01/07/2026
🎤✨ Forgotten Gem:
Ever meet somebody who could spin a fairy tale and a street tale in the same verse, all while sounding like he just stepped out of a London black cab—though he was really from the Walt Whitman projects in Fort Greene, Brooklyn?
That’s Dana Dane, the 80’s MC who proved you didn’t need a British passport to rock a dope accent. 🇬🇧🗽
Quick rewind:
• 1985: drops the spooky-story single “Nightmares” (if you heard it, you still remember the creaking bed).
• 1987: debut album Dana Dane With Fame goes gold—the first solo Brooklyn rap LP to do it. 🏆
• Stand-out cut: “Cinderfella Dana Dane,” a hip-hop Cinderella spoof that cracked the Top 15 on Billboard’s R&B chart and had every block party singing along.
• Follow-ups: Dana Dane 4 Ever (1990) and Rollin’ Wit Dana Dane (1995), plus a 2002 “Best Of” that’s perfect for late-night nostalgia spins. 📀
Where is he now?
Swapped the stage for the studio lot in L.A. 📽️
• Runs his own media company, Def Beat Entertainment.
• Published two novels (Numbers & Dwaffes), produced indie films, and spent six years hosting on Sirius XM’s classic-hip-hop channel.
• Still tours with old-school super-group The Alumni (Special Ed, Chubb Rock, Kwamé & more).
• And—because 2020 needed one more surprise—he launched “Fan-A-Cake,” a gadget that lets you blow out birthday candles without sharing germs. 🎂🤷♂️
So if your playlist is stuck on repeat, do yourself a favor: cue up “Cinderfella,” turn the volume way up, and remember the guy who made fractured fairy tales sound fly.
Drop a 🐺 if Dana Dane ever rocked your box, and tag a friend who still says “…and then I woke up!” in that fake British drawl. 😂
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