Here's Big Daddy Kane looking dapper in a purple suit at card number 111 in the '91 MusiCards set. It's his only card this checklist, though he has four cards in the Yo! MTV Raps set. This photo is used on card #6 there, while the back photo below shows up on the front of Yo! card #5.
I know he's a highly-respected old school rapper, but I'm not very familiar with the work of Big Daddy Kane. I was thinking maybe he did the "Wild Wild West" song, but no, that's Kool Moe Dee. I tend to get those three-name rappers mixed up as that genre isn't quite my wheelhouse. Hey, as a dorky white kid from Southern California, I might not've been in the target demographic.
Turns out Big Daddy Kane's biggest hit is "Ain't No Half-Steppin'". Gotta admit it's not familiar to me listening now as I draft this post, but I dig it. Another popular track of his is "Smooth Operator".
Biz Markie, mentioned on the back, is coincidentally the next MusiCard coming up. Big Daddy Kane has kept rapping over the years, with his latest single dropping back in 2020, and he acts occasionally. For more info, here's the link to his Wikipedia entry.
Since I don't have a ton to say about Big Daddy Kane, let's tack on a custom to this post.
CUSTOM CORNER
Like the "poisonous" previous post, I'm using a same-title/different-song to link mismatched artists for the heck of it.
Yep, Sade also found success with a track titled "Smooth Operator".
Sade's "Smooth Operator" came out a few years earlier, and Big Daddy Kane's track is unrelated (doesn't sample or reference the Sade song). It gets confusing talking about Sade (pronounced something like "sha-DAY") because that's the name of both the band and their lead singer.
The band Sade is still active since forming in London, 1982. I've never dug too deeply into Sade's catalog, but everything I've heard is enjoyable enough. Seems like good "chill out" music. Other standouts for me are "The Sweetest Taboo" and "No Ordinary Love".
But "Paradise" might be my favorite tune from Sade.
I went ahead and whipped up a bonus variation.. or maybe they exist side-by-side in this virtual "series 3" checklist, with the earlier card being Sade (the singer) and this one Sade (the band).
How about you readers? Are you into Big Daddy Kane and/or Sade? Let me know your faves in the comments if you wanna.
