It has been announced via Blowfly’s Facebook fan page that the infamously freaky “dirty rapper” and singer of politically incorrect X-rated R&B parody songs such as “Shittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” and “It’s a Faggot’s World” has been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.

Clarence Reid, a successful R&B songwriter in his own right, has performed as his alter-ego “Blowfly” since the early ‘70s, releasing over two dozen albums in his 40+ year career. Dangerous Minds’ own Richard Metzger described Blowfly’s funky appearance as a “low-budget combination of a Mexican wrestler, Sun Ra and ‘Dumb Donald.’”

Blowfly, along with fellow contemporary Rudy Ray “Dolemite” Moore, is often credited as a progenitors of rap.

According to the Facebook announcement, Reid has entered hospice care with multiple organ failure. From that update:

Please know that Clarence is being made comfortable and that his sister Virginia has stood tall for him, and taken care of her brother as best as humanly possible. Please say a prayer for her and for Clarence Reid, the Maestro of the Miami Sound who loved being Blowfly - the King of the Freaks.

Cards and letters may be sent to Reid via:  Florida Medical Center ATTN: Patient Clarence Reid Room 355, 5000 Oakland Park Boulevard, Lauderdale Lakes, Florida 33133.

Blowfly’s recently completed album, 77 Rusty Trombones is expected to be released in February.
 
That dirty motherfucker Blowfly, doing his thing live after the jump…

 
The maniacs at Aggronautix have come up with another freaky bobblehead to add to your collection: Blowfly!

BLOWFLY is the alter ego of legendary singer songwriter Clarence Reid. The inventor of the Miami soul sound, Reid has written massive hits for KC and The Sunshine Band, Gwen McRae (1975’s R&B #1 hit ‘Rocking Chair’), Betty Wright and Sam and Dave along with his own successful recordings, most notably the hit ‘Nobody But You Babe’. Yet it is Reid’s mysterious and shocking alter-ego, BLOWFLY, which continues to shock and entertain audiences with his insane brand of funky X-Rated parody albums and filthy originals. With a career spanning nearly 50 years and over 20 albums, Blowfly’s 1965 recording, ‘Rap Dirty’ is often referenced as the first rap song and Blowfly was the first rapper to have a record banned! His albums are legendary and have been acknowledged as highly influential within the rap community.

 
Get yours right here. Limited edition of 500.
 
Check out this video of Blowfly and Jello Biafra (dressed as the Pope) at Oakland’s legendary Stork Club.
 

 
I went to see “dirty” rapper Blowfly play sometime in the 80s at an eco-friendly hippie nightclub in New York called the Wetlands Preserve with John Sex, who, no surprise, was a huge Blowfly fan. The Wetlands Preserve was then, and probably still is, the kind of joint where you would eat sea-weed salad and brown rice and watch a jam band play, like Blues Traveler or the Spin Doctors. I also saw Terence McKenna and Timothy Leary speak there. It’s that sort of place, so watching Blowfly, the world’s filthiest rapper, whip out his thang there was a tad incongruous with the tie-died Grateful Dead-inspired decor and surroundings.

Looking like a low-budget combination of a Mexican wrestler, Sun Ra and “Dumb Donald” (one of Fat Albert’s cartoon Cosby Kids cronies) Blowfly came onstage in a glittery cape and superhero outfit in a billow of dry ice smoke. I think his first song was called “Doin’ the Fuck and Suck,” a take-off of Rufus Thomas’s already fairly suggestive “Doin’ the Push and Pull.” His second number was the more moody, contemplative “Suck My Dick.” He did “Shittin’ On the Dock of the Bay” and “Soul Man” became… “Hole Man.” You get the idea. It was good dirty fun, but not necessarily the kind of act that I needed to see twice…

Apparently, Blowfly was an alter-ego developed to hide behind, so that successful R&B songwriter Clarence Reid (who wrote songs for Gwen McCrae and KC & the Sunshine Band) could continue his career while letting his freakier side out… Now there is a new documentary about Blowfly, featuring the participation of Jello Biafra, Ice-T and Chuck D. I haven’t seen it yet, but I want to after watching this trailer. The Weird World of Blowfly is released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 15th by Indie Blitz/E1 Entertainment.
 

 
Thank you Chris Campion of Berlin, Germany!