User:Crane arm/sandbox

Template:'''Stezo''' Steven Williams also known as Stezo (Pronounced Steezo) started out in the music industry as the dancer for one of Hip Hop’s earlier premiere groups by the name of EPMD. Stezo debuted on EPMD’s first single with video dancing in his yellow baggy outfit in a song called “You Gots To Chill” on Sleeping Bag\Fresh Records. “You Gots To Chill” exploded and made him a recognizable Hip Hop figure for inventing the Hip Hop dance known today as the Steve Martin. When EPMD released their first LP entitled “Strictly Business” it opened the door even further for Stezo through a song on their album by the name of “THE STEVE MARTIN” which inspired kids from all over to do the famous dance.

As a child growing up in New Haven, Ct Stezo would break dance around town. He also entered high school and community talent shows where he displayed his desire to be on stage and in front of the camera. During the break dancing era in his younger years Stezo would also enter break dancing contest where he would woo the crowd with his power moves. One day EPMD came to town to perform and promote their single “It’s My Thing”. As EPMD’s dancers tried to excite the crowd Stezo jumped out onto the dance floor and displayed his moves which were of a higher caliber and caught the eye of Parrish Smith. Parrish then invited Stezo on tour with EPMD and ultimately started his career.

After a few months of being on the Run House Tour with groups such as RUN DMC, PUBLIC ENEMY, JAZZY JEFF AND THE FRESH PRINCE, Stezo would become filled with the desire to start rapping himself and make his solo debut. He then enlisted two friends by the name of Jimi Dennis aka Jim Slice and Chris Cosby aka Chris Lowe to assist him in his musical endeavors. Sleeping Bag\Fresh Records was happy to sign Stezo who went on and launched one of Hip Hop’s most dominating singles that pleased all the dJays of that time. His first single called “IT’S MY TURN” was given major radio spin in places like New York, Philadelphia PA, Baltimore, Washington DC, Alabama, Atlanta, Houston TX, and California. The record also did well in the UK as it introduced a new drum beat to the Hip Hop community called THE SKULL SNAPS BEAT which became one of Hip Hop’s most highly sampled drum beats and literally changed how Hip Hop production was done through-out the early to mid-90’s. Hip Hop Producers of that era wasn’t quite familiar with the drum beat so they had to buy Stezo’s 12inch in order to sample it as well. The drum beat was sampled by groups such as Gang Starr, EPMD, Rakim, Pete Rock, Das Efx, Method Man, Redman and Lords of the Underground just to name a few which then gave Stezo’s name a big boost in the music industry.

After the success of the 12 inch single, Sleeping Bag Records released Stezo’s LP entitled CRAZY NOISE in the summer of 1989. The label released 2 singles off his debut album IT’S MY TURN and FREAK THE FUNK which appeared on Music Television’s (MTV) hip hop video show called MTV Raps, Yo MTV Europe and Black Entertainment Television’s (B.E.T.) video show RAP CITY. Stezo’s music career was short lived on Sleeping Bag Records due to the label shutting its doors and this left Stezo out in the cold with no label. The lack of proper management made it hard for him to find a new home. Due to Stezo’s intelligence he was able to find another home on a smaller indie label. He released a single in 1994 on Funktown Flav Records called “Shining Star” and “Bop Ya Headz”. The Bop Ya Headz video appeared on BET during the winter of 1995. In 1997 Stezo released a few more songs titled WHERE’S THE FUNK AT, TENSION OFF YOUR CHEST and TIME TO BLOW YA MIND.

Currently today, Stezo and the crew sought out and found the seventies funk soul group SKULL SNAPS. Together they collaborated and filmed a Hip Hop documentary that hasn’t been released to the public, as of yet. The Documentary was produced by Birth Beats Of Hip Hop entitled LEGEND OF SKULL SNAPS and it’s all about the story of one of Hip Hop’s most highly sampled drum breaks.

Stezo image = Audioslave_2005.jpg
Origin	New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Genres	Hip Hop,
Years active	1989 (1989)–1997
Labels	Sleeping Bag\Fresh Records, Funktown Flav
Past members	Steve Williams Jim Slice Chris Lowe
Website	www.audioslave.com