Monie Love
Encyclopedia
Simone Riscoe better known by her stage name
Monie Love, is an English
emcee
and former radio
personality in the United States
. She was a well-respected figure in British hip hop
, and made an impact with American hip hop audiences as a protégé
of female American emcee Queen Latifah
, as well as through her membership in the late 1980s/early 1990s Native Tongues
. Love was one of the first BritHop artists to be signed and distributed worldwide by a major record label
.
area of London. She is the younger sister
of techno musician Dave Angel
, and was a daughter of a London-based, jazz
musician father.
/BritHop
career as an emcee in the British Jus Bad crew, which featured DJ Pogo
, Sparki, and MC Mell'O'
. The group released the single "Free Style/Proud" on the independent
Tuff Groove record label in 1988
.
Love first gained critical and commercial notice in the United States in 1989 for her cameos
on Queen Latifah
's Grammy Award
-winning and pro-woman
single "Ladies First
," on Adeva
's "Ring My Bell," on the Jungle Brothers
' well-received single "Doin' Our Own Dang," and on De La Soul
's hit single "Buddy." The acclaim led her to a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records
, making Love one of the few British hip-hop efforts released by a major label.
Love also has a place in hip-hop history as a member of the Native Tongues
, a positive-minded hip-hop collective that included Queen Latifah
, De La Soul
, A Tribe Called Quest
, the Jungle Brothers, and a number of other acts. Her versatility was demonstrated with her involvement in the emerging popularity of House music, with her own single Grandpa's Party as well as providing rap for the The Dancin' Danny D Remix of Adeva's
house hit Respect.
Love's debut album, Down To Earth
, spawned two, Grammy-nominated hits, "Monie in the Middle" (a high school
-set track dealing with a woman's right to determine what she wants out of a relationship) and "It's a Shame (My Sister)" (which sampled The Spinners
' "It's a Shame" written for the band by Stevie Wonder
) and featured house-music vocalist and then-labelmate Ultra Naté
. The album reached #26 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
chart.
Love also appears on the song titled "United" from Inner City's third album, Praise.
Love was featured on her brother Dave Angel's remix
of Whitney Houston
's R&B hit "My Name Is Not Susan
" in 1991, and appeared in the music video alongside Houston. Love's 1992 single, "Full-Term Love," from the Class Act
movie soundtrack
, reached #7 on the Hot Hip-Hop Singles
chart.
Love collaborated with Marley Marl
on her second album, In a Word or 2
(1993), which featured the Prince-produced single "Born To B.R.E.E.D." (which reached #1 on the Hot Dance Music
chart and #7 on the Hot Rap Singles chart), as well as a re-release of "Full-Term Love." The same year, Prince asked her to write lyrics for a few songs on a side-project, Carmen Electra
's eponymous album, Carmen Electra
.
Love's last musical release was the EP
"Slice of Da Pie" in 2000.
host on Philadelphia's WPHI-FM
100.3. The 22 December 2006 edition of the Philadelphia Daily News
confirmed that Love left WPHI-FM on amicable terms after contract negotiations stalled. Love's departure from WPHI followed soon after her December 2006 interview with Young Jeezy
, where the two argued over whether hip hop is dead
.
Love is also an Official MySpace.com DJ
, according to her MySpace
page.
Love currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is the single mother
to four children.
Currently, she has a radio show on XM Satellite Radio
called Ladies First Radio with Monie Love. It airs Thursdays 6PM ET and Sundays 8PM ET.
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
Monie Love, is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
emcee
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
and former radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
personality in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. She was a well-respected figure in British hip hop
British hip hop
British hip hop is a genre of music, and a culture that covers a variety of styles of hip hop music made in the United Kingdom. It is generally classified as one of a number of styles of urban music...
, and made an impact with American hip hop audiences as a protégé
Mentorship
Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
of female American emcee Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
, as well as through her membership in the late 1980s/early 1990s Native Tongues
Native tongues
Native Tongues is a book by the linguist Charles Berlitz.It is a list of words in different languages, etymology and questions with speculations far and wide about words....
. Love was one of the first BritHop artists to be signed and distributed worldwide by a major record label
World music market
The music industry or music business sells compositions, recordings and performances of music. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate within the industry are the musicians who compose and perform the music; the companies and professionals who create and sell recorded music The...
.
Early years
Love was born in the BatterseaBattersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
area of London. She is the younger sister
Sibling
Siblings are people who share at least one parent. A male sibling is called a brother; and a female sibling is called a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings usually grow up together and spend a good deal of their childhood socializing with one another...
of techno musician Dave Angel
Dave Angel
David Angelico Nicholas Gooden , better known as Dave Angel, is an English techno musician.-Early years:Angel was born in Chelsea, London in 1966. He is the son of a London-based jazz musician, and the elder brother of rapper Monie Love...
