Biz Markie was hyper, fun and larger than life. The late rapper knew best how to inject fun into his raps, which is what got me and an entire generation of young people hooked on hip hop culture, especially with his 1989 smash hit “Just a Friend.”
All Up in the Biz, a new documentary directed by Sasha Jenkins, explores every aspect of Biz Markie's life, including his foster care upbringing, his ability to get along with anyone, and how hip-hop changed his life. Jenkins also interviews Markie's family and hip-hop legends like Rakim about their relationships with Biz, his love of joking, and how he amassed his fascinating collection of toys and gadgets.
“All Up in the Biz” premieres on Showtime and Paramount+ on August 11th, the day hip-hop officially turns 50. But, Jenkins told me in “Salon Talks,” “hip-hop is a lot older than 50 years,” and “hip-hop is not just two turntables and a microphone. At the end of the day, hip-hop is people.” If you were to assign an age to hip-hop's existence, Jenkins says he'd categorize it as “thousands of years.”
To learn more about Biz's life, his contributions to hip-hop, and why this music legend deserves his own documentary treatment, watch our episode of “Salon Talks” with Sasha Jenkins here, or read the Q&A from our conversation below.
The following conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
I discovered Biz Markie As a kid, I was born in the early 80's and we had this thing called “jukebox TV” where you paid a dollar and got three videos to watch, and that's how he caught my eye in the little neighborhood in East Baltimore where I lived. Biz Markie?
I grew up in Astoria, Queens, and my cousins lived in Queensbridge, which was a hotbed of musicians and rappers, and Juice Crew was basically based in Queensbridge, so I listened to Marley Marl's “Mix Show” and that's how I first got introduced to the biz.
One of my favorite songs is “Nobody Beats the Biz.” It samples Steve Miller Band, and I have very fond memories of that song. Back in the '70s, hip-hop DJs played a little bit of everything. You could love a little bit of rock n' roll, you could love a little bit of disco, you could love anything. Hearing Steve Miller Band on a hip-hop song brought back my youth. In that moment, I felt like I was connected to something bigger than myself.
If you think about it in historical context, hip hop is integrated into everything we do, from creative writing to filmmaking. How would you introduce Biz Markie, his contributions and his work to people who are new to this genre of music, younger listeners, grade school kids who are still finding their way?
“He was the essence of hip hop.”
When you watch the movie and see what an impact he had on such important MCs as Big Daddy Kane and Rakim — I mean, Rakim cried for his friend's death — when you think about who those guys were and Biz, Kane and Rakim were very serious, respected lyricists. Biz was a joker. He was a funny guy. He didn't take himself too seriously. It was amazing to see such a humorous guy. [and] The song “Picking Boogers” would have a huge impact on Rakim and Big Daddy Kane, two very important singers, singers who laid the foundation. To know and understand Biz Markie is to understand what the essence of hip hop is.
What I understand is that although this year is the 50th anniversary of hip hop, hip hop is much older than that. If you think hip hop is 50 years old, you're smoking crack in 2023. I made a movie about Rick James. I made a movie about Louis Armstrong, same people, same language, same environment. Same thing. Are you going to say that hip hop is different from Louis Armstrong growing up in the slums of New Orleans or Rick James growing up in the slums of Buffalo? It's the same story over and over again. Black music in America is a reflection of the environment and a response to the environment. So 50 years later, everybody's making money and doing hip hop, and that's great. Yes, Kool Herc and many other pioneers started what we understand to be hip hop, but understand that hip hop is much older than 50 years.
What about your age?
I mean, for thousands of years. Hip hop is how we talk, how we express ourselves. Hip hop is how we dress, our language. Hip hop is how we respond to our environment, how we talk to each other. That's what hip hop is. It's not just two turntables and a microphone. It's the people. Hip hop is about the people at the end of the day.
I think Biz Markie deserves a biopic or whatever, and I'm pretty sure you made this one too. Can you tell me how this project started?
I met with Biz when he was alive. He approached me about doing a documentary about his life and we had a great conversation and talked about a lot of things that are in the film, but I didn't get the deal. I wasn't sold. Then Mass Appeal had a show called “Hip Hop 50” and they were making these films for Showtime for the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop. I approached them again about the project and said, “This is the perfect project for Hip Hop 50.” And that's how it happened.
What did you learn about the biz while making the film?
“It's not just two turntables and a microphone. It's people. At the end of the day, hip hop is about people.”
He knew who he was. I think I know who I am too, but it took years. He knew who he was from a young age and embraced it. He was different from everybody else. People made fun of him. He embraced it and made it his armor, his personality. He made you laugh, but not at him, but laugh with him. That's the power of hip hop.
