Biography
Emerging in the middle of the 1980s first as a mobile DJ crew, Afro Rican endured longer than most peers in its lane and carried the Miami bass aesthetic forward into the new millennium. At the center stood musician and producer Derrick Rahming; the outfit initially operated under the name We Down Express before making its recording debut in 1986 on Pandisc Records with the single “Bass Attack,” which failed to connect. After adopting the moniker Afro Rican Connection and issuing “It’s Live” later that same year, momentum began to build. The following year the shortened name Afro Rican, paired with a Kraftwerk sample, propelled “Give It All You Got (Doggy Style)” onto the club charts. “Turn U Out” arrived in 1989, the same year the group delivered its debut album, the hip-hop-inflected Against All Odds, which also appeared on Luke Skyywalker Records, the 2 Live Crew imprint. Sex and Fun, released in 1991, balanced Miami bass and rap elements, while Rahming simultaneously pursued a separate bass-oriented venture called Power Supply. A revised lineup returned in 1995, yielding the hit single “All of Puerto Rico” alongside the album Give It All You Got 95. Bass Mekanik joined forces with the act for the 2001 single “Do It,” and in 2006 Fergie’s worldwide hit “Fergalicious” incorporated a sample of “Give It All You Got (Doggy Style).”