Just a Friend

Todd plays "Just a Friend" on the piano.

BIZ MARKIE - JUST A FRIEND A one-hit wonder retrospective

Todd prepares himself, then...

Todd: YOU!


 * Video for "Just a Friend"
 * Biz Markie: ...got what I need
 * But you say he's just a friend
 * [Todd mimics the "dancing"]
 * And you say he's just a friend, oh baby
 * You

Todd: Welcome back to One Hit Wonderland, and let me take you back to 1989.


 * Clip of Milli Vanilli - "Blame It on the Rain"
 * Milli Vanilli: Blame it on the rain

Todd (VO): When, in the pop world, music is obnoxiously slick and watered down as it'll ever be. But if you look beneath the surface, you'll find an increasingly popular genre called [clips of NWA - "Straight Outta Compton", Public Enemy - "Fight the Power"] hip hop, right then going through what they call its golden age. A lot of people didn't like it. "It's not even real music," they said. "It's ugly, it's dangerous, it's threatening." To break through against rampant prejudice against the genre, you had to be the tightest, most undeniable, most technically perfect MC ever to take the mic. In other words...

Todd: ...you had to be Biz Markie.


 * Video for "Just a Friend"
 * Biz: Let me tell you a story of my situation
 * I was talking to this girl from the US nation

Todd (VO): Yes, the diabolical, the clown prince of hip hop, the man they called the Biz. He looked like a cartoon character, he sang like a dying walrus, he rapped like he just had his tonsils removed. And yet, he powered his way not only to a Top 10 hit, but to about 25 years of goodwill since.

Todd: Hip hop loves Biz Markie.

Todd (VO): I came into this knowing nothing about him, and yet, I kinda feel like I knew almost everything about him because he just seems to be one of those guys who keeps popping up because everybody just wants him around.

Todd: Why him?


 * Biz: You, you got what I need

Todd (VO): Now, if there's any one-hit wonder who deserves to be forgotten, you'd think it would be this hilariously incompetent marble-mouth. Is there anything really more to the guy than just being the late 80s version of William Hung?

Todd: Well, don't let the looks fool you. To many, Biz Markie deserves to be mentioned among the all-time greats. Instead, he wound up a victim, and to a lot more than just a two-timing groupie.


 * Biz: Oh, snap, guess what I saw

Todd: But even despite that, he's still around today, still kickin' it. Why? Because nobody beats the Biz. Check-check it.

Transcript in progress