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!