#FreshRadio sends a belated happy born day to Just Ice!
23 June 2013 Fresh Radio
Happy Belated Birthday to the Desolate one, Just Ice! How did we miss this??????
June 22nd – Just-Ice was born Joseph Williams Jr. in Brooklyn, New York on this day in 1962.
In the mid-1980’s, Just-Ice burst out of the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn with tattoos, a muscle-bound physique, gold-teeth and a gruff voice, ushering in one of hip-hop’s first examples of “hardcore.”
His 1985 single “LaToya” was an instant underground favorite in the U.S., Canada and The U.K.
He released his debut album “Back To The Old School” in 1986 on Sleeping Bag Records.
“Back To The Old School” was produced by Kurtis Mantronik of Mantronix.
The album contained “LaToya” as well as the hit single “Cold Gettin’ Dumb”.
Just-Ice released his sophomore album “Kool & Deadly” in 1987, again on Sleeping Bag Records, though this time it was produced by KRS-One of Boogie Down Productions.
This time around, he embraced a new raw sound courtesy of KRS-One as opposed to the slick production of Mantronik.
In 1989, Just-Ice again employed the production talents of KRS and released his third album “The Desolate One” and also started to show his affinity for the dancehall reggae style of delivery.
That same year, Just-Ice was a part of the Stop The Violence Movement on the single “Self-Destruction” started by KRS-One as a response to the murder of his BDP co-founder Scott LaRock in 1987 and other senseless murders that affected the hip-hop community.
Stop The Violence also featured Doug E. Fresh, MC Lyte, Kool Moe Dee, members of Stetsasonic, the late, great Heavy D and Chuck D as well as his Public Enemy cohort Flavor Flav.
The legendary Grandmaster Flash would produce Just-Ice’s fourth album “Masterpiece”, his last for Sleeping Bag.
In 1993, BMG released his fifth album “Gun Talk”, which also saw his return to working with Kurtis Mantronik.
He’s released five albums since; 1995’s “Kill The Rhythm (Like A Homicide)”, 1998’s “VII”, 2008’s “Gangster Boogie”, 2009’s “32 Degrees” and 2010’s collaboration album with KRS-One called “The Just-Ice And KRS-One EP Volume #1”, with the latter three all being digital releases only.
In recent years, Just-Ice has released several independent 12 inch singles produced by DJ Premier.
As well as also being one of the first MC’s to drop 5% theology on wax as well as introducing the hardcore rap style and reggae influenced chatting, Just-Ice is considered a hip-hop legend and pioneer.
DJ Bee Born Day, Fresh Radio, Just Ice