The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop who sang ‘Just a Friend’

1964–2021

Biz Markie made rapping about nose picking and finding inspiration on the toilet sound cool. Nicknamed the Clown Prince of Hip-Hop, the New Yorker scored a surprise smash hit in 1989 with “Just a Friend,” a self-deprecating tale about his failed attempts to woo a woman who claims her guy pal is “just a friend.” With a jaunty piano melody pulled from Freddie Scott’s “(You) Got What I Need” and an infectious chorus that featured Biz Markie’s off-key singing, “Just a Friend” was a joyful break from rap’s thendominant topics: hustlers and radical politics. “I’d rather have a smile than to be serious,” said Biz Markie, who died of complications from type 2 diabetes at age 57.

Biz Markie

Born Marcel Hall, he was “a prankster” at his Long Island high school, once baking “a laxative-filled cake” for the vice principal, said The Washington Post. He started rapping as a teenager and was soon collaborating with pioneering hip-hop DJ Marley Marl. Biz Markie’s debut album, Goin’ Off, was released in 1988; the next year “Just a Friend” hit No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Biz Markie’s career “hit a litigious stalling point” in 1991, said Rolling Stone, when the rapper and his label were sued for using an unauthorized sample of Gilbert O’Sullivan’s 1972 ballad “Alone Again (Naturally).” A judge ordered $250,000 in damages, and Biz Markie’s album, I Need a Haircut, was pulled from stores. The hits dried up, but the rapper remained a positive presence, teaching kids to beatbox on Nickelodeon’s Yo Gabba Gabba! and doing voice work on SpongeBob SquarePants. Biz Markie likened his later career to the McRib, McDonald’s beloved off-andon menu item. “When I do pop up,” he said, fans “appreciate everything they see.”