I'm not going to continue to let the elephant in the room take big dumps all over the room. At some point, one of us has to say something about the so-called unsaid. Let me make a long story short for you and give you some pointers you may or may not know about. This is particularly about the song "Good Vibrations" and the rapper-turned-actor Marky Mark aka Mark Wahlberg.
Let's start here: I'm nobody's 'yes man' or sucker at all, so I'm not going to sugar coat the story to make someone feel better about themselves. A lot of rumors were spread about Mark Wahlberg regretting or feeling "embarrassed" about doing the song "Good Vibrations", a song that literally brought him from petty car thief and street thug to a well-respected member of society, and a member of Hollywood elite.
I say this, because - we didn't run in the studio to begin working on a rapper who was already trying to get his feet wet in Rap and Hiphop - we did it for the sake of saving another wayward youth from the perils of street life. When I say 'we', I'm talking about 99 percent of myself and ONE PERCENT of Mark's brother Donnie.
In the Summer of 1990, about a three years after the New Kids On The Block opened for me at Boston's Strand Theater, Donnie Wahlberg approached me outside Maurice Starr's House Of Hits recording studio in Roxbury. It was a perfect day, and he asked me to go across the street to talk privately.
"Yo, I need you to help me with my brother Mark", he asked.
I didn't know what he meant and I actually didn't know who Mark was. Donnie explained that their mom didn't want the New Kids on the Block to "make it" and leave Mark behind. He said he wanted me to teach Mark how to rap. I shot back: "But if he isn't rapping now, how's he supposed to jump out the box rapping with a name and a following? That's not how it goes."
Donnie assured me that he would handle the other part of it and get Mark a deal. In my mind I'm thinking, "How is this happening with no battles, no community shows, no real dues paid?" This was my first experience with Pop music, I guess. Create a robot artist from nothing. I had a song on the radio about two years straight called "Wildside", which addressed the racist murderer Charles Stuart, the death of young Tiffany Moore in Dorchester, and the murder of my deejay, Wes McDougald. We removed Wes from the song and I gave that song to Mark for the album.
Our first single "Good Vibrations" was written within fifteen minutes on our way to a recording studio in Rhode Island. I was actually in Donnie's new Saab (dude tried to sell me that piece of shit for $15,000. I wish the fuck I would). By the time Marks's first album was complete, I landed four songs and a feature on the album. Again, bot of the first singles were hits back to back, and I wrote the first one - and wrote and produced the second one. "Good Vibrations" sold a million singles. "Wildside" sold half a million.
Mark's career took off after the release of his Music for the People album. He got a deal with Calvin Klein, parading around with CK underwear on billboards everywhere. He then landed a role in the Basketball Diaries movie. As he snatched role after role on the big screen, I cheered the boy on. However, my cheering began to subside when I started hearing word that Mark hated doing the music altogether, and "regretted" doing the "Good Vibrations" song. Here's why it matters to me:
I wrote the song with Hiphop Culture overtones in the lyrics, with a hope to connect youth from all walks of life. I didn't write the song for Mark Wahlberg or Donnie. I wrote the song for the Culture. Our Culture is like our democracy to Hiphoppers. I also worked with Mark to teach him about the Culture. Go listen to some of his interviews in Europe and you'll hear him talk about what's bigger than the music. Check my pedigree and you'll see that I've been working to promote our Culture by all means available to us, including Rap music.
I haven't heard Mark say he regrets doing the song "Good Vibrations", or the whole dam two albums, but I wouldn't put it past him. I personally haven't spoken with Mark since the year 2000. I haven't spoken to Donnie since 2011, but that was a whole different story. I don't want to believe that me shouting out the Nation Of Islam at the end of the song "Peace" has anything to do with the decades of distancing. After all, at the time I produced and wrote for Mark, I was married to Louis Farrakhan's niece. Do what you will with that tidbit of info.
On the 30th anniversary of "Good Vibrations", Mark made no statements about it, as if he literally wants to see the song die off. It won't. Because on July 16, 2021, I re-released the song with new lyrics, new singers, and a whole new beat. By August 12, we released a brand new video - right outside Fenway Park stadium where the Red Sox play - during game day. The video features myself and R&B group Phajja.
Check out "Good Vibrations" 2021 here
More than anything, and because it's bigger than us - the most important reason why Mark must continue to remember "Good Vibrations" is because of the Culture that made it possible for any of this history to take place. If he's not a racist, like he says he isn't - show love, give back, support, and pay homage to our Culture. Hiphop made you. Don't let Hollywood make you think otherwise.
#markwahkberg
#markymark
#goodvibrations
Comments
Post a Comment