Spyder D.

Duane Hughes, aka Spyder-D, was among the first rap artists to debut in 1980. That's the year the Queens native released a pair of singles, including the pronoun-laced, Slave-adelic workout "Big Apple Rappin' (National Rappin' Anthem)." That 12" was recorded in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while Hughes was attending Eastern Michigan University in neighboring Ypsilanti, and released on his and Detroiter Tito Lewis' Newtroit label. After Hughes returned home, he recorded several additional singles throughout the decade for Telestar Cassettes, Profile, and B Boy, including "Smerphies Dance," the Nu Shooz-referencing "I Can't Wait (To Rock the Mike)," and "Try to Bite Me Now." During the same period, he produced dozens of cuts for the likes of Sparky-D, Mr. Magic, and Capt. Rock, and as B+ was behind the vocoder-ized "B-Beat Classic" on West End. Additional Spyder-D releases were sporadically released during the '90s and 2000s, but during the 2010s he was more active with singles and full-lengths issued digitally through the reactivated Newtroit.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo