TRACK #433:

Hip-Hop Creature by Mellow Man Ace

Our next monster rap also comes from 1989 and it is the work of Cuban MC Mellow Man Ace. It’s a humdinger of a shindigger called Hip-Hop Creature, and it’s a little different from our average Monster Rap.

You might find this one to be much more of a referential Monster Rap than the usual Monster Rally style, Monster Mash-but-rap kinds of Monster Raps featured on Halloween Shindig. Here, Ace is basically telling us what a badass MC he is, and using all these horror references to illustrate just that, not unlike Vanilla Ice’s Born on Halloween. However, this is a much better song, with much better rapping, better lyrics, better references and it’s not, ya know, Vanilla Ice.

Now, Mellow Man Ace was also known a Willie Malo, and Willie Malo has been featured on a number of the solo albums from Cypress Hill frontman B Real. And that’s because Mellow Man Ace is actually Sergio Reyes, the younger brother of Senen Reyes, aka Sen Dog.

He was even a cofounder DVX, or Devastating Vocal Xellence, with B Real, Sen Dog and DJ Muggs. However, Willie decided to embark on solo career as Mellow Man Ace, and the rest of the gang renamed themselves after a street in South Gate called Cypress Hill. So it goes.

Now, Cypress Hill may have ultimately enjoyed more notoriety than Willie, but they ain’t on The Shindig. And that’s because they never laid down a referential monster torrent close to what Willie serves up here. It’s not overstuffed, I’ll give you that, but it does feature notable references you don’t see much in Monster Raps. Niche pulls like Vincent Price, Abbot and Costello and Poltergeist all get a shout next to Dracula and the Mummy.

Combine all that with bed of Cuban bongos and Geddy Lee’s OB-X sweep from Tom Sawyer, perhaps the most famous synth-bass note known to man, and you’ve got some Monster Rap gold tailor made for The Shindig.

So, let’s take a few moments to hangout with Mellow Man Ace, the self-confirmed Hip-Hop Creature.