Rap history changed on Aug. 13, 1989, when Matt Dike and Michael Ross watched Delicious Vinyl acts conquer Los Angeles.
That summer evening at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, California, 18,000 fans packed a sold-out show for the Club MTV Live Tour. Vibe reported that Anthony “Tone” Smith, known as Tone Loc, found himself stuck inside a giant prop bottle labeled “FUNKY COLD MEDINA” while purple-and-gold Los Angeles Lakers championship banners hung from the rafters.
Two young spectators watched the malfunction from the crowd, passing a flask of Jack Daniel’s while the tall blond one gasped, “Oh my god, this is so Spinal Tap!” as Peter Relic documented in his book Bust a Move: Matt Dike, Delicious Vinyl, and the Hip-Hop Hits that First Conquered Pop.
From a Dusty Apartment to Global Prominence
Two years earlier, Dike and Ross operated out of a grungy apartment in Hollywood using a primitive drum machine and a $5000 loan to launch Delicious Vinyl. Yahoo reported that the fledgling label pressed swap-meet 12-inch singles before selling nearly ten million records worldwide within eighteen months. They shattered New York’s industry dominance and bypassed a recording establishment that routinely locked hip-hop out of pop charts.
Writing for the Los Angeles Times, journalist Jonathan Gold reviewed the milestone concert and praised the rapper’s command of the massive room. “In only a few months, the good-natured rapper seems to have made the transition to headlining a sold-out Forum with astonishing ease,” Gold wrote in the morning paper. Gold highlighted the whiskey-warm raspy voice that cut effortlessly through cranked guitar chords and bongo beats.
The Breakthrough Hits of Delicious Vinyl
Freed from his Plexiglas confinement, Tone Loc delivered live renditions of “Funky Cold Medina,” “I Got It Goin’ On,” and “Cheeba.” Behind him on the stage, Dike and Ross stood near DJ M.Walk’s turntable riser and observed a demographic of pale adolescents.
The night climaxed with a roof-rattling performance of “Wild Thing,” a track recorded on a patched-together tape machine in Dike’s apartment using samples from a failed Van Halen single. Vibe said that the accompanying music video cost barely $400 to produce.
“This sounds awesome,” Dike and Ross thought as they danced near the stage.
Sensing the historic weight of the evening, Matt Dike turned his back, bent over, and mooned the crowd.
