UB Celebrates #HipHop50: MC JB of J.J. Fad Talks ‘Supersonic’ + Rap History
Plus MC JB Shares Memories of "We're All In The Same Gang" and More.
Just Jammin’ Fresh And Def, known as J.J. Fad, were the first female rap group to rise out of Los Angeles and burn up the charts.
The ladies perfected the bubblegum style of rap with the monster-hit “Supersonic.”
One of the original acts, signed by the late great Eazy E to his Ruthless Records imprint.
Along with East Coast peers Roxanne Shante and Salt-N-Pepa, the group pushed against the glass ceiling of the male dominated genre.
The group consists of MC JB (Juana Burns), Sassy C (Michelle Franklin) and Baby D (Dania Birks). They became a house-hold name, from receiving millions of spins of their gold single “Supersonic” from all over the country.
The ladies did it all from songwriting, to arranging to flowing. They succeeded in recording their debut album of the same name, in just two weeks.
J.J. Fad had sold 400,000 copies of the single independently before Eazy E. and Jerry Heller had managed to secure a major label recording contract.
The song has been sampled by Eminem, Beastie Boys and Killer Mike to name a few, and received a placement in the “Sonic The Hedgehog” film.
MC JB at the time felt J.J. Fad was “… not the ordinary type of Rap group. We’re versatile. We do Pop music, we do Hip-Hop music, we do dance music and we do ballads. We want everyone to enjoy it. So, we try to hit every angle.”
The “Supersonic” album,” a mix of pop, rap and hip-hop, peaked at #20 on Billboard’s Albums chart and sold beyond platinum. “Supersonic,” the group’s gold single, peaked at #22 in July 1988. With its brisk, 808 drum tone and swift rhyme schemes, “Supersonic” was as addictive as a sugar and syrup high.
The second single “Way Out,” peaked at #51.
“Way Out,” uses a song that made its first and only other appearance on an episode of “The Flintstones.” MC JB confirmed to an industry trade at the time saying; “Yes, it’s called “Way Out” — and it’s funny how that came about. There’s one episode of “The Flintstones” in which there’s a rock band called The Way Outs. When we were filming the video for ‘Supersonic,” me and Baby D were in a hotel and for some reason The Flintstones were on my mind. We had to get up early the next morning to do the shoot, so I went to bed early. At 4 AM, I woke up because I had a dream about this song. And I went, “I need a pen, right now!” Baby D’s telling me to go back to sleep but I had to write it down. And I wrote the whole song in like ten minutes. That song is “Way Out” and it means a lot to me because it came to me in my sleep. It’s weird but I think it was destined to be.”
“Blame It On The Muzick” was a banger, with an up-tempo techno sound that El Lay and Dr. Dre laid down. The album was a crossover success and earned the group a Grammy nomination, Ruthless label’s first.
The final single released from the album was “Is It Love,” was a song written by MC JB and Sassy C.
In 1989, J.J. Fad, Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Salt-N-Pepa, Kool Moe Dee, and LL Cool J made history as the first artists to be nominated for the Best Rap Performance Grammy.
J.J. Fad was a part of the West Coast Rap All-Stars that recorded the 1990 anti-violence song “We’re All in the Same Gang.”
In 1991, the group released their sophomore album, “Not Just A Fad,” which included the singles “We In The House” and “Be Good Ta Me.”
J.J. Fad has continued to perform on several old-school concerts with the likes of Ice Cube, Lisa Lisa, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Sweet Sensation, Big Daddy Kane, and more. They debuted the Boombox! Las Vegas residency in May 2022 with Kid ‘N Play and Ceelo and other special guests.
In June 2022, the street J.J. Fad Way was named in their honor in their hometown Rialto, California.
For UB’s Celebration of Hip Hop 50, Aries spoke with Juana (MC JB) from J.J. Fad. Juana talks about the success of “Supersonic,” and the impact it still has.
Plus she shares what it’s like to work with Dr. Dre in the studio and the best advice she ever received from Eazy E. Juana also gets candid on being on set for “We’re All In The Same Gang” and the Grammy boycott.
Juana tells us her 3 essential Rap artists and ladies of hip hop she enjoys listening to.
And she shares memories of DJ Train and talks about the upcoming Grammy Salute to “50 Years of Hip Hop” and more.
Check Out The UB Interview with MC JB (J.J. Fad)!
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