Audio Two was the

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York hip hop duo of emcee Kirk "Milk Dee" Robinson and DJ Nat "Gizmo" Robinson, best known for their first hit "

Top Billin' "Top Billin'" is a single for American hip-hop duo Audio Two, released as the B-side of the single "Make It Funky" from the album '' What More Can I Say?'' It was released before First Priority Music signed a distribution deal with Atlantic Recor ...

History

The duo's debut single, "Make it Funky", was released in 1987, but it was the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, "Top Billin, that became the chart hit. The beat — made by Milk Dee and produced by Daddy-O of

Stetsasonic Stetsasonic is an American hip hop band. Formed in 1981 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, Stetsasonic was one of the first hip hop acts to perform with a full band and use live instrumentation in their recordings, paving the way for future ...

— and Milk Dee's lyrics would be sampled and referenced time and time again, even by the group itself: both the group's full-length debut, 1988's ''What More Can I Say?'' and its 1990 follow-up, ''I Don't Care: The Album'', were titled after lines from the song. However, the duo would never recapture its initial success. The singles of its second album, "I Get the Papers" and "On the Road Again," were only moderate hits. It was a time of rapid change in the hip hop market;

gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, is a subgenre of rap music that conveys the culture, values, and experiences of urban gangs and street hustlers, frequently discussing unpleasant realities of the world in general th ...

was rising in popularity, and Audio Two found itself unsuccessfully struggling to maintain recording contracts and a fanbase. Audio Two did, however, pave the way for the duo's labelmate

MC Lyte Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, MC Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first female rapper to release a ...

, who launched her career with the hit single

I Cram to Understand U (Sam) "I Cram to Understand U (Sam)" is the debut single by American rapper MC Lyte, in which features their DJ, DJ K-Rock, released in november 1987. The song was part of her first album ''Lyte as a Rock'', released the following year. Produced by Mi ...

. Lyte's 1998 album ''Seven & Seven'' featured a remake of "Top Billin — with the original instrumental — this time a duet between her and Milk. It has been a widely circulated rumor that both members of Audio Two were brothers of MC Lyte; however, this is untrue. In 1994, Milk released a solo EP titled ''Never Dated'' on

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...

's American Recordings. While the EP was notable for its single "Spam," a duet with the

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

Adrock Adam Keefe Horovitz (born October 31, 1966), popularly known as Ad-Rock, is an American rapper, guitarist, and actor. He was a member of the hip-hop group Beastie Boys. While Beastie Boys were active, Horovitz performed with a side project, BS ...

with

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mu ...

Mike D Michael Louis Diamond (born November 20, 1965), better known as Mike D, is an American rapper, musician, and music producer. He is a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys. Early life Diamond was born in New York City to Har ...

, aside from the devoted Beastie Boys fanbase the album generated little interest. Milk eventually rediscovered success by producing the singer Eamon, who recorded the 2004 hit "

Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back) "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)", known as "I Don't Want You Back" for the clean version, is a song by American singer-songwriter Eamon, released as his debut single. The song was co-written by Eamon, Kirk Robinson, and Mark Passy. It was rele ...

." In 2007, Milk Dee recorded a verse for a remix of " I Get Money" by 50 Cent, thanking all the music artists that sampled "Top Billin'," which earned him royalties. In recent years, Audio Two member Gizmo became a recording engineer under the name "You Can Ask" Giz. His audio work has appeared on albums by

Donell Jones Donell Jones (born May 22, 1973) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from Chicago, Illinois. He met record producer Eddie F in the mid-1990s and signed with his record label Untouchables Entertainment, beginning his car ...

Calvin Richardson Calvin Richardson (born December 16, 1976) is an American R&B singer-songwriter. He signed with Universal Motown Records to release his debut studio album, ''Country Boy'' (1999). His second album, '' 2:35 PM'' (2003), was released by Hollywoo ...

Jaheim Jaheim H. Hoagland (born May 26, 1978), known mononymously as Jaheim, is an American R&B singer. He was signed by Naughty by Nature's Kaygee to Divine Mill Records in 2000 and released his debut album '' Ghetto Love'' in 2001. His second effo ...

History

Discography

Studio albums

Unreleased albums

EPs

Singles

As lead artist

Notes

References

External links