BEHIND
THE
MUSIC
PSUEDO NEGRO:
THE BAND THAT BROKE
THE COLOR BARRIER
Working
Out With Hans And Frans
It's
Nipply! (You Said The Word!)
The Racial Barrier
The 1980s were a turbulent time for rap music in America. It was
just starting to gain acceptance in mainstream culture. While audiences
of all walks of life were starting to perk up and listen to this new hip-hop
sound, the artists were not ethnically diverse. These were the days
before such significant performers as The Beastie Boys, Gerardo and Vanilla
Ice.
Four young men arrived on the scene to break the racial barrier of
rap music. Brad Heuseveldt, Steve Courtney, Jeff Ruch, and Bill Mills
brought together the sounds and ideas from their childhood in the ghettos
of Hanford, California.
Bucking the idea that rap artists must be of African American background, the four "White Bread Wonders" as they were later known in the recording industry also challenged other beliefs. Performing under the name "Pseudo Negro" they proved that rhythm, skill, talent, and angst-ridden lyrics were not at all necessary in their new flavor of "white boy rap".
The Beginnings
Their humble beginnings run back to James Monroe elementary school in Hanford California, where Mills, Heuseveldt and Courtney learned their 3 Rs (Reading, Riting, and Rap).
"Billy was just plain weird" said 5th grade teacher Mr. Dewey.
At Woodrow Wilson Junior High school, the trio met up with Jeff Ruch. Ruch had attended Lee Richmond elementary. Housed on the Richmond campus was the Kings County Special Education Department. Despite Mills’ jokes about riding "The short bus" to school, Behind the Music's research has only found standard enrollment records for Ruch.
While attending Woodrow Wilson, the "Flour White Four" began an interest in role playing games. They were led astray from their studies into the game Dungeons and Dragons by 8th grade science teacher Steve Downs.
"They were just plain weird" recalls Downs.
Lyrics began to take importance, as Mills wrote parody songs like "Kmart of Visalia" (to the Eagles Hotel California) and "Another One Rides The Bus" (to the tune of Queen's Another One Bites The Dust).
The Valley/Coast Rivalry
Young Billy felt the sting of being beaten to the punch as Weird "Al" Yankovic made the charts with his first parody song, also titled "Another One Rides The Bus" only a few months later. While Yankovic's song featured different lyrics, and was written independently, Mills felt Yankovic had an unfair advantage in the recording industry with a father who had made a serious foothold in the ever popular Polka circuit, and the vast recording resources of the California Polytechnic Institute restrooms in San Luis Obispo, California.
As the "Blanco
Bandits" moved into high school, the cross-state rivalry with Yankovic
faded. The Central Vally/Central Coast feud disappeared like tule
fog on a Wednesday afternoon. All four became fans of Weird "Al"
and his off-beat parodies which brought a sense of comedy and mirth to
radio stations that were playing the otherwise bland Barry Manilow tunes
of the day.
Comix
Hanford Joint Union High School was also a source of a rivalry that nearly split the group for good. When Mills began publishing "Junior Birdman" comic books under the "Cheapo Brand X" label, Ruch immediately followed suit with "The School Friends" from "El Cheepo Comix". Both comic books featured super-heroes, which triumphed over, and belittled various teachers and students on the HUHS campus.
One morning during class break Heuseveldt and Courtney took sides. Heuseveldt began ridiculing Ruch for a spelling mistake. "Jeff had drawn a girl so ugly that her looks turned people to stone. When she attacked the school friends, they were 'froozen' solid. I didn't realize what a stir that one jibe would cause, but I still give him grief about it today."
Courtney sided with Ruch, using the "Don't be an ass." defense.
As with all rough waters, these eventually calmed. In their later high school years, as Rap music came "out of the street" and was heard more commonly in the little farm town of Hanford. Mills began writing lyrics again. Such pieces as "The Denver McGinniss School of Rap" struck out in a new direction. They fused the comedy of parody music with a hip-hop beat, while performed by a white boy. Mills made claims that his faint Hispanic heritage gave him the ethnic edge to break into rap, which continued to exclude Caucasians.
As the Quinine Quartet headed toward graduation, they came under the influence of drama instructor Frank "Slim" Mann. His experiences and tales from work in the motion picture business gave them an insight into what they would face in the recording industry. Mann still looks back fondly on working with the four bright minded students. "They were just plain weird,” he says.
The Single
One fateful evening, the four had gathered in Mills' home. Armed
with a cassette deck, keyboard, microphones and a turntable, Pseudo Negro
was born. "Mix Master" Steve earned his name, recording record "scratches"
into the sampling keyboard, and then playing them back in a new digital
DJ fusion. With collaborative lyrics, the group belted out a song
which boldly announced their arrival on the rap music scene, stating that
their name meant "fake blacks" and advising listeners to "get out of the
way" of their "rap attacks". The anthem went on to declare that they
were not racist, and "sure as hell ain't from the KKK."
The next year was another quiet time for the group. Airplay of the single seemed non-existant. "The Man" was making a concerted effort to keep these four white boys down. Door after door was closed in their face. "We aren't down with white boys doing rap,” said one record executive who preferred to remain anonymous. Purist DJs were incensed at the MixMaster's perversion of their art.
