Remembering Troy "Trouble T-Roy" Dixon (30th Anniversary)

On July 15, 1990, Mt. Vernon native Troy "Trouble T-Roy" Dixon was killed by an accidental fall at the age of 22. It was a freak accident while on tour in Indianapolis with his group, Heavy D & The Boyz. The LA Times added, "The group, from Mt. Vernon, N.Y., was on a 10-city tour and was one of the headline acts for Indianapolis’ Black Expo, which also featured the rap group Public Enemy." Heavy D's group, which also included G-Whiz and Eddie F., paid homage to their childhood friend by dedicating their next album, Peaceful Journey, to his memory in 1991, but it was Pete Rock & CL Smooth who immortalized him in 1992 with their tribute record, “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.).” Pete Rock talked to Village Voice about the record in '07, saying: "When I found the record by Tom Scott, basically I just heard something incredible that touched me and made me cry. It had such a beautiful bassline, and I started with that first. I found some other sounds and then heard some sax in there and used that. Next thing you know, I have a beautiful beat made. When I mixed the song down, I had Charlie Brown from Leaders of the New School in the session with me, and we all just started crying." Pete also said, "To this day, I can’t believe I made it through, the way I was feeling. I guess it was for my boy." T.R.O.Y. remains one of the greatest hip-hop records of all-time and having toured with Pete Rock & CL Smooth, hearing them perform it live (on several occasions), it's just as moving today as it was the very first time I heard that saxophone. R.I.P., Trouble T-Roy. 

Eddie F. & The Untouchables "Let's Get It On" (1994)

Eddie F is from Mount Vernon (NY) and made a name for himself in the late 80s with production on Heavy D's Livin Large, Big Tyme and Peaceful Journey albums. He was also associated with fellow Mount Vernom natives Pete Rock & CL Smooth and is credited with creating the first "featured artist remix," where a track was musically reworked and replaced by an entirely new track along with a featured rap artist. It's no surprise that Diddy was said to have lived with Eddie F in his home studio in the early stages of Puff's A&R position at Uptown Records. He went on to be VP of A&R at LaFace Records and helped manage Usher, OutKast, TLC and more. In that same time, he released Eddie F & The Untouchables' album Let's Get It On on Motown Records. The compilation featured the only known in-studio collaboration of 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. at the time on the title track which also featued Heavy D, Spunk Bigga, and Grand Puba. They spit bars over the dope sample of Barry White’s “You’re the One I Need.” The 12" was serviced to DJs and included the acapella which was definitely a gem, pre-internet lol. Check out the single "Let's Get It On" below...

A.D.O.R. "Let It All Hang Out" (12", 1995)

A.D.O.R.'s "Let It All Hang Out" is an undeniable Pete Rock classic from 1992 on Atlantic Records. A.D.O.R. was born in Washington Heights, but moved to Mount Vernon as a kid and later met Pete Rock, Heavy D, Puff, etc. in High School. A.D.O.R. was also known as "Another Dimension of Rhythm" and/or "A Declaration Of A Revolution." He received his deal through DJ Eddie F, who was Heavy D's DJ, and the first single they recorded was "Let It All Hang Out." The song had a video and solid promotion behind it -- I can remember seeing A.D.O.R. perform the track live on "In Living Color" that same year. It was also mentioned in The Source in October 1992, "I don't know about you, but I thought that cut, "Let It All Hang Out" by A.D.O.R. was fat. Pete Rock definitely hooked him up and will be supplying beats for the rest of his album." Despite the single's success, The Concrete was only released as a promo and was not entirely produced by Pete Rock. It did, however, have joints from Diamond D, as well as K-Def and Marley Marl. A.D.O.R. came back in 1998 with his own label and released "Shock Frequency," which also had the Pete Rock-produced "Let It All Hang Out," plus 2 more joints from Pete Rock and tracks from Diamond D and Clark Kent. With Pete Rock's success - then and now - you've undoubtedly heard these tracks on compilations, if not the actual A.D.O.R. release. However, "Let It All Hang Out" remains his only true classic. Listen below...