Lafayette Afro Rock Band

The group was formed in Long Island, NY as the Bobby Boyd Congress; deciding America was already overloaded with funk acts, in 1971 they relocated to France, but when frontman [a=Bobby Boyd (2)] returned stateside the remaining members renamed themselves [a=Ice (3)] became the house session band at producer Pierre Jaubert's Parisound studio. Regularly performing live in Paris' Barbès district - an area made up primarily of African immigrants - the driving funk of Ice became increasingly influenced by African rhythms and textures, and in the wake of their 1973 debut LP [m269042], Jaubert changed the group's name to the Lafayette Afro Rock Band. In 1974 they released their second album 'Soul Makossa' (issued in the U.S. as [r=5474763]), highlighted by the oft-covered and much-sampled 'Hihache'. The follow-up, [m141728], featured the cut 'Darkest Light', its desolate saxophone intro later sampled for use by Public Enemy for track 'Show 'Em Whatcha Got'. With 1976's [m269040], the group reverted to the Ice moniker. In 1978 the band returned to America where they disbanded soonafter.
Though little known in their native U.S., the Lafayette Afro Rock Band was among the premier funk outfits of the 1970s, later becoming a seemingly endless source of samples and breaks for everyone from Wrecks-N-Effect to Janet Jackson.