“We were just having fun,” DJ Slic Vic reminisces, grinning from ear to ear. “M.B. had equipment, and I had equipment. We battled each other, and the next day we was borring records.” But borrowing those records led to rocking backyard parties. After finding the right chemistry, Victor Austin and Marc Brown started DJing together. People around the way started to call them the Pony Express DJs because they would pull up to a party driving the Pony Express delivery truck. “Marc’s pops use to work for Pony Express, a mail carrier company way before UPS. I didn’t like being called Pony Express but it just stayed with us,” Slic Vic remembers. Shortly after, Pony Express became Jam Pony Express. Victor Austin turned into DJ Slic Vic and Marc became Mr. M.B.
After a few backyard parties DJ Slic Vic and M.B. decided to battle the popular CM Express DJs, which stood for the Cash Money DJs. “We didn’t win, but we got exposure and folks started to recognize us,” DJ Slic Vic explains. They had made a name for themselves, and people began to notice their unique DJing technique. “We were the first to regulate a record,” says DJ Slic Vic. “Regulating” a record was unheard of during that time. When you “regulate” a record, you cut the record down to change the lyrics of the song; then you say something and have the record answer you back. It was this call-and-response technique that had the crowd going crazy (and can still be heard all throughout hip-hop today). After the battle, the parties came by the dozens. Everybody wanted the Jam Pony DJs to rock their parties. People looked forward to the weekends because Jam Pony would set up outside at Sunland Park, Oswel Park or 6th Street (better known as the Ugly Corner) and play the sounds of MC ADE, Beat Master Clay D, Afro-Rican, and Jiggalo Tony. “It was all hip-hop to us back then: bass music, break beats, and funk,” Slic Vic remembers.
By this time, Jam Pony had added members like Spider D, Diamond Dick, Big Ace (R.I.P.), Zeke “the Panty Raider” Freak, Sporty J, Amazing Hot Rod, and Sporty Shawty. It wasn’t until member and party rocker Loc Cool Jock joined that Jam Pony Express took their tapes to the flea markets. Nasty Jeff and Loc approached a man who owned a car and rim shop, who agreed to sell the tapes as long as they’d plug the shop. The tapes sold out of the store on the first day. From there, Jam Pony began taking tapes to different flea markets, or “flirt markets,” as they liked to call them. Jam Pony tapes began flying off the shelves at 79th Street, Opa-Locka, 183rd St, and USA One. “They couldn’t keep a Jam Pony tape in there,” DJ Slic Vic laughs, referring to the Oakland Park flea market in Ft. Lauderdale that sold the first Jam Pony tape.
People simply had to have their Jam Pony tapes. They were addictive, and people became fiends. Sales became so ridiculous that Slic Vic’s father built a door directly to his son’s bedroom. “Every time the phone rang, it was for me,” says Slic Vic. “Every time they answered the door, it was for me. My mom told me that as soon as I was old enough, I’d have to leave!” At 18, he moved to the Parkway section of Ft. Lauderdale. He produced ten tapes a day: specialty tapes, custom-made tapes, and regular mixes, selling them for $10 to $25 each. He made a killing in the early 80’s. “I was making about $500 a week just in Ft. Lauderdale, and $1000 every other week in Miami!” The tapes quickly spread throughout Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, and even as far as Germany thanks to friends in the military.
But what made these tapes so hot? Why did everybody need a Jam Pony tape? It was NEW! They’d created a new style of DJing by regulating the records so precisely, with style and finesse. Jam Pony made DJs become entertainers, and the crowd wanted to be entertained. For example:
Children’s Story by Slick Rick
Regulated by Slic Vic of Jam Pony Express DJs
Jam Pony bustin out (not long ago)
You aint up on the style then you must be (slow)
The laws were stern
Lauderdale where I (stood)
All on the mic and
I’m ridin it (good)
There lived a little boy (Don’t get mis-led)
Jam Pony in effect
This is what we (said)
Me and you (Vic) we gonna make some cash
Go to town with Jam Pony you betta (make that dash)
Jam Pony Express “had more flavors then Lifesavers,” Zeke Freak comments. DJ Slic Vic was the voice of the crew, always heard but never seen. Loc Cool Jock was the clown, always making the crowd laugh, and bodyguard Big Ace (R.I.P) was the hype man. Jam Pony became so entertaining that promoters would book them as an act. “Promoters wouldn’t know what to do with us. We had so much control of the crowd that people wanted to see us perform, but we weren’t rappers!” In the midst of this misconception, Jam Pony Express DJs dropped their first album, The Legend Continues, in 1996. With the revenues from album sales, Jam Pony linked up with Ski-Bo’s Bass Style DJs in Tampa and formed 2-4-1 Records. The label released Rated R’s album Ghetto Psychic last year through Universal, and is currently creating a buzz with the Evenin’ Ridahz. “It’s two DJs for the price of one: Jam Pony Express and Bass Style DJs,” plugs DJ Slic Vic.
You might have even heard of Jam Pony Express and didn’t know it. Just listen to the hooks of some popular Southern songs, and there’s a chance Jam Pony came up with it first. “To the window, to the wall!” Check out the vinyl label above, copyright 1995, long before Lil’ Jon and the Ying Yang Twins had everybody screaming “Skeet, skeet, skeet, gotdamn!” Or what about, “Hold up, wait a minute, let me put some bass up in it.” Jam Pony! “Feel the funk all in ya trunk.” Jam Pony! All those “Ooooo-kkkkk’s!” and super-crunk “Yeaaaaah!”s on record? Jam Pony! They’re so influential and underrated when it comes to Southern hip-hop, it’s ridiculous. They’ve been Florida’s best-kept secret for nearly two decades!
- Felisha Foxx, felishafoxx@yahoo.com
(Images provided by DJ Slic Vic, Felisha Foxx and DJ Quest)
