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Clarence “Blowfly” Reid, precursor to modern funk, hip hop dies at 76

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Pioneering funk rapper Clarence “Blowfly” Reid died of liver cancer in a Florida hospice on Jan. 17. He was 76.

Among those he influenced, who took to social media lamenting his passing, were the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bass player Flea, Ice-T, and DJ Quik.

Reid traced the origins of his inclination for creating profane rhymes to his childhood working the fields of his native Georgia. He amended the lyrics of hillbilly standards into dirty limericks, and sang them for the amusement of local Whites. His grandmother found out he’d been earning money in the process, and told him he was a disgrace to the Black race, and thus was no better than an old blowfly.

A producer and writer for rhythm and blues heavyweights like Bobby Byrd, Betty Wright (“Clean up Woman”), Sam and Dave, and Gwen McCrae (“Rockin’ Chair”), Reid cultivated an alternative persona to execute profane songs he only performed for close friends at private parties. This segued into a series of recordings for the thriving underground “party genre.” His early singles were foul-mouthed versions of R&B classics like “Love Train,” “Rainy Night in Georgia,” and “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay.”

This “hobby” transitioned into a legitimate vocation with the 1971 album of filthy parodies “The Weird World of Blowfly,” and he fashioned a gold and blue costume for his alter ego to perform in. Over the next 50 years, he would produce more than two dozen x-rated albums, often stamped with the warning “Restricted from Airplay.”

One memorable release from 1980 titled “Blowfly’s Rapp” chronicled a side-splitting battle of wits with the Alabama Grand Dragon of the Klu Klux Klan.

With his raunchy presentation and overt sexuality, Reid’s “Blowfly” persona was the R&B equivalent of Country and Western outlaw David Allen Coe, and pop music satirist “Weird Al” Yankovic.

Among the legions of later generation performers who “sampled” his compositions are Beyonce, Big Daddy Kane, Brand Nubian, DMX, Method Man and Redman, and the Wu Tang Clan.

Reid is survived by his daughter, former University of North Carolina and WNBA basketball foward Tracy Reid.

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