On July 16th, Biz Markie passed away at the age of 57. His memory was celebrated by his many fans and hip-hop peers, with countless people queuing up hits like “Just A Friend” in his honor. Following his death, Biz’s longtime DJ and friend DJ Cool V caught up with HipHopDX for an extensive interview. While many topics are covered, one of the more surprising moments stems from a sad revelation about Biz Markie’s biggest hit.
First, V explains a bit about the track’s creation, highlighting their creative chemistry and trust with a behind-the-scenes story. “I got [Biz] in the booth and he was singing, and even though it might not be perfectly correct to anybody else, the feeling of it was good,” reflects Cool V. “He had his fist balled up and he was really trying. He was really, really crooning and I said, ‘That’s it.’ And he had one take. Then he had another take that was not as good as the first one. Right?”
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““Everybody called us crazy,” he continues. “Like, ‘Yo, you going to really let him do that?’ I said, ‘Man, he feeling it. I got a good feeling about this record.’ And we did it. It just took off. It morphed into something that we could never imagine.” While “Just A Friend” would go on to be a game-changer for the duo, its success was also bittersweet. As V explains to DX, neither he nor Biz made any money off the song — not even to this day.
“The sweetness comes in that we were able to perform it for almost 31 years,” reveals DJ Cool V. “And now comes the other side of it — we never made money off the record. I still haven’t got paid for that record…We made the money off the shows and we had a great performing career. But now it gets back to the bittersweet because every time I hear it, it’s going to remind me of Biz, but it’s also going to remind me of how I can’t make more money off of it. Everybody’s feeding their family off our work and we’ve never made money off that record.”
WATCH: Biz Markie – Just A Friend
While he doesn’t elaborate on the business dealings that left the pair high and dry, HipHopDX points to a problem that has plagued many young and eager artists: a lopsided recording contract. It’s certainly unfortunate to see how many veteran emcees continue to face the negative ramifications of early-career business blunders. Consider that only recently, De La Soul was able to wrest control of their music catalog back from Tommy Boy.
Rest in peace to Biz Markie; while neither he nor DJ Cool V may have made a dime from the song, we can only hope that V takes solace in the joy it brought to the masses. For more from Cool V, check out the full interview over at HipHopDX.
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