Did you know Madonna helped to inspire the legendary hip-hop record Beat Bop?

[Vogue Italia 387]

Torrick "Toxic" Ablack is an artist, he was Jean-Michel Basquiat's friend and occasional studio assistant. He appeared in a few of Basquiat's paintings. He said Madonna played the keyboard during a jam session at Basquiat's loft. Basquiat heard the tape and it inspired him to produce "Beat Bop" by Rammellzee and K-Rob, which he released on his imprint Tartown Records. He had previously been in the noise band Gray. "Beat Bop" is ranked among Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time." The record is also very valuable because Basquiat created the cover art. It's so interesting how involved Madonna was with art, and hip-hop culture before she even became a pop culture phenomenon.

I just read his new interview with Juliet art magazine which he mentions Madonna.

I listened to the single “Beat Bop”, produced by Jean-Michel in 1983 for Rammellzee and K Rob. Jean painted the cover of the original vinyl, making the single one of the most valuable rap records in the world.
Before producing "Beat Bop", Jean was traveling in Los Angeles. At the time, Basquiat was dating Madonna, and she lived in his house in New York. One evening, with two friends of mine, we went to visit her and ended up doing a jam session: I on drums, Madonna on the keyboard, and my friend on the microphone. We then used Jean-Michel’s turntable and started recording. Later, Jean listened to the tape and decided he wanted to record “Beat Bop”. In those years we literally were in the middle of a creative hub!

https://www.juliet-artmagazine.com/en/a-trip-in-the-1980s-bronx-with-toxic/

He also mentioned it in the book Seeing Loud: Basquiat and Music (2022):

"I knew Jean was in a band, but we didn't talk about it much. We were hanging out with Nick a lot. Jean bought a keyboard, A-One had a drum machine, and we would have these impromptu jam sessions. A1 would come by and play percussions. That kind of led up to 'Beat Bop.' Madonna was staying at Jean's place while he was in LA. I was there with my friends Trace and General EMC. She let us up, and we were just sitting there talking. I was playing the drum machine and Madonna started playing the keyboard. My friend started emceeing. We took Jean's turntable and scratched. Jean heard the tape. He loved that crazy impromptu shit! ... 'Beat Bop' was something that we took more as an art piece. Eszter [Balint] is on it ... We were around all these incredible musicians, like Arto Lindsay. We were painters, but painters who also DJ and make music, and Jean kind of tied it all together again, after Gray, doing 'Beat Bop.'

 

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Toxic and Shenge Ka Pharaoh holding a copy of "Beat Bop" at Basquiat's Crosby Street loft in 1983

 

Andy Warhol holding the record in 1983

 

Basquiat and Madonna with Toxic and Easy Gee (General EMC) at Futura 2000's Fun Gallery opening in 1983

 

Basquiat with Toxic and ON2 at Keith Haring's Fun Gallery opening in 1983

 

Madonna and ON2 in 1983

 

Basquiat and Toxic in 1983

 

Basquiat and Rammellzee on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood in 1982

 

Rammellzee, Kool Koor, Fab 5 Freddy, Basquiat and Toxic at the Fun Gallery in 1982

 

Madonna and Fab 5 Freddy circa 1983

 

Basquiat depicted with Toxic and Rammellzee in his paintings Hollywood Africans in front of the Chinese Theater with Footprints of Movie Stars (1983) and Hollywood Africans (1983)

[Redha DBL 7,367]

Damn, first time i hear the song and it's so cool ! Absolutely amazing !!! So if i get it right Madonna is playing the keyboard in the released version we can hear above ?

[WokeUpInMedellin 1,562]

2 hours ago, Redha DBL said:

Damn, first time i hear the song and it's so cool ! Absolutely amazing !!! So if i get it right Madonna is playing the keyboard in the released version we can hear above ?

Not necessarily. Maybe! But I think she might have just been part of the song's conception, not the actual final recording.

[Vogue Italia 387]

On 2/21/2024 at 3:36 AM, Redha DBL said:

Damn, first time i hear the song and it's so cool ! Absolutely amazing !!! So if i get it right Madonna is playing the keyboard in the released version we can hear above ?

 

On 2/21/2024 at 6:14 AM, WokeUpInMedellin said:

Not necessarily. Maybe! But I think she might have just been part of the song's conception, not the actual final recording.

From my understanding, Madonna, Toxic, and some friends were just jamming around and recorded themselves at Basquiat's loft. Basquiat heard the tape and liked the concept which led to  "Beat Bop" which he recorded with other musicians in a studio. Unless he kept some of their original instrumentation and they weren't credited, I don't think Madonna or Toxic are on the final recording. It would be cool to hear the original tape that they recorded at his loft if it still exists!