, and was a daughter of a London-based, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician father.
Musical career
Love began her hip hopHip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
/BritHop
British hip hop
British hip hop is a genre of music, and a culture that covers a variety of styles of hip hop music made in the United Kingdom. It is generally classified as one of a number of styles of urban music...
career as an emcee in the British Jus Bad crew, which featured DJ Pogo
DJ Pogo
DJ Pogo is a DJ/Producer from London, primarily known for his involvement with the British hip hop scene. He was part of the Jus Bad crew, which featured Monie Love, Sparki and MC Mell'O', who released the single "Free Style / Proud" ....
, Sparki, and MC Mell'O'
MC Mell'O'
MC Mell'O comes from Battersea in south London, and was originally known for his bodypopping skills rather than his rapping, going under the tag Moomin...
. The group released the single "Free Style/Proud" on the independent
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
Tuff Groove record label in 1988
Music of the United Kingdom (1980s)
Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 1980s built on the post punk and new wave movements, incorporating different sources of inspiration from sub-genres and what is now classed as World music in the shape of Jamaican and Indian music. It also explored the consequences of new technology and...
.
Love first gained critical and commercial notice in the United States in 1989 for her cameos
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
on Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
's Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning and pro-woman
Woman
A woman , pl: women is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...
single "Ladies First
Ladies First
Ladies First is the debut album of Desi/British Asian rapper Ms Scandalous, recorded almost three years after her first appearance with Panjabi Hit Squad with the track Hai Hai on their 2002 album The Streets. PHS produced and co-wrote the album...
," on Adeva
Adeva
Adeva is a female African American house-music and contemporary R&B artist from Paterson, New Jersey, United States, the youngest of six children...
's "Ring My Bell," on the Jungle Brothers
Jungle Brothers
The Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop group that pioneered the fusion of jazz and hip-hop and also became the first hip-hop group to use a house-music producer. The group began performing in the mid-1980s and released its first album, Straight Out the Jungle, in July 1988...
' well-received single "Doin' Our Own Dang," and on De La Soul
De La Soul
De La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...
's hit single "Buddy." The acclaim led her to a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, making Love one of the few British hip-hop efforts released by a major label.
Love also has a place in hip-hop history as a member of the Native Tongues
Native tongues
Native Tongues is a book by the linguist Charles Berlitz.It is a list of words in different languages, etymology and questions with speculations far and wide about words....
, a positive-minded hip-hop collective that included Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
, De La Soul
De La Soul
De La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...
, A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...
, the Jungle Brothers, and a number of other acts. Her versatility was demonstrated with her involvement in the emerging popularity of House music, with her own single Grandpa's Party as well as providing rap for the The Dancin' Danny D Remix of Adeva's
Adeva
Adeva is a female African American house-music and contemporary R&B artist from Paterson, New Jersey, United States, the youngest of six children...
house hit Respect.
Love's debut album, Down To Earth
Down to Earth (Monie Love album)
Down to Earth is the debut album by Monie Love, which was released on October 30, 1990, on Warner Bros. Records. The was somewhat successful, peaking at 109 on the Billboard 200 and 26 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and spawned three charting singles...
, spawned two, Grammy-nominated hits, "Monie in the Middle" (a high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
-set track dealing with a woman's right to determine what she wants out of a relationship) and "It's a Shame (My Sister)" (which sampled The Spinners
The Spinners (U.S. band)
The Spinners is a soul music vocal group, active for over 50 years, and with a long run of pop and R&B hits especially during the 1970s. The group, originating from Detroit, still tours regularly ....
' "It's a Shame" written for the band by Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
) and featured house-music vocalist and then-labelmate Ultra Naté
Ultra Naté
Ultra Naté is an American house music, Dance-pop and sometimes R&B musician who has achieved a respectable amount of success on the pop charts with songs such as "Free" and "If You Could Read My Mind" as part of Stars on 54....
. The album reached #26 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart.
Love also appears on the song titled "United" from Inner City's third album, Praise.
Love was featured on her brother Dave Angel's remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
of Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
's R&B hit "My Name Is Not Susan
My Name Is Not Susan
"My Name Is Not Susan" was the fourth single released from Whitney Houston's third album, I'm Your Baby Tonight. The song was produced by L.A. Reid and Babyface and written by Eric Foster White...
