October 18, 2012

Crazy K.I.D.

 
I wanted to do this post a few weeks ago, but due to my NAS drive dying on me and a lack of time to fix it, it’s taken me much longer than I would have liked. The saga with my NAS drive was the main issue, because the rare footage I’m going to share below was residing on that drive, and doesn’t exist anywhere else. I’ve therefore had to rip it apart and retrieve the data, but hopefully you’ll appreciate the work involved (for the techies out there, why is there not a simple way to copy data from an XFS formatted drive to NTFS or FAT32?).

Earlier this month, I heard the tragic news that Lloyd McDevitt (AKA Crazy K.I.D.) had been found dead. He had been missing for more than a month. Although the causes of his death have not been made public, it was not suspicious. This is another tragic loss of young life and another fallen hip hop comrade.

K.I.D. was a UK legend. In the 80’s he was a key member of the world renowned Rock City Crew and recognised as one of the UK’s finest b-boys. In the 90’s he became one of the most talented, yet underrated, emcees the UK has ever had, and was sometimes referred to as a British Rakim. His most successful track is his collaboration with DJ Mink and Carruthers on the underground hit Hey, Hey, Can You Relate. I’ve previously stated that this is one of my all time favourite tracks, and more than 20 years on it stands the test of time. K.I.D. was ahead of his time and it’s a great shame he never blew up like he deserved to. There is rumoured to be an unreleased LP in existence, but whether this will ever see the light of day remains to be seen.

Now, I mentioned earlier that I had some rare footage of K.I.D. I call it ‘footage’ rather than a video because it’s important to keep this in perspective. In the early 90’s K.I.D. released an EP called Killin' MC's that was only available as a demo cassette. This is before he signed with Kold Sweat Records. The footage below is raw and unedited and was shot for a video to promote the Killin' MC's EP.  To my knowledge the video was never completed. So the sound isn’t perfect and it’s by no means a final product. However, I feel this clip shows K.I.D. flowing at his finest, taking his rap shit serious but also shows his fun loving side at the end.

I have more of this footage, and in time I may edit it down and share it with you, but for now, this is how I remember K.I.D., he was killin emcees. 
After the video, I’ve added some links to some of my fellow bloggers tributes to K.I.D. In their posts, you can download most of his back catalogue and hear for yourself what a talented emcee he was.

Lloyd McDevitt (K.I.D.) 1969-2012 - Rest in peace
 

 

15 comments:

  1. That is some RARE Shit right there, good work, man. All in all an excellent post, big up.

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  2. solid post mate, many thanks for sharing.

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  3. RESPECT. I have tape rips of the 3 track demo he put out after can you relate and also the unreleased Kold Sweat Lp on mp3.

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    1. Cheers mate. Is that 3 track demo the Get Busted cassette demo? On a personal level I'd love to hear the album, but it would also be good to get it shared more widely. Have you considered it?

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  4. i grew up with this man,one of the cleanest b boy in terms of style.he made breaking look easy,yeah we ran the streets together,hop on trains and battled together.we got the memories.R.I.P K.I.D. From Rich Tee.tst rocatrons

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  5. Thanks for sharing, my brother is a true ledgend the ultimate B boy, please get at me on facebook Annie Mcdevitt, if you donmind sharing your footage of my brother. Thanks for posting watched him practice for hours writing , breaking and rhyming it was good to hear him again nough love x

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    1. Thank you for getting in touch and for your blessing of this post. I've messaged you on FB regarding the extra footage. Peace and love.

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  6. Crazy kid is my big brother & just to thank every1 for there comments

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  7. R.I.p crazy kids nuff love xxxx

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  8. I lived with Lloyd back in 1999. He played me the unreleased LP you speak of, it was released on Cold Chillin and was about 8 to 12 tracks deep, fast pace old school hip hop with a flawless flow. A personal friend of mine and had a sense of humour that flew over the heads of people. I have only recently learned I have been raised by members of the Rockcity crew Horace Francis and Calvin Mclean when I was in childrens home as they were RSW's, they knew Llyod real personally so I am going to write to them now as the news is vague and I cannot find what happened, when the funeral was or is, however I will get back to you will this God willing - May God accept Lloyd for he was a good soul. rip

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  9. His funeral is on the 10th of november mate at 11am at the baptist church gregory boulevard

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  10. Just wana big up mike check for to tribute to my big brother R.I.P think its all amazing sincere thanx mate if any1 has any other vidz or stuff please share as I was very young when he was a b_boy & can't really remember much.so thanx again & was truly glad to be your brother 1 love

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  11. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment and pay their respects. It's especially nice to have so many people close to KID leave messages. Thank you all.

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