Reel 2 Real was an American
hip house
Hip house, also known as rap house or house rap, is a musical genre that mixes elements of house music and hip hop, that originated in both London, United Kingdom and Chicago, United States in the mid to late 1980s.
British group the Beatmaste ...
musical project that had seven
top 10 A top ten list is a list of the ten highest-ranking items of a given category.
Top Ten or Top 10 may also refer to:
Media
*Top 10, a common record chart for the ten most popular songs of the week in the musical chart of a country
*''America's Top ...
hits on the
Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in the 1990s.
Biography
The project's core member was
producer
Producer or producers may refer to:
Occupations
*Producer (agriculture), a farm operator
*A stakeholder of economic production
*Film producer, supervises the making of films
**Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
and
DJ Erick Morillo from
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
,
who spent a portion of his childhood living in
Colombia and also in
Union City,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...
. The first release as Reel 2 Real was "
The New Anthem
"The New Anthem" is a 1992 song recorded by the American music project Reel 2 Real featuring Erick "More" Morillo, which marked the act's first number-one single on ''Billboard's'' Dance Club Songs Chart. The single was written and produced by Mo ...
" which spent a week at No. 1 on the US Dance Chart in 1992.
Although it peaked at No. 8 on the dance chart, Reel 2 Real is best known for the song "
I Like to Move It", which featured
Trinidadian toaster Mark Quashie, also known as
The Mad Stuntman
Mark Quashie (born 24 January 1967), better known as The Mad Stuntman, is a Trinidadian-born American electronic dance artist and vocalist. Quashie's moniker was inspired by the 1980s action/adventure television program '' The Fall Guy'' whic ...
.
The song peaked at number 89 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1994. It was successful in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
where it peaked at number 3 on the singles chart, in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 5 and in France and the Netherlands it peaked at number one. The song would later be used in 2005 animated film ''
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
'' and was covered by comedian
Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admira ...
but produced by Morillo, making it a hit once again in 2005 with it becoming the
film series A film series or movie series (also referred to as a film franchise or movie franchise) is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series.
This article explains what film series are ...
'
theme song. In all, The Mad Stuntman was featured on four of Reel 2 Real's top 10 dance hits. Later singles featured
Barbara Tucker,
Charlotte Small and
Proyecto Uno. The Reel 2 Real alias was abandoned in 1997.
Morillo died of an overdose on September 1, 2020, aged 49.
Discography
Studio albums
Remix albums
Singles
See also
*
List of number-one dance hits (United States)
This is a list of number-one dance hits as recorded by '' Billboard'' magazine's Dance Club Songs chart – a weekly national survey of popular songs in U.S. dance clubs. It began on October 26, 1974, under the title ''Disco Action'' chart. It i ...
*
List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
References
1992 establishments in New York City
1997 disestablishments in New York (state)
American electronic music groups
American dance music groups
Hip house music groups
American Eurodance groups
American house music groups
Reggae fusion groups
Musical groups established in 1992
Musical groups disestablished in 1997
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