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Max & Sam - Rumble Young Man
During the interview with Big City Phil (which you really need to go read, if you haven't already), he briefly touched on the history of the label that he's currently signed to, Fort Knox Records. Boxing fans probably already know the tragic story behind the label, but I don't think it's too well known outside of that circle. Fort Knox was started up by Sam and Jack Kellerman, the brothers of boxing analyst (and the original host of ESPN's Around The Horn) Max Kellerman. Sam had developed a name for himself outside of the music business, as a sportswriter, and those of you who lived in NYC during the earlier part of this decade may have seen him hosting a late night talk show on Metro TV and appearing in the original ads for the Yankees/YES Network.
In 2004, Sam let one of his lifelong friends, James "The Harlem Hammer" Butler - a boxer best known for his arrest on assault charges after sucker punching one of his opponents during the postfight handshake - move in with him. Sam was later killed after Butler, enraged after being asked to move out of Sam's apartment, bludgeoned him to death with a hammer. Butler, apparently suffering from bipolar disorder, was convicted and sentenced to thirty years in prison for the murder.
In the early 90's, Max and Sam began rapping as the group "Max & Sam." Not the most original name, admittedly, but they showed enough promise to get the attention of Joe Nicolo, the owner of Studio 4 in Philly and the engineer behind Kris Kross' Jump. They eventually signed a deal with Ruffhouse/Columbia Records, but the only song they ever released was the above Young Man Rumble. If you watch closely enough, you can see James Butler in one or two of the frames from the video.
Sports Illustrated wrote a great article a couple of years ago about the life of Sam Kellerman. You can read it online here.
05/14/2009 08:30:01 PM posted by Fresh