Big Daddy Kane

Antonio Hardy (born September 10, 1968), better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper, producer and actor who began his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew.

He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled MCs in hip hop.

Rolling Stone ranked his song "Ain't No Half-Steppin" number 25 on its list of The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time, calling him "a master wordsmith of rap's late-golden age and a huge influence on a generation of MCs".

The following year, Kane released his second album and biggest hit to date, It's a Big Daddy Thing, which included 1970s sample throwbacks like "Smooth Operator" and the Teddy Riley-produced track "I Get the Job Done", which hit the R&B top 40 during the closing of the 1980s.

His sense of style is renowned and set a number of late-1980s and early-1990s hip hop trends (high-top fades hairstyles, velour suits, and four-finger rings).

The backronym "King Asiatic Nobody's Equal" is often applied to his moniker.

In 1984, Kane became friends with Biz Markie, and he would co-write some of Biz's best-known lyrics.

Both eventually became important members of the Queens-based Juice Crew, a collective headed by renowned producer Marley Marl.

Kane signed with Tyrone Williams's (Marl's manager) and Len Fichtelberg's Cold Chillin' Records label in 1987 and debuted the same year with the 12" single "Raw", which was an underground hit. The name Big Daddy Kane came from a variation on Caine, David Carradine's character from the TV show Kung Fu (1972–1975), and a character called "Big Daddy" whom Vincent Price played in the film Beach Party (1963).

Kane is known for his ability to syncopate over faster hip hop beats, and despite his asthmatic condition, he is acknowledged as one of the pioneering masters of fast rhyming.

He released his debut album on Cold Chillin' Records in the early summer of 1988 called Long Live the Kane, which featured the hit "Ain't No Half Steppin".

He also had a memorable verse on the Marley Marl-produced track "The Symphony" released in late 1988, which included Juice Crew members Craig G, Masta Ace, and Kool G Rap.

He also posed for Playgirl and Madonna's book Sex during the 1990s.

During the early 1990s, Jay-Z toured with Kane, and Kane helped him early on in his career.

Ice-T says: "I actually met Jay-Z with Kane. Kane brought Jay-Z over to my house."

Kane himself says that Jay-Z was not technically his hypeman in the true sense of the term: "he wasn't a hypeman, he basically made cameo appearances on stage. When I would leave the stage to go change outfits, I would bring out Jay-Z and Positive K and let them freestyle until I came back to the stage."

Big Daddy Kane appeared on Patti LaBelle's 1991 effort, "Burnin. He provided the rap chorus to the single "Feels Like Another One". He also appeared on the video release "Live in New York".

He contributed the song "'Nuff Respect" to the soundtrack of Ernest Dickerson's feature film debut Juice, which starred Omar Epps and Tupac Shakur, further demonstrating his fast lyrical delivery.

In 1991, Kane won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for his performance on the Quincy Jones collaborative track "Back on the Block" from the album of the same name.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest rappers during the golden age of hip hop, Kane's experimentation with R&B beats and his alignment to the Five Percent Nation drew criticism.

Later albums, such as Looks Like a Job For..., were acclaimed, but he was never able to return to the commercial and artistic success of It's a Big Daddy Thing.

However, he still tours extensively.

As an actor, he debuted in Mario Van Peebles' 1993 western Posse, and appeared in Robert Townsend's 1993 film The Meteor Man.

Jay-Z was also featured on Big Daddy Kane's track "Show & Prove" from Daddy's Home (1994), as well as in the video.

In 1995, Kane recorded with MC Hammer and Tupac Shakur on the rap song "Too Late Playa" (along with Danny Boy).

He was also mentioned to signing with Death Row East in 1996.

In 1997, Kane teamed up with Frankie Cutlass on his third single title "The Cypher Part 3" and some of Marley Marl Juice Crew veterans.

In 1998, he released his final solo album to date, Veteranz' Day.

It received mixed reviews and did not sell well.

However, Kane did not give up rapping and made many appearances in the 2000s.

In 2000, Big Daddy Kane appeared on Tony Touch's "The Piece Maker" mixtape alongside Kool G Rap and KRS-One.

A rejuvenated Kane occasionally collaborated with a variety of hip-hop artists, including A Tribe Called Quest, Jurassic 5, Little Brother, and DJ Babu of the Beat Junkies.

He released two singles, the Alchemist-produced "The Man, The Icon", and the DJ Premier-produced "Any Type of Way" (on which he discusses urban collapse in post-9/11 New York City ("Giuliani got New York lookin' like it's Amistad")) and the erosion of the middle class.

Big Daddy Kane appeared on the trip hop group Morcheeba's 2003 single "What's Your Name".

In 2005, Big Daddy Kane was honored during the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors.

After a medley of hits performed by T.I., Black Thought, and Common, he came out to perform "Warm It Up, Kane" with his old dancers, Scoob and Scrap.

Kane and Kool G Rap can both be seen briefly in Dave Chappelle's Block Party.

In 2006, he appeared as a guest MC on the track "Get Wild Off This", produced by the Stanton Warriors for their Stanton Sessions Vol. 2 breaks mix.

He also appeared alongside the Wu-Tang Clan, Rakim, and his longtime friends Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip in a segment of the 2006 Summer Jam concert (June 7, 2006), as part of an initiative by Busta Rhymes to honor the legacy of New York City hip-hop.

In 2007, a new track, "BK Mentality", was released on the mixtape compilation Official Joints.