Mo’ Wax — Where Are They Now: Rammellzee (2014)
Mo’ Wax was a record label started by James Lavelle in 1992, which closed about ten years later. Initially they released 12" singles and licensed a compilation from Japan of Japanese Hip Hop, until 1994 when they began releasing albums of their artists original work. While some of these artists such as DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, and Money Mark continued releasing music after Mo’ Wax closed, others have seemingly disappeared from the music scene. In this series I will look at each artist on Mo’ Wax and try to find out where are they now…
Rammellzee made his recording debut in 1983 on what would become one of James Lavelle’s favourite 12"s, Beat Bop by Rammellzee + K-Rob. He later recorded with UNKLE, and following his death in 2010, an interview with Rammellzee was released on vinyl in partnership with Mo’ Wax years after the label had closed.
Rammellzee was born in New York in 1960. He grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens and began making a name for himself in graffiti circles painting on trains during his teens in the late 1970s. He could also rap, and appeared in the closing scene of Charlie Ahearn’s Wild Style (shot in 1982 and released in 1983) where he raps with Shockdell and Grand Mixer DST. Their song, Rammellzee & Shockdell at The Ampitheatre, also appeared on the soundtrack.
In 1983 Beat Bop was released as the debut single between Rammellzee and K-Rob, featuring artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Only 500 copies were said to be pressed, making it an incredibly sought after record which has since been repressed multiple times. It appeared in the documentary Style Wars, directed by Tony Silver in 1983 for PBS TV.
Rammellzee would also make a cameo in Jim Jarmusch’s 1984 feature film Stranger Than Paradise as Man with Money. At the time, Jarmusch referred to Rammellzee as a genius, telling The Washington Post, “When you talk to him . . . he’s the kind of guy you could talk to for 20 minutes and your whole life could change. If you could understand him.”
Rammellzee and Shockdell returned in 1987 with another 12", Death Command produced by Bill Laswell and featuring Bootsy Collins on bass. As Gettovetts, they released one album Missionaries Moving in 1988, featuring Death Command and five other tracks.
After Rammellzee set up an art studio in Lower Manhattan known as the Battle Station, he built sculptural costumes known as his Garbage Gods which he also tried to get made into toys. Other projects included a possible film with Charlie Ahearn featuring the characters and costumes, but it wasn’t to be.
During the 90s he became the first artist to collaborate with streetwear brand Supreme in 1994, and one year later was in England to record music again for James Lavelle’s Mo’ Wax record label.
Lavelle invited Rammellzee to record for his UNKLE project, before DJ Shadow produced UNKLE’s debut album Psyence Fiction in 1998. Back in 1995, UNKLE was James Lavelle’s project with Tim Goldsworthy and Kudo from Major Force, and an UNKLE album was being planned featuring collaborations with DJ Shadow, The Dust Brothers, Mike D of the Beastie Boys, and Money Mark.
In June 1995, Rammellzee was flown to England to record in the Mo’ Wax basement on Caledonian Road where he also took part in an interview with Ed Gill. While the UNKLE album of 1995 was shelved, a few tracks did come out in some form, including Rock On featuring Rammellzee. Produced by John King of The Dust Brothers, it originally appeared on the Header compilation in 1996 and was later included as part of a trilogy of UNKLE singles released exclusively in Japan in 1998.
But while his Mo’ Wax debut didn’t quite come out as planned, Rammellzee was still recording, and he released his own debut solo album This Is What You Made Me in 2003, also only in Japan. This was followed by Bi-Conicals Of The Rammellzee, released in Germany in 2004, which reviews felt would solidify his reputation for ‘out there’ hip hop.
Although more music was recorded, Rammellzee died in 2010, aged forty-nine. Following his death, his artwork was brought out of the Battle Station and shown at MOCA gallery, and a limited Barshaw Gangstarr action figure was released by his estate based on an original hand-sculptured figure by Rammellzee. Alongside his visual work, Rammellzee’s voice continued to be heard too through posthumous releases.
In November 2014, the Saatchi Gallery held a Mo’ Wax exhibition titled Build & Destroy, where Ed Gill’s 1995 interview with Rammellzee was made available to buy on 12" record. The record titled Gothic Futurism was released by The Vinyl Factory in partnership with Mo’ Wax, and was the first new Mo’ Wax release since the label closed in 2003.
The interview had previously been published as a transcript in the book Urban Archaeology: Twenty-One Years of Mo’Wax, and could be heard in the related exhibition Urban Archaeology: 21 Years Of Mo’ Wax held in June 2014. It confirmed what Jim Jarmusch had said in 1984, that his words could change your life if only you could understand him. The 12" release was the first time the audio had been available to purchase and featured artwork by Ed Gill, Alex McCullough, and Ben Drury. They were hand stamped and hand numbered as an edition of 200.
New music was also released by Gamma Proforma in 2015, with a series of singles featuring visual artwork by artists like Futura 2000 and She One, later collected as an album Cosmic Flush in 2017.
Last year, in 2021, the Estate of Rammellzee re-released the Barshaw Gangstarr figure, this time in two colours and including a cassette of music by Rammellzee.
Most recently, Rammellzee’s visual artwork have been exhibited in LA in 2022, with the show running into 2023. A new book will also be published in 2023 by Rizzoli, Rammellzee: Racing for Thunder edited by Maxwell Wolf, with text by Jeffrey Deitch and Carmela Zagari.
Jeffrey Deitch had been discussing exhibitions with Rammellzee prior to his death, and was responsible for recreating the Battle Station in 2011 in collaboration with Rammellzee’s wife Carmella. Following Carmella’s death, in 2021 the Estate of Rammellzee announced Jeffrey Deitch would represent the Estate which has led to the new shows and book.
The Estate of Rammellzee continue to promote the work of Rammellzee through their Instagram page where you can see the sculptural work and figures from across his career.
