Eddie Cheeba was surely a legend in his time! The “in” spots of the time such as Small’s Paradise, Charles Gallery, Hotel Diplomat and Club 371, would hear Cheeba shouting into the mic: “Who makes it sweeter?” And everyone in the crowd would shout back “Cheeba, Cheeba, Cheeba!”…Cheeba is the credited creator of the old school rhyme, “It’s on and on and on on and on like the hot butter on the what?” And if you were in the club and down with Cheeba, you knew to shout out, “Popcorn!” “We had a book of ‘em”, Cheeba said in reference to the call and response tactics that he and his friend and partner, DJ Hollywood came up with.
The call and response style (back then called ‘house rockin’) that MC’s/DJ’s like Busy Bee, Kid Capri, Doug E Fresh, Kurtis Blow and Biz Markie are notorious for can be traced back to the smooth style of guys like Lovebug Starski, DJ Hollywood and of course…Eddie Cheeba.