When Coney Island heads connect.
When most people think of Coney Island, they think of an amusement park… or one of the largest tourist attractions in Brooklyn, New York. But when you look towards the West past the Parachute Jump, there’s a skyline of projects over 30 blocks long. Three avenues wide with the ocean on all sides and each building standing at least 16 stories or more… this would be the Coney Island on which I was raised.
Besides Stephon Marbury, Buckshot and M.O.P., a few of our people were able to break out of the neighborhood threshold. One of them would be an MC named Shamrock… who was one half of the duo known as Sham & The Professor. I always respected dude’s hustle because, you had to work hard to get put on in the late 80′s. He was hanging out with established cats while I was reading about them in magazines. Recording in professional studios before I even saw what one looked like. I don’t think he knew I rhymed until around the time I moved to the “A”. So we never got to work on anything together until recently.
The design of the Claddagh symbol shows two hands that are holding a heart, which are also usually surmounted by a crown. This is an Irish symbol for friendship (the hands), loyalty (the crown) and love (the heart). With Sham being the Irishman that he is, he wanted to incorporate it into his logo. So he came up with the idea to have the two hands gripping mics that plugged into the heart… with the words “hip-hop, loyalty & love” at the bottom. He also made it a point of not wanting the image to look soft either. I must say, this was one of the more challenging logos I’ve ever had to do… keep rockin’ it Sham!
The word is... aint no one dying over spilled ink!
dopeness right here. man, you throw that logo on a t shirt. Just based off the visuals and message it’s a given. Thus meant the perfect logo!!!
Thanks Goldi, and I agree about the T-Shirt aspect as well… I better get one when he makes them.
Sham knew what he was shooting for and he gave a lot of creative input as we went along with it. It always helps when someone knows what they want and how to convey it.
Shirts are in the works!!!! Definetly good to connect with you after all these years. Always remember sittin on the F train with you listening to The Bridge Is Over!! That moment and record changed my life. Made me step my game up and its credits landed me in Power Play Studios to record. Where KRS overheard my session and came in and remixed my joint for a BDP compilation which would never see daylight.I learned alot from Krs but much more from the years I spent over the shoulder of Ivan “Doc” Rodriguez and many other legendary artists and producers.Point is although I was rhyming since about 11 or 12 the real path begins the moment I heard The Bridge Is Over and that was all you and your walkman!!! Lookin foward to workin with you in the future. Now the real challenge…..gettin all the C.I. M.c.’s on one track!!!!
That’s exactly how I remember it as well my dude. You was always coming back to the block with new involvements with KRS. I used to always ask myself, “how the f@ck is he meeting all these cats??” And Doc Rodriguez was THE MAN behind the boards! I never thought I’d ever get to work with the pro’s but, if anyone drove me to try it was definitely you and your crew! We all got Pro Tools and crazy home studios of our own these days, so all you gotta do is say the word and i’m on a track no doubt! Pull us together homie, you can do it!!
can you make me a PRO symbol design ?