Rob Base first rose to fame as one-half of the hip-hop duo Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock. Founded in Harlem, the group helped hip-hop to cross over into the pop music realm. Every rap artist that has found themselves in the mainstream spotlight has this duo to thank, in part, for their success.
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The duo’s tenure largely spanned from 1985 to 1994, though the opportunity for reuniting officially ended with DJ E-Z Rock’s death from a diabetic seizure in 2014. In spite of the group having to call it quits, Base still continues to perform their hits as a solo act. Get an update on the rapper’s career, below.
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Beginning: “Make It Hot” and “It Takes Two”
The duo first started to gain traction with the song “Make It Hot.” Despite the track not being an enduring hit for Base today, it was enough to land him and E-Z Rock a deal with Profile Records in 1987.
Their first release under Profile, It Takes Two, proved to be far more successful. The title track from the record has engrained itself into pop culture so heavily that even if you don’t know Base or E-Z Rock, you likely have heard the song once or twice: It takes two to make a thing go right / It takes two to make it outta sight.
“[We] went in the studio, and it all came together like magic,” Base once said of the making of “It Takes Two. “It wasn’t really hard to do. It came together. It was like magic.
“It was crazy,” he continued. “I remember walking down the street and hearing it blasting from a car. Everywhere you go the record was on. You walk in a store, and the store’s playing it. It was like, ‘Wow! I can’t believe this is happening.’”
The song has since received a multiplatinum certification. Revisit the song, below.
Middle: The Incredible Base and Break Of Dawn
Base followed up the success of It Takes Two with his debut solo album, The Incredible Base. The album didn’t sell quite as well as the duo’s prior offerings but still made a showing on the Billboard Dance Charts with the song “Turn It Out (Go Base)” in 1989.
At the time, the duo didn’t explain their brief break-up after It Takes Two. Nevertheless, they once again joined forces in 1994 for another album, Break Of Dawn.
“We stayed together for a while, but then as time went on we started doing our own things,” Base once explained. “We had a couple of business issues and couldn’t agree on some things, and we just went our separate ways right there. We always stayed friends. It was not like we hated each other. We talked on the phone, and once in a while, we would hang out. We wasn’t enemies.”
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Break Of Dawn would be the final album Base and E-Z Rock made together.
Where Is Base Now?
“It Takes Two” set up both artists for life. The song’s appeal continues to provide opportunities for Base decades later.
Base is a staple in nostalgia-fueled hip-hop showcases like the Las Vegas I Love the ’90s Tour, this year’s 50th anniversary of hip-hop celebrations, and the Freestyle Explosion Throwback Jam.
Though he hasn’t released new music since the mid-’90s, Base is still very much present in the hip-hop scene—both physically and through the legacy he created with E-Z Rock.
Photo by Al Pereira/Getty Images/Michael Ochs Archives
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