Lovebug Starski
American hip hop musician (1960-2018) · United States · On the map · Musicians · Died at 57
Kevin Smith, best known by his stage name Lovebug Starski, was an American MC, musician, and record producer. He began his career as a record boy in 1971 as hip hop first appeared in the Bronx, and he eventually became a DJ at the Disco Fever club in 1978.
Lovebug Starski is read about 32 times a day, in 8 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 25 June 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
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About this person
He is one of two people who may have come up with the term "hip-hop". Starski claimed that he coined the phrase, while trading the two words back and forth, while improvising lines with Keef Cowboy of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, at a farewell party for a friend who was headed into the Army. In an interview with Dave Hill in the newspaper The Observer, Starski explained, "I picked up the mic and just started saying 'a hip hop, hip hop, de hibbyhibbyhibbyhibby hop'. The people couldn't believe it but it stuck."