THE MYSTERY OF BLACK ROCK AND RON

So, my buddy Reuben emailed today an image to me with this explanation:

Hey Ron,

I found this on the internet and I thought you might like to use it on your blog or something. I don't know what it's for or what if refers to, but I figured you could use it for something. Hope you dig it.

Reuben

Here's the picture:



Of course, I do dig it, especially because, you know, my name is Ron. I'm also fond of the revolutionary and anti-imperialist ideas associated with the pan-African colors. Not to mention the fact that I'm a big fan of "black rock," or rock music performed by black people, such as Jimi Hendrix or Sly and the Family Stone. And it's just kind of neat, too.

So, I figured that I would go ahead and make some sort of blog post using the image. My take was just that I would post the pic, ask if anybody knew anything about it, and add a few links to Youtube videos of African-American rock stars. But once I got on Youtube and did a search using the terms "black rock," I had to change course a bit.

It appears that Black Rock & Ron was an obscure hip-hop group in the late 80s and early 90s. And, boy, when I say "obscure," I mean it.

From allmusic:

Rock and Ron Black are an American rap duo whose 1989 album Stop the World made the U.K. charts.

Click here for the rest.

Except for the fact that there isn't any "the rest." That's all the information I was able to find online about Black Rock & Ron. Which is pretty weird, because, you know, from what I'm able to tell from their two videos on Youtube, they were pretty damned good, shunning the MC Hammer style of glossy pop rap that was so dominant at the time and embracing a more rough-edged sound, with funkier samples, before many of their contemporaries did once ganster rap reigned triumphant. Check 'em out.

Here is the video for their song "You Can't Do Me None."

Here is the video for their song "Getting Large."

So, one mystery is solved: Black Rock & Ron were a hip-hop duo. But another mystery takes its place: if they were so good, and I think they were, what the hell happened to them? And why is there so little information about them online?

Can you solve the mystery of Black Rock & Ron?



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