o
Don't look now, but Ho Frat
. Hoi, the dynamic rap group from
Bust I t Records, is in the house
and sure to make their mark in the
world of Hi p- Hop. Number one,
they're different-there are five
of 'em: King Ho, Heavy Ho,
Mighty Ho, X Ho and Lo Ho­
and they choreograph and write
as well as they rap. Indeed, Ho
Frat Hol is no stranger to the Big
Time, having performed with
Hammer in music videos and on
stage since 1988.
Southern University in Baton
Rogue, Louisiana, the clip cap­
tures all the funky combustion of
serious hang time, HFH style.
No question - "Ho Frat
Swing" promises to sweep the
country in the tradi tion of popular
dance crazes like The Butt, rue
Humpty Hump, etc.
AND TIIA T'S NOT the half
of it. During Ho Frat Ho! their
debut Bust I album-with tracks
produced by Terrence Davis,
Tyrone Duncan and OJ Redeem..
with Hammer and Bust It presi­
dent, Louis K, Burrell serving as
Executive Producers-Ho Frat
Hoi gets seriously busy with
tracks like "Education" and
"Funky Stories," grooves that
come correct on the R&B tip,
radio-ready rhymes that are so
. visual that you don't need a music
video to get the picture.
III�'II
lives by
brotherhood,
unity, respect
and a strong
belief in
Jesus Christ.
Still, the question remains:
just what is Ho Frat Ho! "We're
a lot of things," y King Ho.
"We're an attitude, a way of life,
a form of expression. We repre­
sent the crazy persona of the
average kid on the street--espe­
cially the college student who
wants to take a break from school
and let it all hang out. But Ho Frat
Ho I is also about the four things
that the group lives by-brother­
hood, unity, respect and a strong
belief in Jesus Christ. Put it all
together and you've got Ho Frat
Ho!"
However, to get the 'Big Pic­
ture, one only has to take a listen
to the group's debut Bust It
single, "Ho Frat Swing," a piece
of funky science that personifies
just what Ho Frat Ho! is all
about: swingin,' groove-laden
rap with plenty of (auij'tude,
erious timing and irrelevant
humor.
Or check out their debut video.
Shot on, the campus of the
.,
Zhigge may be a new rap
group on Polydor Record , but
they aren't new to the hip-hop
cen. M mb r "Kazo," 21,
"Face," 20, "Prancer," 20,
"Sound," 19, and "Tonga," 1 ,
h d alr ady made a nam for
themselves dancing in hip-hop
clubs and appearing in videos by
Special Ed, Public Enemy, YZ
and others.
"We wanted to put a dance
group together and decided to call
our elves Zhigge (pronounced
"schiggy"), which is slang for
'anything fly or fresh, "explains
Prancer. "One thing led to
another and we started dancing
for people." Kazo and Prancer
met in high school and became
stage dancers for Special Ed.
Sound, Face and Tonga,
classmates since grade school
and members of the Neighbor':
hood Boys Club, became stage
dancers for YZ.
While dancing in a club, Kazo
was approached by producer
Milo Johnson who was looking
for New York dancers for a gig in
Japan. He had s n Zhigge in
variou vide and ked them if
y' t vel t Ja f
hion how nd d nee in
fa hions by the Mens Bigi Com­
pany.
When Zhigge came back to the
states, Kazo returned to cutting
hair in a barbershop in Harlem,
studying computer technology at
New York City Tech, as well as
hanging out in clubs at night, and
occasionally appearing in videos.
Face, who also worked at the bar­
bershop, returned to Berkley Col­
lege, studying fashion, marketing
thing that had a ed our minds.
We got tired 0 always being in
the background and felt we
hould come out with our own
mu ic," the group candidly d­
mit. Sound add , "When I w
on tour with YZ, I did ome fre -
tyle rapping on omeofhisshow
and although we weren't actively
pursuing a record deal, I thin we
all knew the time would soon
present itself for Zhigge to be out
front.
and dance.
�R 0 D
dancin f r peci I Ed and doing
re tyl choreography. S und
was con idering attending the In-
titut of Audio/Vi ual R e rch
for engineering because he
planned t get into the music in­
dustry anyway he could. Tonga
b gan preparing for high chool
and in hi free time danced in
•••
Zhiggie means:
'anything fly
or fresh'.
Fortunately, Sound met Den­
nis Davis (drummer for 'Stevie
Wonder) through a friend and
found out that he needed some
rappers for a solo album he was
working on. ound did orne
freestyt ppln for tm, lm-
d, 0 vi b ed him up
with producer/songwriter, Abdul
Khaliq who was willing to
finance a demo.
Sound ended up doing the first
. demo alone and cut, "Born
Black." He brought the rest of the
members of Zhigge to do the
remainder of the demo, working
on tracks with producer, Salaam
Rerni. It wasn't long before they
were signed to Polydor.
"Being a rapper was some-
FOUR OF THE members
. grew up in Harlem, which is can­
vassed in the album track called
"Harlem." Prancer, however, is
from East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
The track dialo I the ood and
bad' 0 the upto ft" hborhood
d in lud lwearan y
singer Oran Juice Jones. When
asked about musical influences
Zhigge will tell you, "We weren't
influenced by any rap act in par­
ticular. We just like music. We
were just always into hip-hop, al­
ways dancing and going to
clubs. "
Zhigge's self-titled LP is
chock-full offunky hip-hop jams,
See ZHIGGIE, 82
Their seeds for HFH were
planted, unwittingly, back in
1988, in Oakland, ·California.
King Ho & Heavy Ho 'were on the
set of Hammer's original "Let's
Get It Started" video, being shot
at a local club, when Hammer
noticed Heavy's fancy foot work.
"He asked us if we wanted to
be in the video," says King. "It's
like, 'Are you kidding?' Mighty,
Heavy and I all went to
McClymond's High School (the
same as Hammer) and we began
performing together back then.
So we jumped at the chance to be
in a video."
b
Hammer and the Ho's-then
known as Club Nu Ho-kept in
touch, and later he invited them to
dance in the clip for Bust It -act
Oaktown's 3.5.7's "Yeah, Yeah,
Yeah, " being shot in Los Angeles.
ON THE SET they met the
dancers/rappers who would be­
come X Ho and La Ho (who were
originally from L.A.). "After the
shoot, we all hung out with Ham­
mer that night at the Palace (a
local Hollywood nightspot),"
says King Ho, "And everyone just
clicked." Thus, Ho Frat Ho! was
born.
Beginning in 1989, the
dance/rap team toured with Ham­
mer, performing on stage with
him for two years. During this
period the group developed it's
See HFH, 82
HO FRATHO!
�-r) Mighty Ho, X Ho, Heavy Ho, Lo Ho
(In fr�nt) King Ho