✊🏾 Rest in power Meta Mo of Rubberoom. The early 90's Chicago hip-hop pioneer was 52. | imLeor👇
In the early 90s, Chicago hip-hop first began making waves around the country. Several local acts put out albums on national labels in 1992: Smash Records released Ten Tray’s, and Relativity issued Common Sense’sbegan hosting an all-ages Sunday hip-hop night at Lakeview club Lower Links, which became a nucleus for the city’s growing grassroots scene.
Hines passed away at age 52 on Saturday, October 29, and no cause of death has been made public. But even now he continues to bring people together. Over the past couple weeks, Dirty MF has reconnected with lots of old friends from those days. “At the height of 90s hip-hop, we really, really, really would’ve bet the farm on them taking off, and they should have,” Zeke says. “I think the tragedy of the group was that they were so far ahead of their time.”
Budding hip-hop entrepreneur Jason “J-Bird” Cook learned of Rubberoom as they were taking shape. Gilmore had hired Cook to manage his solo career, and when he became the sixth member of the group, Cook came with him. Cook was impressed by how the MCs clicked. “The chemistry between all three of them being really different, and just them coming together, was something you don’t experience much,” Cook says. “You always knew when Meta came in. You always knew when he kicked off the track.
“It was always hard, being in Chicago, being hip-hop, getting record labels to pay attention—it was a grind for years,” Cook says. He worked with Johnson and Smith to figure out how to self-release Rubberoom’s music. “[We] did a lot of that side of it, learning, like, ‘How do you make a record? Where do you make a record? How do you make a record sound good on vinyl? How do you get it in stores?’”
Hines commanded respect on the mike; he could shift speeds cleanly midflow and concoct verses that astounded and amused his peers. He also advised others about their craft. Hines and Dirty MF were the shortest members of EONs, but they had the biggest voices—and that helped Hines figure out what his friend needed.
Hines could turn any place he went into a party. In the 90s, he and Zeke would perform on the sidewalk for anyone in earshot. “He and I would sit outside and sing Frank Sinatra songs in front of the liquor store, just to freak people out,” Zeke says. Hines loved Sinatra—he liked to sing “Strangers in the Night” and quote Ol’ Blue Eyes. “It’s not authentic unless you hear him, with that raspy voice, trying to sing Frank Sinatra,” Zeke says.
“He dedicated himself to making sure that I came outside every day,” Bell says. “He always came around to see if I was going out and living, and he made sure I did. As weird and awkward as it was, he literally came to my door and he held my hand, to my elevator, on my elevator, to my stairs, outside. He sat with me in the park. He watched me shake like a leaf, and he held my hand and told me it was gonna be OK. He said, ‘I’m here. I’m never gonna leave you.
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