" in 1991, and appeared in the music video alongside Houston. Love's 1992 single, "Full-Term Love," from the Class Act
Class Act
Class Act is a 1992 comedy film, directed by Randall Miller and starring hip-hop duo Kid 'n Play. An urban retelling of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, the screenplay is by Cynthia Friedlob and John Semper from a story by Michael Swerdlick, Richard Brenne and Wayne Allan Rice...
movie soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
, reached #7 on the Hot Hip-Hop Singles
Hot Rap Tracks
Rap Songs is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stations and sales in hip hop-focused or exclusive markets. From 1989 through 2001, it was based on how much the single...
chart.
Love collaborated with Marley Marl
Marley Marl
Marlon Williams , better known as Marley Marl, is an American DJ and record producer, who is considered one of the most important and influential hip-hop producers in the history of hip hop.-Biography:...
on her second album, In a Word or 2
In a Word or 2
In a Word or 2 is the second and final album released by Monie Love. It was released on March 23, 1993, by Warner Bros. Records and was mostly produced by Marley Marl, with Prince producing two tracks on the album...
(1993), which featured the Prince-produced single "Born To B.R.E.E.D." (which reached #1 on the Hot Dance Music
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
chart and #7 on the Hot Rap Singles chart), as well as a re-release of "Full-Term Love." The same year, Prince asked her to write lyrics for a few songs on a side-project, Carmen Electra
Carmen Electra
Tara Leigh Patrick , professionally known as Carmen Electra, is an American glamour model, actress, television personality, singer, and dancer...
's eponymous album, Carmen Electra
Carmen Electra (album)
Carmen Electra is the self-titled debut album by Carmen Electra, released in 1993. The album was a project designed by Prince to promote Electra, his latest protégé at the time whom he was also dating, as a sexy female rapper. The album features music written by Prince with some input by band...
.
Love's last musical release was the EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
"Slice of Da Pie" in 2000.
Radio career
From 2004 until the week of 11 December 2006, Love was the morning driveDrive time
Drive time is the daypart analog to prime time for radio broadcasting. It consists of the morning hours when listeners wake up, get ready, and/or head to work or school, and the afternoon hours when they are heading home and before their evening meal. These are the periods where the number of...
host on Philadelphia's WPHI-FM
WPHI-FM
WPHI-FM, " Hot 107.9", is a radio station owned by Radio One, that airs a Urban Contemporary format. The station is licensed to Pennsauken, New Jersey and serves the Philadelphia market. When WPHI was on 100.3, it was known as "100.3 The Beat". On August 27, 2011, the "Beat" moniker was dropped...
100.3. The 22 December 2006 edition of the Philadelphia Daily News
Philadelphia Daily News
The Philadelphia Daily News is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The newspaper is owned by Philadelphia Media Holdings which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Daily News began publishing on March 31, 1925, under...
confirmed that Love left WPHI-FM on amicable terms after contract negotiations stalled. Love's departure from WPHI followed soon after her December 2006 interview with Young Jeezy
Young Jeezy
Jay Wayne Jenkins , better known by his stage name Young Jeezy, is an American rapper. He is the member of the hip hop group United Streets Dopeboyz of America and a former member of BMF...
, where the two argued over whether hip hop is dead
Hip Hop Is Dead
Hip Hop Is Dead is the eighth studio album by American rapper Nas, released December 15, 2006 on Def Jam Recordings. His first album for the label, it was co-financed by Nas's previous label, Columbia Records, which once distributed for Def Jam...
.
Love is also an Official MySpace.com DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
, according to her MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page.
Love currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is the single mother
Single parent
Single parent is a term that is mostly used to suggest that one parent has most of the day to day responsibilities in the raising of the child or children, which would categorize them as the dominant caregiver...
to four children.
Currently, she has a radio show on XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...
called Ladies First Radio with Monie Love. It airs Thursdays 6PM ET and Sundays 8PM ET.
Albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
U.S. R&B Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
||
| 1990 | Down to Earth Down to Earth (Monie Love album) Down to Earth is the debut album by Monie Love, which was released on October 30, 1990, on Warner Bros. Records. The was somewhat successful, peaking at 109 on the Billboard 200 and 26 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and spawned three charting singles...
|
109 | 26 |
| 1993 | In a Word or 2 In a Word or 2 In a Word or 2 is the second and final album released by Monie Love. It was released on March 23, 1993, by Warner Bros. Records and was mostly produced by Marley Marl, with Prince producing two tracks on the album... |
– | 75 |
Solo EPs/Singles
| Album information |
|---|
Slice Of Da Pie EP
|
External links
- [ AllMusic.com Biography - Monie Love]
- Monie Love's myspace.com page
- Monie Love Discography on Discogs
- A site focusing on the early days of Hip Hop development in the UK