Mark Duffus, also known as Sure Shot and Blak Prophetz, is a British rapper and producer from the West Midlands in England where he formed the group Blak Prophetz in the early 1980s.
History
Since 1979, Duffus has been a rapper, songwriter, record producer, drummer and DJ whose inspiration came from his father, who was also a DJ from Jamaica. Other tracks by Sure Shot under a different name i.e. the Audio Kingz appear on an album titled The Wheel Project released by Ruff N Ready Records in 1990. The initial song was named "The Sure Shot Dope Tracks Pt 1".
The early 1990s
Blak Prophetz' first known track was called "Fax on Wax" which was released by the London record label Kickin Records, now considered rare and has fetched up to £30 in auctions.
During the song's verses, Duffus made references to early rap groups like the Sugarhill Gang and Cold Crush Brothers. It achieved a number 9 in the UK Echo's Jazz Charts which was compiled by Steve Chandler in the 18 May edition of Echoes magazine in 1991. John Mayor, a contributing writer for Mixmag, described the song as a "cool jazz attack for Ladbroke Grove's pavement posse."
John Slater, a reviewer for Hip Hop Connection magazine researched Duffus's past and during the review he touched on how his parents travelled from Jamaica in the '50s and how his father, who was a DJ, inspired his love for making music. Slater also went on to describe how Duffus was regularly tasked with "humping massive sound systems around" with his father. These would have been large speakers often carried around when his father was doing a show or was involved in a possible sound clash.
He eventually left Kickin Records to sign a new record deal with London's new hip hop record label Kold Sweat Records based in Ladbroke Grove. Kold Sweat was run by Tony Powell who was also the Managing director of Pinnacle Entertainment and was home to some of the UK's prime hip hop acts of that era including the Son of Noise. Their new single titled "Chapter One" was recorded in 1992 and shortly after this release, Duffus decided to relocate to London to pursue his musical career.
Kenny Grogan, another writer for Mixmag, featured the new song in the April edition awarding the song a 4 out of 5 rating. With an ending remark "mooody", Grogan expressed his acknowledgement of the decreasing hip hop vinyl saying "homegrown hip hop is hard to find". He praised the existence of the song and went on to say: "It should help the rest of the world of decreasing hip hop vinyl".
The mid-1990s
Whilst Blak Prophetz was working on new material, Kold Sweat decided to close their doors for business for good but this did not stop him from pursuing his career. In 1998, he decided to release a new single via his own production outfit called 'Fatt Jointz' or 'FJ Entertainment' called "Money & Guns" which caught the attention of well known DJs including Tim Westwood of BBC Radio 1. Westwood included the single in his favorite 'Top 10 Flava's Singles', describing the Prophetz as "old skool survivors" and praised Duffus's reshuffle of the band and previous relocation to London.
A new article by a reporter called Tee Max from Echoes magazine focused on Duffus's new life in London, his settling into the London life and becoming a father for the first time. "Money and Gunz" grew popular in his hometown back in the Midlands as Max would continuously make reference to the fact that it was a favourite on Birmingham's Choice FM DJ One Step Ahead show. Duffus's extensive record collection would often pop up during the discussion as his huge vinyl stack was the backdrop of the interview photo but he was secretive about which samples he used.
In November that same year, a writer named Mike Lewis of Hip Hop Connection drew on a more serious issue which was affecting British hip hop acts throughout the UK during that period. Lewis knew that many UK acts were finding it almost impossible to gain recognition overseas and that UK hip hop was somewhat struggling for exposure. It was a touchy subject that was not usually openly discussed in the media by UK rap artists but during the interview the Prophetz were not afraid to speak openly about this issue.
