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Fat Boys think time is right for comeback album

Paul Arnold over at HipHopDX caught up with Kool Rock of the Fat Boys to get the latest on he and Prince Markie Dee's comeback plans.

"What I got out now, the Party Time EP, is like a prelude to the Fat Boys album," Kool Rock told DX. "We're trying to get people warmed up to the name again."

In a casual, but often pointed, interview, Arnold asks Rock about replacing the late Human Beat Box, the cultivation of the group's image early on, the move into covers of old pop records and what he thinks the Fat Boys legacy is in the context of names like Run DMC.

"I think the fact that every parent saw in us just pure fun," Rock said. "Like, those guys are clean. They're not rapping about sexual [stuff]. They're not rapping about raising hell. [Laughs] They're just being who they are. They're just being funny. And they're young. A lot of kids gravitated to us 'cause they just seen these young faces. The legacy for us is just that a lot of people gravitated towards us because we brought that fun element into hip-hop."

Check the rest at HipHopDX.

Fat Boys comeback in the works

The two remaining Fat Boys are planning to release a new album -- independently, according to Prince Markie Dee, "so we get paid this time around." Mark "Prince Markie Dee" Morales and Damon "Kool Rock-Ski" Wimbley sat down with Baller Status to talk about bootlegging, working with Jay-Z and what they've been up to for the past two decades. (The third member, Darren "Human Beat Box" Robinson, passed away in December 1995.) "Yeah, 20 years. Wow. It's been a minute," Prince Markie Dee said. "We've been in the mix, just not in the spotlight for a little while. I did my solo thing, the production thing, and I got my radio show in Miami. So, I'm grinding. I feel blessed after 20 years to still be doing my thing. 20 years, huh? Hip-hop needs a pension, yo."

When interviewer Todd Davis asked how it "sonically compares to previous Fat Boys' releases," Kool Rock didn't miss a beat: "Sonically? Sonic ... now you got me thinking about burgers." Some things never change. Check out Baller Status for the full interview with the Fat Boys and also an earlier one with J.J. Fad.