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The line between what is fact and what is fiction is certainly a blurry one after spending time with Drew Breeze, the Motor City mic master who’s living in an alternative universe where Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” bangs on and his hip-hop rhymes are driven by the shady drug-dealing and streetwalking scene of Miami circa the totally fabulous ‘80s.
As Breeze tells it, “We left Detroit in the midst of a recession and went down to Florida to look for bigger and better things. We ran into some trouble along the way: Drugs, prostitution, illegal dealings, money, women... while trying to become successful. We were down there for a few months, and as soon as we got down there -- boom.”
The explosion Breeze refers to is maybe one of the most surprsing (and impressive) Detroit hip-hop releases of the year, “Turn Up the Smooth.” With a classic-in-the-making soundtrack provided by producing partner Bob Stoopz -- most known for “being fired from the ‘We Are the World’ recording session” – “Smooth” is a cinematic journey that finds the duo riding hard through the Miami nightlife, where tales of a cocaine-loving Dan Marino and parties with Shalamar do indeed exist.
Stoopz ‘N Breeze are hosting the I Love the ‘80s party down at Northern Lights. It should be quite a show.
So, is there heat on you guys with regards to this show, playing Detroit? I understand you had to leave town on the fly…
We come here and do the shows then we go back to Miami. We can’t stay here too long …There’s more money in Miami and the women are hotter down there. No disrespect to Detroit, it’s just party central down there.
Tell us about the album and the plans for tonight.
The record is basically just looking for success. Detroit is all in it, but it’s more of like an ‘80s feel. Bigger sounding, more movement, more dancing. The sound was more free. …I consider our sound progressive
This is our “I Love the ‘80s” Cityfest pre-party. We’ll be hosting with B.L.A.K.E. Eerie and there will be performances with Blackreign, Ohkang, Detroit Cydi, Uncle Paulie and you’ll have DJ Paulie and DJ Equad on the 1s and 2s. You may here Anita Baker then you may hear Phil Collins.
So what is about the ‘80s that keeps you stuck in that decade?
The last show we did, I had an electric blue suit, Hammer shades on. Stoopz was rocking his Members Only jacket and his big cell phone. I mean, the ‘80s make for a great party – the music, the women and the drinks. It was just so fun and so free.
The decade of 2000 is going to be the first decade that is going to be forgotten in terms of music. When you look at the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, each era was great. There was some sort of representation by it. This era of 2000 to 2009 will be forgotten in time for just a period of wackness. Just horrible. Now, when I think of 2000, I’m thinking of just utter garbage. Not to say there hasn’t been any good stuff, but…
The ‘80s just represented fun to me.
Alright, so you’re stuck in the ‘80s, that’s cool. But what about this Miami-thing. I mean, you’re Detroit.
I got love for Detroit because we were born here. I was born and raised in Detroit. I can’t live here because the climate has changed. It used to be everyone was for each other. Now it’s separation. Eminem blew up and everybody just got weird. There’s not unity here.
The first half of the album -- because of some of the problems I had in Detroit, I recorded with wires in my mouth because my jaw was broken – that’s real talk.
At a coney island, well, I did a show at Alvin’s and had a misunderstanding with some gentlemen. There was three of us, there were nine of them…
For six weeks six weeks my mouth was wired shut
