Marc Williams (known as M-Doc), is a

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

artist and producer, who was signed to

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

and

Smash Records Smash Records was an American record label founded in 1961 as a subsidiary of Mercury Records. History Mercury Record Corporation president Irving Green announced the formation of the company’s new pop subsidiary label, Smash Records, in Ma ...

in the 1990s. He scored minor chart success with the singles "Free", and " It's a Summer Thang" featuring

Chantay Savage Chantay Savage (born July 16, 1971) is an American R&B/dance singer. She experienced some success in the 1990s on various ''Billboard'' singles charts, one of which was "I Will Survive", a reworking of the Gloria Gaynor hit song. Savage has sc ...

. He is currently the president of ''Indasoul Entertainment''.

Biography

Early life

Williams grew up on the South Side of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, and graduated from ''Whitney Young High School'' in 1987, where he played basketball and was nicknamed "Doc", because he liked NBA basketball star

Julius Erving Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player ...

. Williams stated that he started off with a group of friends on the South Side, and used to go to his basement, where his father had enough equipment to get some beats together; they made eight different songs, put them on tape, and sold them at their high schools by hand. The group was called "BP3", because all three members were basketball players.

Music career

Williams began his music career when local producer

Steve "Silk" Hurley Steve W. "Silk" Hurley (born November 9, 1962), also known as J. M. Silk (for "Jack Master Silk"), is an American club DJ, house music producer, and songwriter. From 1985 to 1988, he had four top-10 singles on the US Dance chart, including th ...

heard one of his tapes, and the two collaborated to record "It's Percussion", with Hurley handling the music, and Williams billed as "M-Doc" for the first time, rapping; the single came out on London's ''Jack Trax Records''. He signed with

and released his debut album ''Universal Poet'' in 1991; the album featured two singles, "Are U Wid It?" (which sampled

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

's "

I Wanna Be Your Lover "I Wanna Be Your Lover" is a song by American recording artist Prince. It was released on August 24, 1979, as the lead single from his self-titled second album. The song was Prince's first major hit single in the United States, reaching number ...

"), and "Whatever U Need". M-Doc then signed with

and released his second album, ''M. Doc Wit Stevio: C'mon Getcha Groove On'' in 1995, which featured the singles, " It's a Summer Thang" featuring

, and "Like 'Em Like That (Guess I'm Just a Freak)". In 1998, he released his third and final album '' Young, Black, Rich and Famous'', which included the single "Free" (a

Deniece Williams June Deniece Williams (née Chandler; born June 3, 1950) is an American singer. She has been described as "one of the great Soul music, soul voices" by the BBC. She is best known for the songs "Free (Deniece Williams song), Free", "Silly (song ...

song), featuring Cristina Sanchez. In the late 1990s, M-Doc produced remixes for

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

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and

Keith Sweat Keith Sweat (born July 22, 1961) is an American singer, producer and songwriter. An early figure in the new jack swing musical movement, he is known for his collection of hits including "I Want Her," "Make It Last Forever (song), Make It Last For ...

; ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' called him "one of the R&B worlds top remixers." In 1996, he produced music in the Midway video game

NBA Hangtime ''NBA Hangtime'' is a 1996 basketball arcade game developed and released by Midway. Home versions were released for the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Microsoft Windows. ''Hangtime'' was the third basketball game by the ...

Discography

Albums *1991: ''Universal Poet'' (

) *1995: ''M. Doc Wit Stevio: C'mon Getcha Groove On'' (

) *1998: '' Young, Black, Rich and Famous'' (Alexia Records/Indasoul Records) Singles *1988: "It's Percussion" *1991: "Are U Wid It?" *1992: "Whatever U Need" *1994: " It's a Summer Thang" (featuring

) *1995: "Like 'Em Like That (Guess I'm Just a Freak)" *1998: "Free" (featuring Christina Sanchez)

References

External links

M.Doc at Discogs
{{authority control American male rappers Rappers from Chicago Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians