Nathaniel Glover (born February 19, 1960), also known as Nate or Danny Glover and better known by the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Kidd Creole, is an American former

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

recording artist. He was a member of the pioneering

old school hip hop Old-school hip hop (also spelled old skool) (also known as disco-rap) is the earliest commercially recorded Hip-hop, hip hop music and the original style of the genre. It typically refers to the music created around 1979 to 1983, as well as any ...

group Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five with his brother

Melle Mel Melvin Glover (born May 15, 1961), better known by his stage name Grandmaster Melle Mel or simply Melle Mel (), is an American rapper who was the lead vocalist and songwriter of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Career Glover began per ...

. In August 2017, Glover stabbed a homeless man to death in an altercation in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

in New York City. In May 2022, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for manslaughter.

Biography

Early life

Glover was born in

the Bronx, New York The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County to its north; to its south and west, the New York City bo ...

in 1960 as the third of five children to a working-class family. In July 1977, Nate and his brother Melvin met Joseph Saddler, a local DJ who went by the name

Grandmaster Flash Joseph Robert Saddler (born January 1, 1958), known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is a Barbadian-American musician and DJ. He created a DJ technique called the Quick Mix Theory. This technique serviced the break-dancer and the rapper by el ...

. The brothers and

Keef Cowboy Robert Keith Wiggins (September 20, 1960 – September 8, 1989), known by his stage names Keef Cowboy and Cowboy was an American rapper and a member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. He is widely credited as having invented the term "hip ...

(Keith Wiggins) joined Grandmaster Flash's budding group the Three MC's in 1978. Melvin took the name

while Nate took the name Kidd Creole, a reference to the Elvis Presley film

King Creole ''King Creole'' is a 1958 American Musical film, musical drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and based on the 1952 novel ''A Stone for Danny Fisher'' by Harold Robbins. Produced by Hal B. Wallis, the film stars Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, W ...

.The Fall of Kidd Creole: Inside a Rap Pioneer's Tragic Descent
/ref>

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five

Two more MCs would join the group: Scorpio (originally Mr. Ness, aka Ed Morris) and Raheim (Guy Williams). The group recorded two singles (one as the Younger Generation and one as Flash & the Five) before they took the name Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five and recorded the ''Superappin''' EP for Enjoy Records, owned by R&B record producer Bobby Robinson. Kidd Creole participated in the recording of several records with the group between 1980 and 1983. Tensions developed between Nate and his more successful brother Melvin; Melle Mel became the frontman and main songwriter for the band and was the singer in the band's most popular work, the 1982 song "The Message". Melle Mel was also on better terms with the recording label Sugar Hill and its managers, the Robinsons, than Creole. Flash, Rahiem, and Creole left The Furious Five in 1983. They continued to record together for

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

from 1983–1987, later rejoining Melle Mel and the others for a brief reunion in 1987. The later years of the group and its members were less successful; they produced no hits, and audiences shrank as tastes turned to new groups such as

Run DMC Run-DMC (also formatted Run-D.M.C., RUN DMC, or some combination thereof) was an American hip-hop group formed in Hollis, Queens, New York City in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jam Master Jay, Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as ...

in the mid-1980s. Creole disputed with Sugar Hill over a lack of royalty payments on earlier work. Creole eventually was unable to continue a full-time career as a musician, and took various temporary jobs while continuing to do occasional concert tours on the side.

Legal charges and 2017 killing of John Jolly

Glover had been arrested for firearm possession in 1982 and 1995, and possession of a knife in 2007. In 2017, Glover was living in the Mount Hope neighborhood of

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

and had been working as a handyman and security guard in

midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

. According to security camera footage, on the night of August 2, 2017, he had a conversation with John Jolly, a local homeless man. The two left the field of view, and Jolly was stabbed to death. Glover admitted that he had stabbed Jolly with a knife he kept on his person, although he claimed he was provoked; in his initial confession, he said he thought that Jolly was making sexual advances on him. Glover was arrested and charged with murder. At trial, the judge instructed the jury to disregard his legal defense's claims of self-defense, as Jolly was unarmed and thus not capable of posing a deadly threat to Glover by New York law, weakening Glover's case. The jury found Glover guilty of first degree manslaughter on April 6, 2022. On May 4, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison plus 5 years supervision.

Discography

Albums

*'' The Message'' (1982), Sugar Hill *'' They Said It Couldn't Be Done'' (1985), Elektra *'' The Source'' (1986), Elektra *'' Ba-Dop-Boom-Bang'' (1987), Elektra *''

On the Strength ''On the Strength'' is the second and final studio album by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Released in 1988, it was the full line-up's last album together. Although contributing to the album itself, Cowboy (Keith Wiggins) was not prese ...

'' (1988), Elektra

Singles

*"Superrappin’" (1979), Enjoy -

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...

*"Freedom" (1980), Sugar Hill *"Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (1981), Sugar Hill - 12-inch single

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Creole, Kid 1960 births Living people American people convicted of manslaughter Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five members Prisoners and detainees of New York (state) Rappers from the Bronx People from Morrisania, Bronx