The Juice Crew was a pioneering hip-hop collective in the mid to late 1980s founded by producer Marley Marl and housed by the label Cold Chillin’ Records. The group’s name was derived from radio DJ Mr. Magic’s alias, “Sir Juice”[1].
The Juice Crew first grabbed at notoriety with a single entitled “The Bridge”, which sparked a long time rivalry between the largely Queens-based crew and the Bronx rapper KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions. Marl would also produce another rivalry for a young female rapper named Roxanne Shanté, releasing “Roxanne’s Revenge” in response to a hit single by UTFO. The two battles soon came to end, however the Juice Crew had already garnered significant attention and expanded to produce some of the most successfull and influential hip-hop artist of the 80’s and 90’s.[2] The crew would further establish its firm hold on hip-hop in 1988 with their ground-breaking posse cut, “The Symphony”. |
