Heavy D
Dwight Myers was born in Mandeville, Jamaica, and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, where he formed Heavy D & the Boyz as the first act signed to Andre Harrell's new Uptown Records. Fronting a label built around "ghetto fabulous" polish, he turned braggadocio rap into something you could dance to at a wedding, helping open the door for the new jack swing sound and the Bad Boy-style crossover rap that followed. He died in 2011, but the genial, big-man-big-heart persona he perfected is still the template for hip-hop's most welcoming stars.
Marley Marl produced the lead single off Heavy D & the Boyz's 1987 debut "Living Large," wiring the young rapper's party persona directly into the Juice Crew's sample-chopping boom-bap sound.
listen forThe bouncy horn stabs and stripped-down drum programming under Heavy D's earliest singles are Marley Marl's fingerprints.
A pre-fame Teddy Riley, fresh off his own teenage group Kids at Work, produced several other "Living Large" tracks and later helmed Heavy D's biggest pop crossover — stitching the smoothed-out new jack swing sound onto his rap delivery.
listen forThe synth-swing bounce and R&B hooks that soften Heavy D's raps into radio-friendly pop-rap are Riley's new jack swing formula at work.