Dig Of The Day: Grand Daddy I.U. – Pick Up the Pace (1990)

Today we have a great track by one of the smoothest cats in the rap game, Queens/Long Island emcee Grand Daddy I.U., with a track Pick Up The Pace. He recorded a demo tape and gave it to Biz Markie, who signed him to the label Cold Chillin’ Records in 1989. In 1990 he released his debut, Smooth Assassin. He appeared as a guest on several hip hop albums in the 1990s, including Big L‘s Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous and Positive K‘s The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills.

Also, he did ghostwriting and production work for Markie and Roxanne Shanté but became disenchanted with Markie over a dispute involving publishing credits for the tracks on his debut. He released a sophomore effort, Lead Pipe, in 1994, but the album received little promotion, and Grand Daddy I.U. quit emceeing for nearly a decade.

He continued to do production work in hip-hop for Das EFX, Heltah Skeltah, KRS-One, and Ice-T, among others. He issued a third album in 2007, in 2009 He collaborated with long-time associate Pudgee Tha Phat Bastard and Lantz for the song State Ya Name from Lantz and Pudgee‘s collabrative EP. His latest release is P.I.M.P. (Paper Is My Priority), a surprisingly dope album released in 2015.

Pick Up The Pace is produced by Biz Markie, with scratches from Kay Cee. Released on Cold Chillin’ in 1990.