Bobbito Garcia

Robert "Bobbito" Garcia (born September 25, 1966), also known as DJ Cucumber Slice[1] and Kool Bob Love,[2] is an American DJ, author, streetball player, streetball coach, and member of the Rock Steady Crew. He is known as a former co-host of hip hop radio show The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show, alongside Adrian "Stretch Armstrong" Bartos, from 1990 until 1999. He later moved to Washington, D.C., where he currently hosts a new podcast on NPR called What's Good? alongside Bartos.

Bobbito García
García in 2014
Born	Robert Garcia (1966-09-25) September 25, 1966 New York, New York, U.S.
Other names	Kool Bob Love DJ Cucumber Slice Bobbito the Barber DJ Bobby DoorKnob
Occupation	Disc jockey radio show host record producer author streetball player
Years active	1989–present
Known for	The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show
Musical career
Genres	East Coast hip hop underground hip hop
Instruments	Turntables
Labels	Fondle 'Em Def Jam
Associated acts	DJ Stretch Armstrong MF Doom

Early life

Garcia attended Lower Merion High School[3][4][5][6] and Wesleyan University (class of 1988).[7]

Music career

Garcia in 1997

Bobbito initially started as an intern at Def Jam Records.[7]

From 1990-98, Garcia co-hosted The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show on Columbia University's WKCR. It featured exclusive demo tapes and in-studio freestyles from many then-unsigned hip hop artists such as Nas, Big Pun, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Cam'ron, DMX, Wu-Tang Clan, Fugees, Talib Kweli, Big L and The Notorious B.I.G. who later found great success on major record labels.[8]

He set up the vinyl-only label Fondle 'Em Records in 1995 as an outlet for other guests such as MF DOOM, MF Grimm, Kool Keith and Cage. In 1998, The Source named The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show as the "Best Hip Hop Radio Show of All Time".[9]

In 2000, hip hop artist Necro included a Live freestyle from a Bobbito WKCR show recorded on 4/20/2000 on his debut album "I need Drugs". The two have collaborated as early as 1994. In 2003, García created Bounce: From the Playground, a quarterly magazine devoted to streetball, especially the playground scene in New York City. He has been an editor, writer, and photographer for the magazine, and has also done work for and been featured in magazines including Vibe and The Source.

He was featured in a 2002 article in Vibe Magazine.[10]

Film career

Garcia (right) and Stretch Armstrong DJing together in 2011

In 2015, Showtime premiered a feature-length documentary on Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives, directed and written by Garcia. Entitled Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives, the film includes interviews with Jay-Z, Nas, Eminem, Common, Fat Joe, Rosie Perez and DJ Premier, among others.[11]

In 2018, Garcia released his third documentary, Rock Rubber 45s. It serves as his most personal film to date. In an interview with HipHopDX, he explained, "There’s a great O.C. lyric from the song ‘Time’s Up’ where he goes, ‘The more emotion I put into it, the harder I rock.' That’s the sort of approach that I have with this film — that the more emotion that I put in, the better the film will be. You know you get one chance to do an autobiography, so I’ve decided to just bare all."[12]

Sneakers

Garcia hosted the ESPN Films It's the Shoes, interviewing celebrities about their sneaker collection. He was featured in the sneaker documentary Just for Kicks and performed the announcer's voice in NBA Street Vol. 2, NBA Street V3 and NBA Street Showdown. He is emcee of the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest in the video game NBA 2K8, 2K9 and 2K10. He wrote Where'd You Get Those?: New York City's Sneaker Culture 1960-1987[13] as well as Out of the Box, about limited edition sneakers.[14][15]

In 2007, he worked with Nike on limited edition Nike Air Force 1 and Air Force 25 models, selecting the colors, fabrics and logo used, and designed the "Project Playground" limited edition of the Adidas Superstar. In 2016, he collaborated with Puma for a brand of sneakers.[16]

Basketball

In 2006, Madison Square Garden Network hired García to do the "Hot Minute at the Half" reports with celebrities in the crowd during Knicks home games.

In 2009, he worked on Blokhedz animated web series on Missiong.com. Garcia is the annual Boost Mobile Elite 24 HS All-American Game play-by-play announcer for ESPNU, owner of the vinyl-only label/imprint Álala Records, and co-directing a documentary, Doin' It In The Park: Pick-up Basketball, New York City, produced by 360 Creative Films, which premiered in New York theaters in June 2013.[17] Bobbito has his own basketball tournament called Bob's Full Court 21, which he holds around the nation.[18]

References

1. "DJ Cucumber Slice Discography". Discogs.com. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
2. End credits, Doin' It in the Park: Pick-up Basketball, New York City
3. "Lower Merion School District: Lower Merion HS, ABC-LM to host screening of award-winning basketball documentary by Bobbito Garcia '84". Archived from the original on September 22, 2016.
4. "Sneakerheads Share Their Best Back to School MemoriesBobbito Garcia". Complex. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
5. "Aces Hoops - Bobbito Garcia aka Coolest Alumnus Ever makes return trip to LMHS". www.aceshoops.com. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
6. "Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Kool Bob Love". www.facebook.com. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
7. Gueraseva, Stacy (March 30, 2011). "Def Jam, Inc.: Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, and the Extraordinary Story of the World's Most Inf". Random House Publishing Group – via Google Books.
8. Bobbito Garcia in ego trip's Book of Rap Lists. Sacha Jenkins, Elliott Wilson, Chairman Mao, Gabriel Alvarez & Brent Rollins. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999 (pp. 110–11); ISBN 978-0-312-24298-5
9. "The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show". Hip-Hop Radio Archive. November 19, 1992. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
10. Group, Vibe Media (January 1, 2002). Vibe. Vibe Media Group – via Internet Archive.
11. Network, Showtime (2015). "Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives". Showtime. Archived from the original on January 11, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
12. https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.48438/title.bobbito-garcia-bares-all-in-rock-rubber-45s-documentary
13. Garcia, Bobbito (November 1, 2013). "Where'd You Get Those?: New York City's Sneaker Culture: 1960-1987". Testify Books, Incorporated – via Google Books.
14. Garcia, Bobbito; Semmelhack, Elizabeth (July 6, 2015). "Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture". Rizzoli International – via Google Books.
15. Janego, Jason. "The Original Sneakerhead Rejects the Hype—And Reimagines a Classic".
16. "PUMA x Bobbito Garcia Collab for Two New Pairs". August 26, 2016.
17. Doin' It In The Park: Pick-up Basketball, New York City, doinitinthepark.com; accessed January 26, 2016.
18. "Bobbito Garcia's Full Court 21 Tips Off in NYC on July 19". July 16, 2016.

External links

• CNN Headline News Feature