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Damon Wimbley (born November 9, 1967), known professionally as Kool Rock-Ski, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and former member of the American hip hop trio The Fat Boys.

Genres: Hip hop, electro funk

Occupation(s): Rapper, songwriter

Years active: 1982-present

Labels: Kama Sutra Records, Tin Pan Apple, Polydor, PolyGram Records

Early Life and Career

Damon Wimbley was born on November 9, 1967, in Brooklyn, New York, NY, to Sweetie and Leroy Wimbley. He attended George Gershwin Junior High School and Thomas Jefferson High School. In his early teens, he met two kids who would become his musical collaborators, Darren Robinson and Mark Anthony Morales, all three living on the same block, Schenck Avenue, in Brooklyn, New York. His career began in the early 1980s alongside Darren Robinson and Mark Anthony Morales, the trio establishing themselves initially as The Disco 3. After participating in and winning a contest called The Tin Pan Apple After Dark Dance & Rap Contest, put on in 1983 by Swiss producer Charles Stettler, culminating in a performance at Radio City Music Hall, the group quickly rose to fame. Wimbley was only 16 when The Fat Boys gained mass popularity, going on an international tour organized by their then-manager Charles Stettler, the same person who had organized the Tin Pan Apple After Dark Dance & Rap Contest.

Later Career

By 1984, the Fat Boys had participated in national marketing campaigns and had been featured in several movies, the trio’s first role being in the 1985 musical comedy-drama Krush Groove. By the mid-to-late 1980s, the group had begun releasing covers of surf-rock songs that had been popular in the 1950s and 1960s, their cover of the surf-rock classic Wipeout becoming a top 20 hit. This prompted a change in reputation among their hip hop peers. In a 2010 made for TV documentary which chronicles the career and legacy of The Fat Boys, Wimbley reflects on this era of the trio’s career, saying “You go from having a ninety, ninety five percent all-Black audience, then you go back on tour with the success of Wipeout, now it’s fifty-fifty because of the song being so huge. ” Two years after the release of “Wipeout,” the Fat Boys disbanded. Without Morales, Wimbley and Robinson went on to release one more record, “Mack Daddy,” in 1991. After two decades, Morales and Wimbley reunited with rapper Doug E. Fresh to perform classic Fat Boys songs in 2010. In the last decade, Wimbley has made several appearances on radio shows and interviews to talk about his career with the Fat Boys. In 2021, he mentioned aspirations to get a Fat Boys documentary released. Wimbley is still active on social media, and regularly posts about the Fat Boys, and also produces Fat Boys merchandise which he promotes via Instagram. He has been featured on multiple records within the last year, collaborating with New York rappers City the Great and Kokane in 2022. He is also the host of the annual Classic Hip-Hop and R&B Cookout in New York City, which began in the summer of 2021.

Discography

Studio Albums with The Fat Boys

Fat Boys (1984, Sutra)

The Fat Boys Are Back (1985, Sutra)

Big & Beautiful (1986, Sutra)

Crushin' (1987, Tin Pan Apple/Polydor/PolyGram)

Coming Back Hard Again (1988, Tin Pan Apple/Polydor/PolyGram)

On and On (1989, Tin Pan Apple/Mercury/PolyGram)

Mack Daddy (1991, Ichiban)

Featured On

Respectfully Yours with City the Great (2022)

The Wordsmith with City the Great (2022)

Hush with Kokane (2022)

Filmography

Krush Groove (1985)

Knights of the City (1986)

Disorderlies (1987)