Sad news today, as the original hip-hop radio DJ Mr. Magic has apparently passed away from a heart attack. Magic was winding down his run as NY hip-hop’s kingmaker by the time I got up on things in the late ’80s, but his “Rap Attack” show with Marley Marl on WBLS, as well as Red Alert’s competing slot on KISS-FM, was the first place I got to hear hip-hop in a concentrated dose. That probably means a whole lot of nothing to anyone under, say, 27 but, for most of the ’80s, hearing one hip-hop song on the radio was like getting that valuable rookie in your pack of baseball cards. There was really nothing like the satisfying feeling of checking in to a two-hour show where you heard nothing but the stuff especially since, for me, it was technically “passed my bedtime” by the time it came on.

From the 1986 Dutch documentary, Big Fun in the Big Town

Some good Magic tributes are already up online, including some excerpts from one of his last interviews. (This one, published last year on Fatlace, is also worth a read. And, by all means, check this Will C post dedicated to the infamous “No more music by the suckers” diss directed at Public Enemy, and later sampled on their “Cold Lampin’ With Flavor”—complete with actual audio of the incident.)

I interviewed Jalil, Ecstasy and Grandmaster Dee of Whodini last year for a “Classic Material” column in XXL, and, among the many anecdotes they shared with me was how the group formed as a result of their involvement with the original “Mr Magic’s Disco Showcase” on WHBI:

Grandmaster Dee :
Mr. Magic was rocking the radio every Thursday from 2 to 4 a.m. on WHBI. I was tuning in every Thursday and I would always give him a call. And I happened to meet Jalil, ’cause Jalil was answering phones back then, taking calls when I’d call in. Him and Ecs were working with Mr. Magic. One day he said come on down to the station cause they were promoting this tour with Sugar Hill at the Armory in Harlem. That’s when I met Jalil and them. I told them I was a DJ, they came to my house to see how my skills was and we hooked up from there.

Jalil, on making “Dedication For Magic,” the original hip-hop radio promo:
We got our start from being crews in our own neighborhoods. And we heard Mr. Magic on the radio and made the “Dedication For Magic,” the first commercial talking about a DJ ever on radio. You know the different drops and promos they play on the radio now before the DJ comes on? We made the first one ever in New York, and it was off the beat from the record “S.W.A.T.” Magic played it every night.

Jalil, on Magic’s role in their original Jive deal:
Jive Records heard about Mr. Magic. He was the first DJ in the US playing hip-hop on the radio. They wanted to get a jump in the market, so they contacted Magic about making a record. But he couldn’t. At that time, he was making a step up to WBLS and the FCC wouldn’t let him record and be on the radio. So they gave it to me. When we had put down the lyrics for “Magic’s Wand” and it was agreed that this captured the whole atmosphere behind Mr. Magic, then we signed a one single deal just to do that record about him.

“Magic’s Wand”—one of the first rap videos ever made

Working with Mr. Magic, I was his eyes and ears for what was going on in the streets. We went from a pirate radio station to going to BLS, one of the biggest stations in NY. We were the original Juice Crew. Magic was hot on WBLS. He was killing NYC. After every show we were going to some party somewhere in the Tri-State, in Peekskill, Amityville, Albany.

On hiring Russell Simmons, on Magic’s recommendation:
We were hanging out one night, me, Mr. Magic and Russell Simmons. We were dropping Russell off, he had just moved to a brownstone in Brooklyn over by where they shot The Wiz, and Magic was telling Russell, you in this area, Jalil will take care of you. Me and Russell started hanging and Magic suggested why don’t you let Russell be your manager.