Party Posse

Born into hardship, the Harlem rap trio of DJ Alphonse Constant alongside MCs Randall Barber and Tedd Lewis first honed their skills inside a local cemetery, an unlikely rehearsal site they refused to abandon. That same burial ground later gained attention when it served as the backdrop for a Doug E. Fresh music video. Assembled in Harlem during the closing years of the 1980s, the group remained unnoticed until Kool Moe Dee paid a visit to their school. Motivated by the encounter, they secured a recording deal after Moe Dee’s manager arranged an audition with the veteran’s label home, Jive Records. Moe Dee himself contributed a guest verse to the resulting debut, Just Look At Us, an album that balanced old-school uplift on “Strivin’” with crude locker-room comedy on “Steppin’ In Doo Doo.”