Biographie

Clarence Reid

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Date de naissance
14 février 1939 · Cochran, Géorgie, États-Unis
Date de décès
17 janvier 2016 · Lauderdale Lakes, Floride, États-Unis (cancer du foie)
Nom de naissance
Clarence Henry Reid
Surnom
- Blowfly

Before being considered as a seminal rap artist who influenced hip-hop and gangsta rap, Clarence "Blowfly" Reid was a longtime R & B singer and songwriter ("Clean-Up Woman" for Betty Wright and "Rocking Chair" for Gwen McCrae are probably his best known songs). His lyrics were funny, direct and explicit; his onstage persona as "Blowfly," along with his antic live performances, was unforgettable.
Earned the nickname Blowfly after his grandmother heard him singing raunchy versions of current hit songs and remarked, "You is no better than a blowfly!".
Father of professional basketball player Tracy Reid.
Signed up with Jello Biafra's record label Alternative Tentacles in 2005.
Did his first tour of Australia in 2007 and toured Germany with the punk band Die Ärzte in 2008. Moreover, Reid performed as Blowfly at the Big Day Out musical festival held in Australia and New Zealand in 2010.

I never drink, never smoke, and I never use drugs. I may go to hell, but it won't be for those things!
[comment in 2011] In all of the interviews I've ever done, I said that Blowfly came out of Clarence Reid. But recently I've been thinking that the opposite is right because I was Blowfly before I even thought about singing. But I'm Blowfly the minute I get on stage, and the minute I walk off, I'm Clarence Reid.
[from an interview in 2008] Weird Al ['Weird Al' Yankovic] has said, "Blowfly is an X-rated Weird Al." Wrong. I was writing parodies when Weird Al was in diapers. He's a goody-goody version of Blowfly.
Blowfly was invented when I was seven years old in the fields of Georgia. I had to quit school to work the farms. I was a mean little fucker, so I turned hillbilly songs like "Walkin' the Floor Over You" to "Jerkin' My Dick Over You." The white people loved it and gave me money when I'd sing the songs to them. My grandmamma thought I stole the money, and when I told her how I earned it, she said I was a disgrace to the black race and no better than an old Blowfly. But a little white girl told me blowflies lay eggs on dead things and that without them, the world would be consumed by germs.