NERDY B & CHELLI CHELL

Homebase: Seattle
Stats: 1980s...
ALSO SEE: INCREDICREW
Misc Notes: "In the early 1980s two teenaged musical prodigies in The Emerald City (Seattle) ‘Danny Dee Rock’ at Ballard High School and C.M. Tee at Ingraham formed a hip hop production duo called Incredicrew. A Young DJ attending Franklin named Nerdy B collaborated with the two in 1987 on a 12” rap single titled “King of Def Poetry.” The vocals were courtesy of Reno rapper MC Kid P, and the single caught a nationwide buzz. Momentum was building, but Kid P was far away and Incredicrew was missing a key component. They tried out one of Nerdy B’s FHS classmates, Chelly Chell, and it was clear her voice and raps were the perfect ingredients to the recipe. With Incredicrew on the beats, Nerdy B on the wheels, and Chelly Chell on the mic, the group recorded its innovative first track “He’s Incredible” in 1988. That same year, a local label named Ever Rap signed Nerdy B & Chelly Chell to an album deal, the group was all systems go. The chemistry was on fire, and they went into the recording studio to further develop the signature Incredicrew sound. Soon, a quarter-inch master tape of their finished music was on a reel, ready to duplicate and it looked like Nerdy B and Chelly Chell were set to conquer the charts. But then disaster hit. Ever Rap’s distributor Enigma went bankrupt in 1989 which froze all of Ever Rap’s operations. Instantly, this brilliant golden era masterpiece became stuck in limbo. From 1989 until 2007, the Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt masters sat in a box on a shelf. When PIG Records was founded in 2007, Ever Rap’s catalog merged with P.I.G and for another 13 years, the masters remained untouched. Now in 2020, thanks to the efforts of Danny Dee Rock (now Supreme La Rock) and David Ulysses Portnow, the label is finally able to release this important hip hop landmark. Chelly Chell is unquestionably one of the most naturally gifted rap artists to ever come from Seattle. She evokes the great storytelling rappers of the era and the precise rhyme style maximizes every syllable. Nerdy B shows his scratching adroitness throughout the album, and his experiments in turntablism help to enhance the intricate, state of the art production crafted by Incredicrew. Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt is a 1988 classic DJ and MC record from the heart of Seattle!" [Text courtesy PIG RECORDS]