We're taking another step back into our favorite decade! Introducing the "Back to the 90s" tour, visiting Wings Event Center on September 9th, 2016. Featuring Naughty by Nature, Sir Mix-a-Lot, Rob Base, Lisa Lisa, Whodini, and Debbie Deb, this incredible lineup seeks to bring the best R&B and hip hop hits of the 90's to Kalamazoo this Fall.
Tickets will be available for purchase beginning Saturday, July 9th at 10:00am, starting at just $25. But before they go on sale to the public, we want to give YOU the chance to buy tickets now! Use the presale code BACK90 at THIS link until July 8th at 10:00pm to get tickets before they go on sale to the general public.
We'll see you in September when Kalamazoo goes BACK TO THE 90's!
About Naughty By Nature
Naughty by Nature pulled off the neat trick of landing big, instantly catchy anthems on the pop charts while maintaining their street-level credibility among the hardcore rap faithful; one of the first groups to successfully perform such a balancing act. The group was formed in East Orange, NJ, in 1986, while all three members -- MCs Treach (born Anthony Criss) and Vinnie (born Vincent Brown), and DJ Kay Gee (born Keir Gist) -- were attending the same high school. Initially called New Style, they began performing at talent shows and were discovered by Queen Latifah a few years later; she signed the group to her management company and helped them land a deal with Tommy Boy Records.
About Sir Mix-a-Lot Inextricably linked with his pop culture touchstone "Baby Got Back," Sir Mix-A-Lot parlayed a gonzo tribute to women with large buttocks into hip-hop immortality, even despite his failure to score another hit of its magnitude. But even before he struck crossover gold, Sir Mix-A-Lot was one of rap's great D.I.Y. success stories. Coming from a city -- Seattle -- with barely any hip-hop scene to speak of, Mix-A-Lot co-founded his own record label, promoted his music himself, produced all his own tracks, and essentially pulled himself up by the proverbial American bootstraps.
About Rob Base
Best known for the multi-platinum 1988 hip-hop classic "It Takes Two," Rob Base and partner DJ E-Z Rock rode the hit into dance clubs and, eventually, the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, providing a touchstone for the style known as hip-house. After Base leapt several hurdles -- including vicious rumors about his personal life, and a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Maze's Frankie Beverly regarding the duo's third single, "Joy and Pain" -- he responded in 1989 with a solo album, The Incredible Base.
About Lisa Lisa
Based in Brooklyn, vocalist Lisa Lisa (born Lisa Velez) and her supporting band, Cult Jam (Mike Hughes and Alex "Spanador" Moseley), were one of the most consistent dance-pop/R&B groups of the mid-'80s. Hughes and Mosley were also members of Full Force, the funk group that performed and produced the majority of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's albums. Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam recorded their debut single, "I Wonder if I Take You Home," soon after forming in 1985, releasing it as an independent single. The group quickly signed to Columbia Records, which re-released the single; it climbed into the R&B Top Ten and the U.K. Top 20.
About Whodini
Coming out of the fertile early-'80s New York rap scene, Whodini were one of the first rap groups to add a straight R&B twist to their music, thus laying the groundwork for the new jack swing movement. The group consisted of rappers Jalil Hutchins and John "Ecstasy" Fletcher, adding legendary DJ Drew "Grandmaster Dee" Carter, known for being able to scratch records with nearly every part of his body, in 1986. Whodini made its name with good-humored songs like "Magic's Wand" (the first rap song to feature an accompanying video), "The Haunted House of Rock" (a rewrite of "Monster Mash"), and "Freaks Come Out at Night," and their live shows were the first rap concerts to feature official dancers (U.T.F.O. members Doctor Ice and Kangol Kid).
About Debbie Deb
An early freestyle vocalist, Debbie Deb was discovered by producer Tony "Pretty Tony" Butler while she was working at a Peaches record store in Miami, Florida. At the time, Butler was known for "Fix It in the Mix," and within a short period, he collaborated with the teenaged Debbie on two significant singles: "When I Hear Music" and "Lookout Weekend" (the latter a number 26 hit on Billboard's dance singles sales chart). |