R.I.P. Hitman Howie Tee

Golden era hip-hop producer Hitman Howie Tee passed on August 2nd at the age of 61. Tee was responsible for some of the most remembered songs of the ’80s and ’90s. Special Ed’s “I Got It Made,” “The Magnificent,” Chubb Rock (who is his first cousin)’s “Treat Em Right,” and Color Me Badd’s “I Wanna Sex You Up” are some of the songs from Tee’s catalog. He was born in England but raised in Brooklyn. It was 1985 when he collaborated with the late Kangol Kid of UTFO to write and produce “(Nothing Serious ) Just Buggin” for the R&B group Whistle. This connection to Select Records because of Whistle expanded, and Tee became the in-house producer for the label and went on to produce music for The Real Roxanne, Little Shawn, and E.S.P. Howie Tee’s output went beyond Select, and he worked with Father MC, Kashif, Full Force, Heavy D, Patra, Maxi Priest, and Madonna. He was another creative architect known more for his sound than his name. Tee was also an innovative DJ who created the Joe Cooley scratch.