What Ever Happened To: Channel Live?

On this edition of Forgotten Fridays we reminisce over you, Channel Live. The New York rap duo (Hakim and Tuffy), which was founded by the blast master KRS-One in 1994, made an instant splash with the hit single "Mad Izm." If you were a weed smoker and wore Timberlands in the mid 90's, this was your buddha anthem.

Their debut album, Station Identification, was released on Capitol Records in 1995 and did fairly well - surprisingly going gold. This was when people actually still bought albums. In fact, I remember the DAY I bought this album. I purchased it in the now defunct Blockbuster Music (remember them?). That spot was dope because you could actually listen to the entire album before you purchased it. They even opened it for you, let you sit at your own 6-disc CD player, give you a full hour, and they'd even re-seal that shit for you if you didn't want it. Remember, this was in 1995. That was some future shit. Anyway, I bought this album, along with the Alkaholiks Coast II Coast, The Artifacts Between A Rock and A Hard Place, and Tupac's, Me Against the World. Needless to say, it was a good day.

Sidebar aside, Channel Live kind of disappeared from the rap scene after that album dropped. They released an album in 2006 called Secret Science Rap, and evidently it was so secret nobody knew about it. One of their members, Hakim Green, shaved his dreadlocks and according to his MySpace page became a manager, A&R consultant, lecturer, educator and visionary. Yes, a self proclaimed visionary. That's very visionary-like of him to see that. He consulted for singer Carl Thomas, and most recently is the Director of Artist Relations for the ‘Stop The Violence’ movement recently brought back by KRS-One.

There is word of a new Channel Live album, A Revolution Televised, that was supposed to come out in '08 but still hasn't hit the streets yet. Will the world ever get another broadcast from Channel Live? Only time will tell. Even if the duo never releases another album, their legacy will live on as "Mad Izm" will be forever played in local underground hip hop shows where there's a 13:1 ratio of guys wearing backpacks to girls in the audience. But every time it comes on, it always rocks the spot.

*Sparks an L*


Thank you,
Hip Hop Official: Finding rappers who the masses have forgotten.