From 1986 to 1997, DJ Hurricane was
the natural fixture behind the turntables at Beastie Boys
concerts. The 1997 Tibetan Freedom Concert II was the last
official appearance of the Hurra as DJ for the Beastie Boys.
He would later return as a guest DJ on stage in Atlanta,
GA when the Hello Nasty tour passed through in 1998.
Hurricane started off as part of Run
DMC's entourage in the mid 1980's. hen the Beastie Boys and Run DMC went on the Raising Hell
Tour (1986), Hurricane stepped up and filled the role as DJ when Dr.
Dre (of Yo MTV Raps fame) became frustrated with life on the road (i.e. having
been left behind in a Florida hotel lobby). Around the same
time that Licensed to Ill was being recorded, Hurricane
went into the studio with Davy D and recorded the "Davy's
Ride" LP. Davy D would later be an opening act for
the Beastie Boys during parts of the 1987 tour.
In 1990, Hurricane teamed up with some old friends to put
out the Afros Kickin' Afrolistics LP. The Afros generated
a fair amount of buzz for themselves and even made an appearance
on Howard Stern's WWOR New York cable talk show to promote
the album. However with the birth of Grand
Royal Records in the early 1990s, DJ Hurricane began
working on what would become his first solo effort entitled
The Hurra.During 1994 and 1995 Beastie Boys concert
performances, DJ Hurricane would step out from the turn
tables and perform two to three vocalized songs. Usually
he would rap original lyrics to the Beastie Boys' instrumental
"POW", as well as run through either "Elbow
Room" or "Four Fly Guys". The Hurra
which was later released in 1995, might as well have been
a companion piece to Ill Communication as the two
albums sound somewhat similiar due to that fact that "the
Hurra" features guests along the lines of Mario
Caldato, Money Mark Nishita,
Eric Bobo, and yes, the Beastie
Boys.
In 1997, DJ Hurricane released another full length album
Severe Damage in Japan. Unlike the Hurra,
this release did not have close ties to the Beastie Boys.
The closet thing to a Beastie Boys guest appearance on this
album was Adam Horovitz's
production work on the track "Japanese Eyes."
Three years later Hurricane put out his strongest album
Don't Sleep which featured a legion of guest stars.
Back again on this one were vocals from Adam Horovitz and
keyboard work by Money Mark. Most recently DJ Hurricane
has lent his name to a new computer gaming company called
404 Gaming. In fact, the 404 Gaming website states that
Hurricane is one of the company's co-founders. It appears
as though Adam Horovitz is also involved to a lesser degree.
With the success of Def Jam's "Fight For NY" game,
it will be interesting to see what comes of this new project.
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