Black Elvis Is in the Building
A definitive talk with Kool Keith
by David Ma
Keith Thornton’s ability to stand out in a crowd has been his greatest asset, which has allowed him to shift personas through different eras so effectively. He’s been called strange, perverse, and even mentally insane, but perhaps he’s just wildly daring, unwavering towards any critiques through his two decades of work.
After emerging as the definite star of Ultramagnetic MC’s, after their successful debut, Critical Beatdown, he anchored a string of entertaining projects in the 1990s. From group efforts (the Cenobites, Ultra, and Dr. Octagon) to an eccentric solo spree (Sex Style, Dr. Dooom, and Black Elvis), Keith continually reinvented himself and widened his already wide appeal. His fans today are young and receptive of his newer work, though many aren’t aware of his long history, as he explains: “Man, my history runs deep. Kids can pick up one of my CDs and not know that I’m the same dude on the other CD they just put down. I like that though. I’m more than cool with that.”
Here, Keith candidly retells his career, from his start as a b-boy, to the shaping of Ultramag, to the making of his more memorable albums, to his reported stay at Bellevue Hospital Center’s psychiatric facility. Here’s a glance into the mind of the colorful, the hilarious, and the stubbornly uncompromising Kool Keith.
Talk about your very first involvement with hip-hop.
I used to hang out in the Bronx, so I’d go to parties and see Jazzy Jay and Red Alert and check out Nation of Zulu parties all the time. I never did rap really. I didn’t rap ’cause everyone else was doing it. I remember DMC was out, and I still didn’t want to be a rapper. [laughs] I started off as a b-boy, a dancer. Then eventually I turned to rapping.
How did you and Ced Gee meet? What were those pre-Ultramagnetic days like?
I met Ced Gee in high school; we both went to Clinton. At lunchtime, we had big radios and would walk around with ’em. At the time, rap was just like something we liked but didn’t really participate in. Then one day, our friend [Almighty] Kay Gee told me that he was gonna try out for Cold Crush Brothers. Then he came back and told us he made it! Then [Grandmaster] Caz, and Kay, and Easy A.D. became Cold Crush, and we flipped out! That’s when I decided I could probably do this rap thing too!
So one day, Ced and I went to this place his brother, Pat, chilled at. Pat made beats and they called themselves Mastermind Productions. They had mics and equipment and all that stuff, so a lot of things started up there. KRS [One] even made tracks up there with his early group called the Celebrity Three.
So when I was up there, I saw what they were doing and thought I could make music too. Ced’s mom bought us a SP-1200, and that’s when I began getting into music and rapping. That’s how things started.
How did Ultramag form? What’s the story behind that?
I wanted to do a solo album, but Pat said we should be a duo first before branching off into solo stuff. There wasn’t animosity or anything. A couple days later, we just brought beats we made on the SP to the studio and made a demo. We pressed one single and that was the beginning.
I said we should do one album together, and we should call ourselves Ultramagnetic. It was Moe, Ced, and me. Moe was Ced’s cousin. Trevor [Randolph, aka TR Love] came in way later. We went to all kinds of labels and record companies, independent and majors. Everyone turned us down. Then Eddie [O’Loughlin] signed us to Next Plateau.
