One of the first groups on record, The Treacherous Three recorded for both the original labels (Enjoy & Sugar Hill) and introduced a faster style of rapping (dubbed speed rapping) that influenced the later course of hip hop.

Formed by a trio of Harlem high school friends – Kool Moe Dee, LA Sunshine plus DJ Easy Lee.  The group picked up Bronx-based MC Special K and became The Treacherous Three.  

Just after the group began forming in 1978, they learned another friend Spoonie Gee, who’d recorded his first single, was about to record for Bobby Robinson’s Enjoy label.

They practiced for months (with Kool Moe Dee working on speed raps) and recorded “The New Rap Language,” which fiurnished the b-side for Spoonie Gee’s 1980 single “Rap Love.”

“The New Rap Language” upped the ante for all other rappers, and sparked a pair of Enjoy classics “The Body rock” and At The Party.”

By 1981, The Treacherous 3 had moved to Sugar Hill, following Enjoy act Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five.  The singles “Feel the Heart Beat” and “Whip It” were classic party jams.

One of their live jams with Funky Four Plus One appeared on a long-playing 12” titled Live Convention ’81 (Disco Wax), and made the trio to jump to the big screen with 1984’s Beat Street, in which they performed “Xmas rap” with the debut of Doug E. Fresh.