trademark throughout Markie’s career.
With Marl as producer, Markie released his 1988 debut LP, Goin’ Off, on the Juice Crew’s Cold Chillin’ Records. While not a critical success, the album featured the enduring underground hits “Vapors,” “Nobody Beat the Biz” — a play on the jingle of a New York-based electronics store — and “Pickin’ Boogers,” the latter of which highlighted the Clown Prince’s unique blend of humor and hip-hop. Asked in 2018 if the stories Markie described in “Vapors” were real, he replied, “Dead real. Everything. I didn’t know how to write no other way.” The song would go on to be sampled by everyone from Notorious B.I.G. to Ice Cube, while the “Pickin’ Boogers” line “Now let me take a trip down memory lane” would later feature prominently on Nas’ Illmatic classic “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park).”
In addition to music, Markie also acted in movies and television. he was cast in a cameo role as a beatboxing, mail-sorting alien in 2002’s Men in Black II. Biz also became a fixture on the children’s TV series Yo Gabba Gabba! with his “Biz’s Beat of the Day” beatboxing segment.