Groove B Chill – Starting From Zero
Vinylwav Personal Record Collection
Video Jukebox Strikes Again….
Man… I don’t even remember when I bought this record. Something tells me I picked it up off Chuy during one of our Dilla events at the MMTC Gym, but I might be mistaken. What I do remember is exactly why I bought it: nostalgia.
The track “Hip-Hop Music” is probably the most well-known joint off this album, and it was in regular rotation on the Video Jukebox channel—shoutout to the old pay-per-view video channel we used to catch where I lived. You could call in and request songs or videos to play. Honestly, Video Jukebox was WAYYYY ahead of its time. My little brother ran up a crazy bill on that service, but that’s a story for another day.
As for Groove B Chill—I’ll admit, I don’t know a ton about their backstory. What I do know is that one of the members was in House Party. I think he went on to act in a bunch of other stuff too. Maybe someone reading this knows more?
Back to the track “Hip-Hop Music”—it sampled Stetsasonic for the hook, and while I could be wrong, I feel like San Quinn’s Mobstyle Music had to have drawn some inspiration from it. Like, “Ain’t nothin’ like Mobstyle Music” sounds like a direct cousin of “Ain’t nothin’ like hip-hop music.” Or maybe they both just drew from Stetsasonic.
Now, here’s the thing: I honestly couldn’t name you another track off this album. Outside of the nostalgia tied to that one song, this record feels cheesy—and not in a bad way. It’s got that late-’80s-into-early-’90s vibe when hip-hop was still playing with fun, style, and sometimes a heavy dose of cornball aesthetics. And the album cover? Extra cheesy. I mean, I’m kind of shocked they made it as far as they did—but maybe there’s more to the story I’m missing.
It’s a promo copy, too, which makes me wonder—did they actually sell a lot of these? I gotta dig into that.
When I pulled the record out, it hit me like a lightning bolt:
“Ain’t nothin’ like, ain’t nothin’ like, ain’t nothin’ like hip-hop music…”
That hook just pops back in my brain instantly. And with it? I think of San Quinn. Every time.
So yeah, this one deserves a follow-up post. I’m not giving you the full breakdown here—just a raw memory jog and some gut reaction. But I plan to give this a full listen tomorrow in the truck.
Back in 1990, I was 11 years old. Born in ’79, I was knee-deep in the golden age—listening to Public Enemy, EPMD, LL Cool J… and somehow, this Groove B Chill track made it into that soundtrack. It’s one of those sleeper joints that lodged itself into my brain and stayed there for decades.
And they were on Uptown Records? That’s wild. Had to be affiliated with Heavy D, right? I’ll do some digging on that too.
Guaranteed , this is one of those records I bought purely for that feeling—that little flash of youth, that one song that used to hit on late-night cable. It might be cheesy, but it’s my kind of cheesy. And I think I’m finally going to give the whole album the proper spin it MIGHT deserve. 😂
Groove B Chill. Wowzers.
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