38 Facts About Paul C

Paul C McKasty, better known as Paul C, was an American East Coast hip hop pioneer, producer, engineer, and mixer in the 1980s.

Paul C developed an interest in music from his older brother Michael, who was a guitarist, and Tim, who worked as a recording engineer at 1212 Studio in Queens.

Band member Lindley Farley credits Paul C for being the group's best live performer during their early shows.

Paul C eventually moved his production setup out to his garage and was later introduced to rapper Michael Deering, aka Mikey D, by Eddie and Will.

Paul C started working at 1212 Studio in Queens after dropping by the studio to purchase a keyboard voice synthesizer.

Paul C started doing sessions and generally took off from there.

On "Bust A Rhyme Mike", Paul C showed an advanced understanding of the E-mu SP-12 sampler, as he recorded Mikey D making three different percussion sounds with his mouth and wove them together into a beat.

Paul C impressed Mikey D with his ability to take vocal sounds from beatboxer Rahzel, change their pitch, then turn them into a fluid bassline on "I Get Rough".

Paul C caught something from what Rahzel did earlier like a bass and then he played it himself.

Paul C worked as a producer and engineer for numerous other hip-hop acts.

Paul C has only one credit as a producer on Critical Beatdown, for the track "Give the Drummer Some", but according to group members Paul C was responsible for the overall sound of the album.

DJ Moe Love said that Paul C played a pivotal role in the song's creation, even coming up with the hook.

Paul C preferred to work without contracts, so he often did not receive credit for his production work.

Paul C helped engineer additional songs for the Kwame the Boy Genius: Featuring a New Beginning album, as Kwame recorded six out of the eight songs from the album during the same session, which lasted from midnight until eight in the morning.

Paul C worked for many other artists including Grandmaster Caz, Super Lover Cee and Casanova Rud, Stezo and Rahzel.

The group recorded a demo with Paul C that caught the attention of several people in the industry, including Mr Walt of the Beatminerz.

In 1989, Paul C did some engineering work on Queen Latifah's All Hail The Queen album, including recording the vocals for Mark The 45 King on "A King and Queen Creation".

Paul C recorded extensively with the Boston rap group The Almighty RSO the week before his murder.

Besides working with the cream of the crop in hip hop, Paul C did two remixes for the American rock group Devo with the songs "Disco Dancer" and "Baby Doll".

Paul C's status began to grow and he was hired to work for higher-profile artists.

Paul C was planning on producing more songs for the group and for Queen Latifah, Biz Markie, and Large Professor's group Main Source.

Paul C was known for his innovative use of the E-mu SP-12 and E-mu SP-1200 samplers.

Paul C served as a mentor to Large Professor in the use of the SP-1200, lending Large Professor the machine for a two-week period.

Paul C uses the 1200 in some of his studio sessions with other artists and is currently experimenting with sampling from Spotify into the SP.

Paul C was known for his large collection of hard-to-find records.

Paul C had a reputation for taking meticulous care of his vinyl.

Complex credited Paul C for introducing chopping and panning samples into hip hop music production.

Paul C started with the snare, then the hi-hats and then put the kick drum in.

On Monday, July 17,1989, Paul C was shot to death in Rosedale, Queens, at the age of 24.

Paul C's murder was featured on America's Most Wanted, leading to the arrest of Derrick "Little Shine" Blair in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Several artists that Paul C worked with, including Super Lover Cee and Casanova Rud, were questioned as suspects after Paul C's murder.

Paul C remembers the police being very aggressive, kicking his chair, and not letting him use the bathroom during questioning.

The Almighty RSO group gave Paul C a ride home after their final session together the night of his murder.

Large Professor said that Paul C would "be right up there with Rick Rubin" if he were still alive today.

Spin magazine wrote in 2009 that if Paul C lived he would have achieved a level of success similar to DJ Premier.

Paul C went on to become a well-known producer and emcee.

Kool Keith, Pharoahe Monch, and Rahzel credit Paul C with helping them to grow as artists.

Critical Beatdown was re-released in 2004 with the non-album singles that Paul C produced as bonus tracks.