30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, July 22, 2021

The Clown Prince

Over the weekend, one of my friends texted me the news that Biz Markie passed away at the age of 57 due to complications from Type 2 diabetes.  He's most famous for his song Just a Friend, which was huge back in the late 80's.  To this day... I have to sing along with it whenever it comes on.  Can't help it.  It's just one of those songs.

That being said... I don't want to make it seem like I was the president of his fan clubJust a Friend is the only song I could name a few days ago.  But after hearing the news, I did listen and add a few songs of his to my classroom playlist.

I might not own any albums of his, but I own a few of his trading cards...

The first one captures him throwing out the first pitch at the Oakland A's game versus the Houston Astros back on July 23rd, 2014:

2015 Topps First Pitch #FP-05

This is a pretty cool insert.  I like how Topps actually did the research and documented the actual date of the event.


On the back, they even break down his approach to the mound and the actual pitch... which you can see here.

Next up is an awesome card that captures why he was nicknamed The Clown Prince of Hip Hop:

1991-92 Pro Set Super Stars MusiCards #112

The back of the card mentions his comic rhymes which is exactly Just a Friend is composed of.


The final card of his in my collection is this sticker autograph I purchased off of COMC right after I added the Topps First Pitch card to my collection:

2015 Panini Americana Signatures #S-BIZ

Panini doesn't waste any time mentioning his hit song, but they also write about his guest appearances on In Living Color as well as his work with my favorite group... The Beastie Boys.


If you're interested, here are songs he did with them:  The Biz vs. The Nuge, Intergalactic, and the cover of Elton John and Bernie Taupin's Benny and the Jets.

Rest in peace Biz!  I hope you're in a better place and you're up there hanging out with MCA, entertaining and making everyone around you smile... like you did for millions of people over the years.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

10 comments:

Elliptical Man said...

I paid my respects on Twitter.

SumoMenkoMan said...

He will be missed for sure. He is a fellow lefty it looks like.

defgav said...

Great cards. RIP Biz

P-town Tom said...

I don't sing along to many songs, but I do (with a smile) when Just a Friend is on the radio. My wife only owns two cards and they are both of Biz Markie. One is the 2015 Topps card you show and the other is from the 2018 A&G set.
RIP Biz

Matt said...

One of the reasons "Just A Friend" is such a great sing-along song is that anyone, no matter how good or bad of a singer you are, can sing that refrain. He was also a regular on the show "Yo Gabba Gabba" - which could never be mentioned enough in my opinion.

The Snorting Bull said...

I loved Biz Markie in middle school. Great cards, Fuji.

Jon said...

This was sad. He seemed like a cool guy. I own three out of his four Panini Black Friday Progressions, and was hoping to complete the rainbow, but his early passing might've thrown a monkey wrench in those plans.

Chris said...

Never seen that pro Set card before, it's fantastic. I remember a couple of his songs, mostly "Just a Friend" and the Yo Gabba Gabba beat boxing tutorials Matt alluded to. Sad news for sure.

Fuji said...

elliptical man - tried to find your tweet and like it, but came up short. i suck at the whole twitter thing.

sumomenkoman - i was totally gonna write about the lefty thing after watching the clip. guess i forgot.

defgav - one day we'll reminisce when you get to his card on your blog

p-town tom - i noticed that he has a ginter card. i'll probably try to add it to my collection at some point. as for that song, i think it's physically impossible to sing it without smiling

matt - you made a good point about singing ability. i think that's just one more thing that made that song so enjoyable. as for the yo gabba gabba piece of trivia, i saw that when i read an article about him. never saw the show before though.

the snorting bull - looks like i'm a few years older than you. i was in high school when i was singing that song

jon - dang. i hope you're able to find that last card eventually at a good price.

chris - i might have to look up those beat boxing tutorials on yo gabba gabba. i think the only reason i heard of the kids show was because it was featured on a few episodes of raising hope a few years ago

Spyda-Man said...

Nobody Beats The Biz!