Weighing The Good The Fat Boys Accomplished
I could run off a list of famous Black Entertainers that died young with in the past 20-30 years. A good deal of them may have died from some sort of weight/diet problems.
So before I address the good The Fat Boys did for the image of people of color and hip hop I want to say. We have to continue to struggle to eat better. Unfortunately our diet is another thing that is weaponized against people of color. So like almost everything else we were taught we have to unlearn bad eating habits. We at Deep Dope Soul will continue to discuss diet even as I struggle with mine.
When The Fat Boys came out I was still in highschool. Likely you or someone you knew struggled with weight, diet, exercise during the teen years. In America hating yourself can become as easy as breathing and too often easier. I can remember some one from my home room who was not black but lost his battle with weight and self image before we even graduated.
ENTER THE FAT BOYS
Mark "Prince Markie Dee" Morales, Damon "Kool Rock-Ski" Wimbley, and Darren "Buff Love" Robinson.
Their music was fun. The beats hard. The rhymes fun to sing.
However, The Fat Boys, I say did 2 major things for hip hop and one major thing for mental health.
1. They opened the door for MC's like B.I.G and Heavy D. In fact when I first heard Heavy's first single I thought Markie D had changed his name. So The Fat Boys changed the way Rock Star and Rap Stars looked and created great fashion for the 40 plus sized brothers.
2. They opened the door for human beat machines Biz Markie and Doug Fresh and Philly's Ready Rock C.
Other than Run DMC, The Fat Boy were the biggest ambassadors of hip hop culture during their time.
3. The Mental Health Piece-most importantly The Fat Boys gave kids that did not fit in hope, goals, a reason to be proud, a reason not to be sad.
In highschool maybe 3% of the student body "fits in" and that nay include the teachers as well. So even if you didn't struggle with weight...The Fat Boys made you feel alright with being a 6ft3 visual artist, or a black goth girl, or a freshman that liked Frank Sinatra more than MTV. Whatever your quirk was/is. You could look at The Fat Boys and think..."If I make this cool, people will have to respect it and they damn sure gonna respect me."
Do we have to discuss the role diet played in the short lives of Buff and Prince? No doubt. However, we also need to have discussions about other lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking and drugs and the role that plays in entertainment. (For the record The Fat Boys did not promote smoking, drinking or drugs.) We also need to discuss the stress we give each other by judging people based on outside factors like weight.
When we remember The Fat Boys, let's also remember the victories they scored for people struggling with self image and eating disorder and square pegs. In my book they did more "GOOD" than "harm."
I'm Raymond Tyler in the words of Pattie Harris.
"Keep On Keeping On."
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