Birth name Mark Griffin Role Musician Name MC Ft. | Years active 1989–1995 Occupation(s) Musician Music group The Telefones | |
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Born 1957 Labels I.R.S. RecordsAmerican RecordingsNettwerk Associated acts The TelefonesLithium X-Mas Genres Hip hop music, Jazz, Experimental music Albums Welcome to My Dream, One Step Ahead of the Spider, Hell with the Lid Off Similar Jack Dangers, Chris Douridas, Earl Harvin | ||
MC 900 Ft Jesus 02.03.2017 Kessler Theater Dallas Texas full show
Mark Griffin (born 1957), better known as MC 900 Ft. Jesus, is an American classically trained musician turned rapper and experimental musician. MC 900 Ft. Jesus' music is influenced by hip hop, incorporating many sound samples.
Contents
- MC 900 Ft Jesus 02032017 Kessler Theater Dallas Texas full show
- Mc 900 ft jesus w dj zero born with monkey asses
- Early life and education
- Career
- Retirement from music industry
- Coming Out of Retirement
- Name
- Albums
- Singles
- References
Mc 900 ft jesus w dj zero born with monkey asses
Early life and education
The son of an army officer, Griffin moved around quite a bit before settling in Dallas, Texas in 1979. Griffin studied the trumpet and has a BA in Music from Morehead State University as well as an advanced degree in music from North Texas State University. Before becoming MC 900 Ft. Jesus, Griffin played in local Dallas bands The Telefones and Lithium X-Mas.
Career
Hell with the Lid Off (1990) was Griffin's first full-length release for MC 900 Ft. Jesus as well as the first time Griffin had appeared on a major record label. Featuring DJ Zero (Patrick Rollins) and the single "Truth is Out of Style" which gained a cult following.
The following year Welcome to My Dream (1991) was released. DJ Zero appears on Welcome to My Dream under his real name, Patrick Rollins, because of uncertainty about whether he would have been able to tour in support of the album. His subsequent single, "The City Sleeps", was featured in the album in which explored the mind of a serial arsonist. The song sparked controversy in Baltimore when a then ABC affiliate, WJZ, ran a report suggesting that a series of arson in the area was a result of WHFS allowing the song play time.
His final album, One Step Ahead of the Spider, was released in 1994; it contained the single "If I Only Had a Brain", which became his best-known song. The song gained increased exposure from the music video directed for it by Spike Jonze, as well as exposure on MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head cartoon show. Rollins once again appears but is not listed in the credits.
Retirement from music industry
Griffin eventually became disillusioned with the music industry, and following unproductive sessions for his fourth album, felt he had taken his style of music as far as he wanted to go and overall losing interest in music citing alcoholism. Record label interest waned and eventually in 2001, Griffin officially retired. Needing a new direction, he gained his commercial pilot's license, hoping to become a flight instructor. However, when the September 11 attacks occurred, demand plummeted for flight instructors and Griffin was unable to find a job. Eventually, Griffin took a job at a Borders bookstore.
In 2007, he began DJing weekly at a Dallas music venue, Lee Harvey's, located in the Cedars neighborhood next to downtown.
Coming Out of Retirement
On November 26, 2016, Griffin announced via Facebook that he was set to perform a show at The Kessler Theater in Dallas with a quartet including Chris McGuire, Greg Beck, and Wanz Dover in hopes of kick-starting a tour as well as a possible fourth album with his former label Nettwerk of which had approached Griffin about. On February 3, 2017, the quartet played a sold-out concert performing several of the MC 900 songs, receiving a rapturous ovation.
Name
Griffin's stage name came from a sermon by Oral Roberts, in which the televangelist claimed that he had received a vision of a 900-foot-tall (270 m) Jesus, who commanded him to build a hospital on the campus of Oral Roberts University.