Mark Dee :: All In a Day’s Work

For the longest time I passed over “All In a Day’s Work” when scanning lists of old school rap albums. I incorrectly assumed I must have already covered this because of his name — Mark Dee. I was confusing him with his much more famous namesake, the late Prince Markie Dee of Fat Boys fame, and it’s only now that I realize the only thing they have in common is a first name. The better remembered emcee was born Mark Anthony Morales, while the still alive (so far as I know) Mark Dee was born Mark Douglas Olivierre. Actually there’s two other things they have in common — they’re both from New York City, and they both released albums in the 1990’s without a parental advisory sticker on it.

Dee briefly rose above obscurity with the single “Get a Hold of Yourself.” MCA Records was invested enough in his career to release a music video, but despite being an avid viewer of Yo! MTV Raps and Pump It Up I don’t remember seeing this on either one. Maybe Ralph McDaniels featured this one on Video Music Box? I didn’t live in a market where I could watch it so I simply don’t know. If you thought MC Hammer or Young M.C. were too clean cut and positive, Mark Dee could easily give them a run for their money. Actually though that’s a hard track compared to the sappy “Just Give Me Romance.” It takes a lot to make LL Cool J’s “I Need Love” sound gangster, but this song does. “Love itself is a flower, it needs fertilizer and water to bloom, so fertilize that.” Seriously?!

I don’t believe the clip above is an official video, because I think even MCA Records realized this song was too corny for one, despite having released it as a 12″. It’s hard to imagine a rapper more out of step with what his contemporaries were doing than Mark Dee, but unlike Prince Markie Dee he didn’t have an already established fan base from a prior group to fall back on. Now according to Discogs he’d join a group later called the Soul Kid Klik under the new name of Minnesota Slimz, but his tenure there must have been very short lived because Grant Jones didn’t even mention him when covering an album filled with Wu-Tang Clan affiliates. Yes that connection would actually make Mark Dee a very loosely affiliated Wu associate… if I could even confirm it… which I can’t.

That would give KMC, Poetic and D.O.D.A.M.A.G.E. an even more tenuous connection based on them appearing on “So Deep,” but their threats to “open up a fresh can of ass whupping” and boasts to have “more chips than Chips Ahoy” lack credibility and creativity in equal measure. Despite sounding like grown men they rap like pre-teens afraid to cuss in front of mom and dad. In an album full of cheese it’s a welcome reprieve from Mark Dee’s usual fare to hear anyone but him rapping, but that doesn’t change the overall narrative of “All In a Day’s Work” that much.

“Life is like a big Rubik’s Cube” quips Mark Dee on “Game of Life,” a painful attempt to create a simile with an equally painful up tempo rap that makes me pine for Marvin Young. Uploads of this album’s tracks show off a promotional sticker on the front that describe Mark Dee as “def” and “dope,” two words that were a straight up lie. Another lie — describe “Let It All Hang Out” as a hit track. Maybe if it was a piñata and you were hitting it with a baseball bat. Maybe.

Producers Dennis Kid and Michael Looks were just as out of step with the rap scene of the early 90’s as their emcee. I will at least say that as corny and clean cut as the record is, it’s well mastered. The vocals are clear and the quality of the audio is stellar, but it doesn’t keep it from being one of the most boring rap records ever made. I will say it’s funny how earnest Mark Dee is on this album though. I don’t get the feeling MCA Records put him up to this, and he had to change his style or image to be their corporate product. I think this is just honestly who he was. Mark was a young rapper who believed he could be a star by keeping it G, and not “G” as in “gangster” but as in “G rated.” He failed spectacularly but at least left behind something that almost inexplicably made it to cassette and CD. Congratulations.