R.I.P: Rammellzee

nomos

Administrator
no.

i don't even know what to say. he was one of my heroes since i was a kid.

thoughts going out to polystyle right now. i'm very sorry.

RIP
 
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polystyle

Well-known member
Shit ...

Our Dj High Priest called this afternoon saying he heard Fab Five Freddie had posted news Rammell had died ' RIP'.
By tonight I have ms in to his home, but now get the feeling this is true.
Feeling some shock now , come upstairs from doing laundry and after playing some tracks with Ramm,
sending messages to friends ....

One of a kind talented, loved to work, loved to ride - crazy like a damn fox
shine on Rammell, wherever you are
 

polystyle

Well-known member
Thanks guys , well we knew something was up but it's sad to find him and his energy gone
off the planet from now on !
it was an orange moon last night hope he went peacefully.
Respect and all your friends say "Bye" Zee

Beat Bop 2 with K- Rob
 

nomos

Administrator
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zhao

there are no accidents
oh no... such an original voice and vision... my condolences.

no don't rest in peace. come back and terrorize the complacent game, haunt these mediocre money making rappers!
 

Woebot

Well-known member
Our Dj High Priest called this afternoon saying he heard Fab Five Freddie had posted news Rammell had died ' RIP'.
By tonight I have ms in to his home, but now get the feeling this is true.
Feeling some shock now , come upstairs from doing laundry and after playing some tracks with Ramm,
sending messages to friends ....

One of a kind talented, loved to work, loved to ride - crazy like a damn fox
shine on Rammell, wherever you are

sorry to hear this stuart. he was a special one.
 

petergunn

plywood violin
RIP to a true NYC original... i have met so many different people from so many walks of life with rammellzee stories... these type of one off urban eccentric geniuses get rarer and rarer every day... he was going great work up until his death... my friend cx kidtronik did a bunch of stuff with him fairly recently and it was all great and all instantly idenifyable as him... those masks he wore on stage were next level... rubber bands in the jaw so the mask moved when he talked... and no hollywood set designer made that shit for him...
 

PeteUM

It's all grist
I think that Gettovetts record is the first one I ever bought just because of the cover. Didn't have a clue what the record might have been about either.
 

polystyle

Well-known member
Memory

RIP Ram. Only really knew "Beat Bop", but I fucking played it to death. Such a tune. Any other pointers would obviously be welcomed.

What a *hit start to a morning,
bugged to see someone on FaceBook call Rammellzee 'his protege' but anyway so wtf.

Some pointers Richard and thanks for listening, BeatBop was an unusual track;
the basic idea of JMBasquat 's to do a record, his thinking he was going to actually rap on it and Ramm's stories about the whole thing went back a loong way.
JBM's 'SAMO' graf partner Al Diaz was on perc on that one .

Ramm came up and out around the same time as our friends JMB, Nick Taylor aka DJ High Priest,
Vince Gallo and a host of others, was @ Club Negril on one of those early nights where M Holman was bringing Afrika B and a few others downtown .

His art was his basic, MC'ing was a side.
Stories about going to Italy and waiting , watching the Italian stone guy at work on a big marble Ramm was going to get to make a piece out of ...

Met him in W Berlin at a Gallery opening that had a bomb threat hanging over it -there was often something extra going on in these scenes. I had rolled a nice one and we shared it outside
joking about the whole thing ( 'art' , 'bomb's' , W Berlin ).

Later, because Ramm would not agree to let his image be used in any way, shape or form by director Juilan Schnabel, there ended up being an um, composite figure in the movie "Basquiat" -a white, head wrapped 'downtown ' guy who ends up kicking JMB's ass in a back alley.

Next DCC called him to join us for the Beggar's Banquet 12" "At The Marble Bar",
one of THE best cuts ever , "Exterior Street" and we did a couple shows around town.

At the next show, we saw Bill Laswell glom onto Ramm' best he could after we rocked Danceteria;
what was his next unit ? a DJ, guitar player, kyboards clone attempt.
Anyway, see the Sly & Robbie album with Laswell and Ramm on it.
Bill earned a spot on a personal *hit list , a position bolstered by more BS to follow.

By mid '90's our group Black Rain recorded "Letter Racers & Monster Models" with Ramm
, I would see him around only once in a while , at Blackbirds downtown at the bar -if he went out at all. The 'Battle Station' his place on Laight St. was slightly incredible, some large part of it so full of his mechanizations, stacked , packed together, some YouTube vids are from that time.
I would visit him from time to time at 'The BattleStation, have a smoke, watch some latest video from a recent project we would have one copy of ...

Ramm worked with artists who came calling, New Flesh for one.

After M Holman ( from Gray , with JMB , Nick Taylor, Vince Gallo in the side )
hipped us to Gomma putting together the "Anti NY" compilation.
I gave them 2 cuts for the price of one, one being "Exterior St.",
that led to being able to produce his own solo album Bi Conical Of The Rammellzee with Gomma by '92. We found K -Rob ( not easy ! ), even got Shock Dell ( Ghettovets ! ) involved.
Really thought it was high time for 'legend' to do his album and show his stuff with some new sounds arrayed around him.
Blog called Cocaine Blunts stated "This album cannot exist' ... in this time.
But it did.

Ramm was making skateboards, do rags, caps for Supreme.

By mid 2000's Death Comet Crew reformed, played CMJ with Ramm & Shock Dell's voice hoarse , barking like a seal and began recording an all new album.

We had heard about shows where he had gone out by himself , walked off the stage because he couldn't see out his mask and things like that and I thought "No, this can't be" and so began to set up shows with our booking friends in France we met through CX.

But Ramm's health was failing, had a scare and so after Venice Bienalle, Toulouse with The Bug or Lisbon, we let the shows trail off.
Yes, he did the "Wild Style" reunion show with CX and Saul Williams I believe and would usually be bustling around on one deadline to do a piece or another ...
But he really did want to "stay home and watch cartoons".
The time spent working with resins, glue caught up with him

And went out with an orange moon hanging out over Far Rockaway, at his beloved Mama's house.
Peace Ramm
 
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