History Music / KoolMoeDee

* ReallyGetsAround: The main character of "Dumb Dick" is focused solely on banging every girl he gets. This eventually ruins his life.

** The main character of "Dumb Dick" also averts this, due to the character's [[AnythingThatMoves uber-promiscuity with women]]:

--> ''And it was no tellin what he would catch''

* TooDumbToLive: The main subject of "Dumb Dick", who would rather spend his time chasing girls than actually take care of himself. Eventually, [[spoiler: he winds up homeless due to his poor decsisons. Though that still doesn't stop him from chasing women...]]

Although Moe had been rapping since at least 1976, it was when he formed ''The Treacherous Three'' with Special K, DJ Easy Lee and Spoonie G (who would leave shortly after the formation and was replaced by L.A. Sunshine) in 1978. The group became well known for their singles "Body Rock", "Feel the Heart Beat" and "Action", and their song "The New Rap Language" earned Kool Moe Dee the distinction of inventing the "double time flow", which involved rapid sixteenth-note rhythms, with a lot of internal rhymes.

On September 11, 1981, while still a part of the Three, Moe was featured in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86XG7gw4RIA very one-sided rap battle]] with Busy Bee Starski at Harlem World, taking everyone there by surprise by roasting Starski. Before that night, rap "battles" were based around playing to the crowd. Moe's roast of Starski had changed the face of the "battle rap" forever, laying the groundwork for many rap battle leagues and diss tracks in the years to follow. That same year, they moved over to Sugar Hill Records with Music/GrandmasterFlashAndTheFuriousFive. in 1984, they were featured in the movie ''Beat Street'' with Doug E. Fresh.

* TheRoast: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShpDIWK5F7Y&feature=player_detailpage#t=401 the Harlem World freestyle roast of Busy Bee Starski]] that was the precursor to modern battle rapping.

* CurbStompBattle: The 1981 Harlem World rap battle against Busy Bee Starski, as covered in TheRoast entry. ''Nobody'' expected Moe to flame Starski the way he did in that battle. It should be noted that, with the exception of performing a portion of "New Rap Language", Moe ''completely freestyled his verse off the dome''; so he completely cooked Starski on the fly with minimal effort.

* CurbStompBattle: The 1981 Harlem World rap battle against Busy Bee Starski, as covered in TheRoast entry.
* HardcoreHipHop

in 1987, Kool Moe Dee became the instigator in a years-long feud with Music/LLCoolJ, whose album ''Bigger and Deffer'' went Double Platinum that year. Moe noted that LL had stolen his style of rapping, and did not show any appreciation of the rappers who paved the way for him, claiming to be "rap's new Grandmaster". This, along with his personal resentment of the fact that all of hip hop's founding fathers (excluding himself) were being ignored, would lead to the creation of ''How Ya Like Me Now''. Once again backed by Teddy Riley, Moe made his grievances known on the album cover, posing in front of a white Jeep crushing LL's signature Kangol hat on the cover. This would prove to be a success for Moe.
''How Ya Like Me Now'' went platinum and helped kickstart the NewJackSwing era alongside UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHipHop, churning out two hit singles: the title track and "Wild Wild West", which both hit the top 30 of the R&B charts.

in 1987, Kool Moe Dee became the instigator in a years-long feud with Music/LLCoolJ, whose album ''Bigger and Deffer'' went Double Platinum that year. Moe noted that LL had stolen his style of rapping, and did not show any appreciation of the rappers who paved the way for him, claiming to be "rap's new Grandmaster". This, along with his personal resentment of the fact that all of hip hop's founding fathers (excluding himself) were being ignored, lead to the creation of ''How Ya Like Me Now''. Once again backed by Teddy Riley, Moe made his grievances known on the album cover, posing in front of a white Jeep crushing LL's signature Kangol hat on the cover. This would prove to be a success for Moe.

On September 11, 1981, while still a part of the Three, Moe was featured in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShpDIWK5F7Y&feature=player_detailpage#t=401 very one-sided rap battle]] with Busy Bee Starski at Harlem World, taking everyone there by surprise by roasting Starski. Before that night, rap "battles" were based around playing to the crowd. Moe's roast of Starski had changed the face of the "battle rap" forever, laying the groundwork for many rap battle leagues and diss tracks in the years to follow. That same year, they moved over to Sugar Hill Records with Music/GrandmasterFlashAndTheFuriousFive. in 1984, they were featured in the movie ''Beat Street'' with Doug E. Fresh.

in 1987, Kool Moe Dee became the instigator in a years-long feud with Music/LLCoolJ, who's album Bigger and Deffer went double Platinum that year. Moe noted that LL had stolen his style of rapping, and did not show any appreciation of the rappers who paved the way for him, claiming to be "rap's new Grandmaster". This, along with his personal resentment of all of hip hop's founding fathers (excluding himself) were being ignored, lead to the creation of ''How Ya Like Me Now''. Once again backed by Teddy Riley, Moe made his grievances known on the album cover, posing in front of a white jeep crushing LL's signature Kangol hat on the cover. This would prove to be a success for Moe.
''How Ya Like Me Now'' went platinum, and helped kickstart the NewJackSwing era alongside UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHipHop, churning out two hit singles: the title track and "Wild Wild West", which both hit the top 30 of the R&B charts.

1991 saw the decline of Moe's career. His fourth album ''Funke Funke Wisdom'' bombed hard in the wake of LL Cool J's CareerResurrection with ''Mama Said Knock You Out''. Moe would be released from Jive Records a year later. A 1993 compilation release and a fourth album, ''Interlude'' did nothing to return him to his previous mainstream success. His last major song appearances was on Creator/WillSmith's 1999 single "Wild Wild West", where he re-recoreded the chorus from his own song of the same name, a featured spot on Music/{{Macklemore}} and Ryan Lewis' "Downtown", and a remix of "Where Are They Now" by {{Music/Nas}} in 2007.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal and AlliterativeList: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-RheuHyp3Q&feature=player_detailpage#t=175 From what is considered one of the best diss verses of all time]]:

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: One of the big differences between him and LL were their skills and stage presence. While LL was no slouch, Moe Dee was the more technically sound rapper, while LL's charisma was leagues above Moe's, and allowed him to survive well into the 2020s, while Moe's career died during the gangsta rap boom.

** And of course, the [[CurbStompBattle freestyle battle rap/roast]] he performed against Busy Bee Starski

'''Mohandas Dewese''' (born August 8, 1962 in New York City), better known as '''Kool Moe Dee''', is one of the longest active rappers of all time, from 1976 to the present day, and one of the original pioneers of rap, alongside Music/GrandmasterFlashAndTheFuriousFive and the Music/TheSugarhillGang.