Detroit music retailers haven't even stocked Danny "K"AE albums in many years, at least not since Harmony House closed. But ask old school Detroit rappers about Danny "K"AE and their faces will light up as if they've just remembered a long-lost high school classmate. They'll likely smile and talk wistfully about listening to Danny "K"AE way back when and bumping his classic cuts like "Yo Bummin'," "Calling #1 DJ" and perhaps Danny's most notorious track, "After School Snack Attack" — a particular favorite of Eminem's according to his former associate Mannix.
..."When you first hear Danny 'K'AE, you might go 'This is whack!'" says Danny's longtime friend and business associate Champtown. "But there's something about his tone and delivery that makes you go, 'Hold on.' You keep listening to it and realize 'This ain't whack. This is some unique and interesting shit.' Then before you know it, you're loving Danny 'K'AE. You laugh because he brings you joy but at the same time you know he's a serious emcee."
Champtown also says that despite Danny's influence on Caucasian rappers, he didn't wield much impact on the Motor City's black rappers. "It's hard to say if Danny influenced any black rappers from Detroit, because most black rappers idolized Run-DMC, killers and drug dealers. But I can say this — Danny 'K'AE will make you love him and his music."
As the '90s loomed, Danny labored away writing and recording his second album, Definitely Def. Meanwhile, word about Destined for Hip Hop and its unusual creator was beginning to spread throughout the Detroit hip-hop underground.
Rapper and producer Mannix recalls a time where no house party was complete without someone breaking out the Danny "K"AE. At the time, Mannix was the main producer of Bassmint Productions, the now legendary rap crew whose members included Chaos Kid, Proof, DJ Buttafingers and a kid from Warren named Marshall Mathers.
"If anyone would come over, you'd always say, 'Man, you gotta fucking hear this. It's the worst shit ever,'" says Mannix. "But at the same time, it had such a charm to it. It was one of the first things we had ever heard that was so bad it was good. We used to go around reciting lines off of the record because they were so funny. Our favorite was 'After School Snack Attack.' It's a total classic."
Champtown worked with the Bassmint Productions crew a great deal in the late '80s and early '90s and claims that Danny's beatboxing and scratchbox techniques directly inspired Eminem's later works.
"I know for a fact that on The Slim Shady LP when you hear Em doing that scratching — 'chicka-chicka-SLIM/chicka-chicka-SLIM' — he definitely got that from Danny 'K'AE because Danny basically invented scratchbox."
Mannix disputes Champtown's claim of Danny's influence ("That's just a false rumor"), but says that Danny's underground success frustrated Eminem.
Eminem loved Danny, he says, "but at the same time it used to make him mad because we were struggling and didn't have anything released, and here's Danny 'K'AE who's got a fucking tape in every goddamn store — Harmony House, Sam Goody — every place had his fucking tape," says Mannix. "And it used to piss Eminem off that this guy had made it before we did. I had to explain to him, 'You save up $1,000 and you can get a couple hundred tapes printed up.' It wasn't that [Danny 'K'AE] made it, he just got the money and put out his own tapes."
Whatever the level of influence Danny "K"AE may have had upon Eminem's career, the man who grew up to be the best-selling rapper of all time still remembers — and respects — Danny "K"AE, releasing the following statement via his publicist: "Danny 'K'AE is amazing. I'm glad that so many years later people are finally realizing it."
...The two came close to a breakthrough in 2003 when Danny says he was nearly signed to a production deal with Universal Records. According to Danny, a longstanding beef between former associates Champtown and Eminem came to light, and Universal, not wanting to upset their relationship with Eminem, terminated the production deal. However, Champtown. says with a hearty laugh, "It didn't exactly happen that way. It's a long, boring story, but it didn't exactly happen the way Danny remembers it."
Danny also claims at this time he was contacted by The Source magazine, which was looking for dirt on Eminem. He declined to speak on the record against Eminem for a very simple reason — "He's an admirer of mine and he looks highly upon my lyrics and my beatbox/scratchmouth techniques, so why would I have beef with somebody who does that?"
Source
Thanks.
