fatboys/biography