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Angie Stone, an incredible singer and songwriter who established herself as a soul star within the late Nineties and early 2000s, handed away on Saturday, March 1, on the age of 63. Though most music followers are nicely conscious of Angie Stone’s singing profession, her roots in Hip-Hop run deep, and Hip-Hop Wired examines these connections.
Angie Stone was born Angela Laverne Brown on December 18, 1961, in Columbia, S.C. It was in her hometown that she was a member of The Sequence, an all-woman Hip-Hop trio consisting of Cheryl “Cheryl The Pearl” Cook dinner, Gwendolyn “Blondie” Chisolm, and Angie “Angie B” Stone. The group got here collectively when the three had been all in highschool, they usually had been first observed after a Sugarhill Gang efficiency together with Sugar Hill Data founder and CEO, Sylvia Robinson.
The Sequence was the primary feminine Hip-Hop trio to be signed to the famed Sugar Hill Data label and made historical past with their 1979 single “Funk You Up,” the second single launched from the label after “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang. Stone can also be credited on the pioneering Hip-Hop single, which helped usher the music to wider audiences and mainstream enchantment.
The discharge and success of “Funk You Up” is important as The Sequence was comprised of artists who hailed from the Southern United States, proving that Hip-Hop’s attain prolonged far past the 5 boroughs of New York.
Parts of “Funk You Up” have been sampled by the likes of Too, Quick Boogie Down Productions, De La Soul, Ice Dice, and dozens extra. Dr. Dre used sounds from the only for his 1995 single, “Hold Their Heads Ringin” as nicely. Though the group initially disbanded in 1985, the group made comeback songs within the fashionable period through a 2011 single “On Our Method To The Motion pictures,” which didn’t characteristic Stone.
Stone labored with Hip-Hop duo Mantronix (DJ Kurtis Mantronik and MC Tee) earlier than changing into the lead vocalist for the Vertical Maintain trio, releasing a pair of albums within the early Nineties. She then joined with Gerry DeVeaux, Lenny Kravitz’s cousin, and Charlie Mole as a member of the group Devox. Whereas the group didn’t final past one album, Stone’s songwriting prowess honed in her time within the earlier teams led to her offering songwriting credit on D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar and Voodoo albums. Stone and D’Angelo had a son collectively as nicely.
In 2003, by now nicely established as an R&B vocalist and songwriter, Stone appeared on Erykah Badu’s “Love of My Life Worldwide” from the Texas singer’s Worldwide Underground album. Badu, and fellow featured acts Queen Latifah and Bahamadia all delivered bars with Stone on the anchor verse with “Funk You Up” because the backing pattern.
In 2017, with the help of legal professional Antavius Weems, The Sequence filed a Federal Copyright Infringement declare geared toward Bruno Mars, stating that his smash hit “Uptown Funk” used components of “Funk You Up.”
Angie Stone and her contributions to music received’t be forgotten, as evidenced by the outpouring of adoration and regard from her fellow musicians and followers from world wide. Hopefully, these unaware of her sturdy roots in Hip-Hop tradition are enlightened about her place in that nice pantheon as nicely.
Relaxation powerfully in peace, Angie Stone.
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Photograph: Getty