"What's up with this honkey" one DJ asked. "No way you can replace my skills with a machine!"
"It really didn't have anything to do with technology, new ideas or old ideas, I just didn't want to break the needle on the turntable" Courtney later confessed.
"That white boy just don't got no rhythm." said one critic of Jeff Ruch's Beat Box solo. Ironically, Ruch's Beat Box routine would later play a major role in the first song on their album.
One glimmer of hope came from a chance encounter with a Funky Finger Productions agent at Superior Dairy in Hanford, CA. While the "Caucasian Crew" was excited about his vision for racial harmony in rap music, the number on his business card connected to a pay phone at Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles. Mills' first call to the number was answered with "What's up you stinking ho?!? Where's my money B#%@!!" Once again dashing the group's hopes.
Mills, who graduated high school a year before the others moved to the big city lights of Fresno, California, attending Fresno State University. While it looked like the final curtain call for Pseudo Negro, it actually turned out to be a phoenix-like re-birth.
Episode IV: A New Hope
On the morning of March second, 1987 Mills had stopped in at the campus radio station, KFSR. A fellow dorm resident was working the graveyard shift. Mills handed him the self-titled single and at 2:34 am, Pseudo Negro went on the air. As soon as the opening refrain from Wagner's "Ride of the Valkaries" came out of the powerful broadcast facility, the phone lit up. The first call was a drunk, trying to reach someone named "Thomas". The second was Dominoes, confirming the DJ's pizza order, the third caller was the drunk again, and the fourth, fateful call was a request to hear "anything by the Dead Kennedys". Astounded at the lack of negative response from the dozen or so people, who must have been listening at the time, Bill Mills was more excited than ever and vowed "to get the band back together".
A short time later, "Los Gringos Quattro" re-convened at Steve Courtney's
home. Mills asserted his position as front man of the group - pointing
out that it was his keyboard being used. Most of the songs recorded
that evening were performed by Mills, Heuseveldt and Ruch, with a cameo
vocal by MixMaster Steve. Lyrics writing was a joint effort with
Heuseveldt and Mills providing the lion's share of the input. The
composing was left entirely to the discretion of MixMaster Steve.
The first song, "Don't spit on the mike" was completed in 21 takes.
Thus Ruch dubbed the album name "Blackjack". "Don't Spit"
chronicled some of the band's prior club performances where MixMaster Steve
schooled "Old School" DJs in digital looping audio technology, and Mills
and Ruch had to contend with saliva soaked microphones used by "Beat Box"
performers.
"It's Nipply" detailed the particular temperature range that is "too cold for a shirt, and too warm for a coat", causing one's nipples - male or female - to become erect. The background beat; an unabashed parody of Maxwell House coffee commercials is now legendary. This song also included MixMaster Steve's cameo line "Hey man, what's up?" This was the only song to include the MixMaster's voice, through many out-takes include him cursing at Ruch for having "no @#$% rhythm."
"Working Out with Hans and Frans" was a comedic look at a possible gymnasium encounter with the Saturday Night Live folk icons.
"Bust The Hulk Rhyme" was the band paying homage to their comic book publishing roots, and final proof that the El Cheepo and Brand X feud was behind them.
The fabled "Lost Recording" was also made during this session. It was written in the spirit of many mid 80s morality songs, and those with up-beat messages like Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy". "Don't Blow It" chronicled a friends life spiraling into cocane abuse which lead to a stint in the army. Army life could not be worse; as the song stated "I heard army chow gives you the runs". Unfortunately, "Don't Blow It" was never completed in its entirety and did not make it onto the album.
The Album That Integrated Rap
While "Blackjack" never topped the charts for radio airplay, or sales (most airplay was on college and pirate stations, while tape distributions were primarily boot-leg), the stinging social commentary in the Blackjack album is what propelled Pseudo Negro into becoming a behind-the-scenes name in the music industry. Blackjack proved to the world that rap music and hip-hop were not reserved for a select race of performers, but could also be undertaken by the melanin challenged. Pseudo Negro paved the way for other acts like the Beastie Boys, and even made it acceptable for their one time nemesis Weird "Al" Yankovic to record a rap version of a Milton Bradley "Twister" commercial.
Inside sources in the Yankovic camp claim that the choice of a Milton Bradley game was an omage to Pseudo Negro's lyricist Bradley Heuseveldt. Many believe it was "Al"s way of saying "Thank You" without risking the wounds that might be re-opened by direct contact.
Courtney, inspired by Yankovic's peace offering, followed in the parody
artist's footsteps, moving to San Luis Obispo to attend Cal Poly, then
forged his own trail, entering the tie wearing cut-throat advertising world
in San Francisco. Heuseveldt and Mills both graduated from Fresno
State, Bradley then re-locating to San Luis, while Mills and his wife settled
in the tropical climate of South Florida. Ruch was the only homie
to stay in their "hood" of Hanford, dedicating his time to saving lives
on the rough streets where he was raised, as a paramedic.
As the group has been in and out of touch over the years, rumors of
finally recording a video for "It's Nipply" or "Don't Spit On The Mike"
have come and gone. One unconfirmed source at Ackbar studios stated
that the group may be gathering for either a video, or a session recording
all new titles at the dawn of the new millennium. One thing is for
sure, whatever they do; the waves of their actions will be felt throughout
the music industry.