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1 album / credit record(s) · Electro-Funk

Newcleus grew out of Jam-On Productions, a Brooklyn DJ/block-party crew formed in 1977 by teenager Ben 'Cozmo D' Cenac with his cousins Monique and Pete Angevin. By 1979 the recording lineup had settled around Cenac, his future wife Yvette 'Lady E' Cook, Monique Angevin, and Bob 'Chilly B' Crafton, and the group renamed itself Newcleus. Their breakout single 'Jam-On's Revenge' -- built around a sped-up vocal hook and the 'wikki-wikki' scratch-battle taunt -- was tacked onto a demo almost as an afterthought before becoming a Top 40 R&B hit in 1983 for producer Joe Webb's Sunnyview label; the group's biggest hit, 'Jam On It' (1984), reached the Billboard Hot 100. Two studio albums, Jam on Revenge (1984) and Space Is the Place (1985), followed, both steeped in vocoder-heavy, sci-fi-themed electro-funk. The 'Automan' sequencer line from Jam on Revenge was later reworked by Snap! for their 1990 hit 'The Power' and 1992's 'Rhythm Is a Dancer.'

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