Eminem does the same thing. A lot of rappers use the pain of their youth or whatever and turn it upside down and use it as a shield. Knowing who he was at that age, a very young age, is why he is who he is. I think it's a universal thing. Everybody should know who they are and be confident in themselves, and that confidence is what made him who he is.
I didn't know he was a collector of toys and games and all kinds of interesting things.
It all started when he got money. His wife says he was trying to make up for all the things he didn't have as a child. Once he had money and started traveling, if he found an Evel Knievel action figure in a thrift store in Arizona, he'd buy it. Once he started traveling and had money, he officially became a collector.
What else did you learn?
He was the quintessence of hip-hop in that he was open to different things and he traveled. At the time when he was traveling, there were no cell phones, no pagers, nothing. He was from Long Island and he traveled all the way from Long Island to the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn to make a name for himself and build his own celebrity the way people use social media today. There was no social media. He was the platform. And he made that platform work in a way that was incredible and way ahead of his time.
It's always interesting to me that when making lists of the top rappers, his name doesn't even come up like Rakim's name, I felt like their names don't come up as often.
Yes. I wrote a book called “The Book of Rap Lists,” and there are a lot of lists in it. They're subjective, to be sure. But do people really care about lists these days? The people who make the lists are just broadcasting and telling people who they think is the greatest. But do kids these days really care about who is the greatest?
I know there are constant fights around my family. They fight about this. Relationships are broken.
I get it. But at the end of the day, hip hop is human. This might sound weird, but it's a culture. So is there anything in your culture that's better than anything else? No, there isn't. Everybody contributes to the culture, you know what I mean? You might be someone really amazing right now, like a mambo rapper, or you might be Rakim. Everybody contributes at some point.
Do you ever feel like hip-hop has become so big that you should give back to its founders and pioneers?
“The public, and Black people in particular, need to have more conversations about health and mortality.”
It's the old story of blues and jazz and everything else. We are masters of language, art and style, but when it comes to a business run by someone else, sometimes we get taken advantage of. What I wish was, look at someone like Jay-Z, who has been more successful than anyone. He's a great role model, and there will be more people like him who can lead the way in terms of doing good business. The Nas I know is someone who has come a long way, has great representation, does good business. It's evolving, but unfortunately there will always be people who get taken advantage of. I feel like artists have more control over their art and their commerce these days. I wish more people would take advantage of that.
When Biz Markie died, the world was shocked. It was unexpected. But… What is DMMX? And the poet Coolio And then Shock G, and it just makes you stand back. In my case, looking at my family and various health issues makes me think about my own mortality. Should we be having a bigger discussion about this?
Yeah, I think people in general, and black people in particular, should have more conversations about health and mortality and a lot of other things that are discussed directly or indirectly in music. That's the power of music. A kid from the Bronx might be a mumble rapper or a drill rapper rapping about hyper-materialism, but he's doing it because it's a reflection and a reaction to how he feels in America and where he needs to be to matter. It's all baked in there, but we need to unpack it and have more of a discussion to make change happen.
Greg Tate also thought, oh, that's heavy. Wu-TangRick James, Louis Armstrong. What makes a music star a legend to you? And what makes that legend a good story worth telling?
I think they need to be original. I think they need to experience challenges in their lives. Most of these people that I've had the opportunity to make films with have incredible hardships that they've overcome. I think those hardships and personal issues are universal, beyond music.
Not everyone can be a great rapper or guitarist, but if they can unpack the personal events we all go through and weave them into the art they make, understanding their personal lives can help us understand their art better. It's the personal events that resonate more with most people, so you need a compelling backstory.
What's next for you?
I'm currently working on a series with Jordan Peele about black cowboys and we have a film coming out soon about Ed Sullivan.
He has an interesting history that people don't know about. He was an ally. People talk about how he was an woke white man or whatever, and how he was an woke white man, and what he did on television and how he gave black people a voice on national TV at a time when a lot of people, including the advertisers that we all know and love today, didn't want black people on television. He contributed in his own way. That's what the film is about.
Please let everyone know when you can watch “All Up In the Biz.”
“All Up In the Biz” comes on August 11th, Hip Hop's 50th Anniversary. Happy Birthday, Hip Hop.
And the 50,000th.
Well, it's 50 years. Happy birthday to Kool Herc and to all the early contributors who gave us the opportunity to do what we do today. I started out as a writer, magazine publisher. I've had a longer career in hip-hop than a lot of rappers. I'm really grateful for what hip-hop has given me.
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“Salon Talk” about the history of rap
