What Was The First Hip-Hop Record You Liked?

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The dance thread got some very interesting responses, I think, so I thought I'd spin the question into another genre - and yes, Ally, there is an assumption that hip-hop wasn't the initial interest of the posters here. I *know* that's not true for a handful of people.

But anyway, here we go.

― Tom, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

To be honest, it was Blondie's "Rapture". Then some other things like Grandmaster Flash, "Walk this way", "Paid in Full" without actually forming an idea about "Hey this rap thing is pretty interesting." Only with "It Takes A Nation of Millions..." I really "got" Hip Hop. That was the so-called gateway record or epiphany we talked about in the dance thread.

― Omar, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hasn't been released and I doubt it ever will. So there.

― Phil Paterson, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Walk This Way" by Run-DMC. Melle Mel's "White Lines" had actually been a pretty big radio hit in Montreal a couple years earlier, but I shamefully failed to recognize its greatness at the time. My first hip hop album was Licensed To Ill.

― Patrick, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Are the Rocksteady Crew considered to be hiphop?? That was the first record I consciously remember as 'being my favourite song in the whole wide world ever' for at least a while (although since then there's also been a period that I though the same thing about King's Love And Pride and Baltimore's Tarzan Boy). So, inevitably that would make it also the first hiphop-record I ever loved. And otherwise it's the Fatboys. You know, the one with Chubby Checker...

― Joris Gillet, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It Takes A Nation of Millions ...

― Otis Wheeler, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Low End Theory

― Josh, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

single: run dmc - 'king of rock'

full-length album: public enemy - it takes a nation of millions

phil: long-haired jefferson airplane fan

― ethan padgett, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I dont remember listening to much rap music until I was about 11 and I heard my brothers copy of BDP's "By all means necessary"...Of course it was the swearing that attracted me to it first but it was definitely my gateway rap record

― Michael Bourke, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Damn you and your referencing me in the question.

Hmmm! I suppose if I have to pull down to the very first one, it'd either be Blondie's Rapture or maybe White Lines - I never really viewed different genres of music as being different genres when I was a kid, so I liked basically everything I heard on the radio, except for Rod Stewart. It wasn't til I was older that all the "Guns 'n' Roses are for THIS type of person, rap is a NAUGHTY form of music, pop is for AIRHEADS" sort of generalizations got to me, but I reckon that's the case with most people.

― Ally, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I can't claim Blondie because I never thought of it that way. In fact, of all the Blondie songs at the time of their being big hits, I think that was the one I only heard once or twice for reason.

Therefore, Newcleus' peerless hip-hop/electro slice of crazyness "Jam On It." So incredible even upstate New York spring 1984 had to give in.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

First hip-hop single I liked was "Roxanne, Roxanne" by UTFO cira 1983 (I'm not going to count Blondie, though I liked it.) I first heard it when they performed on public access in my Midwestern town! First full-length would have to be King Of Rock by Run-D

― Mark Richardson, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Er... Well, the first hip-hop I liked (well, at least the first one I like which I recognised as hip-hop) is the one that hip-hop historians do not like to mention... "Buffalo Gals" by Malcom McLaren and The World Famous Supreme team!! Which is a bit of a shame, as despite being an obvious UK pop version of hip-hop, it was probably more "underground" than any actual US hip-hop record made at the time (mid 1982) with loads of dub effects, scratching and pretty meaty drumbeats that were miles away from the electro sound of it's contempary "Planet Rock", and nearer the sound of the underground mixtapes that influenced the likes of Run DMC. (I think the scratching on the record even predates Grandmaster Flash doing "Wheels of Steel", and he basically invented most of it...)

Old Fart!!!!

― Old Fart!!!, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hmmm, I've never actually got a hip hop album, when I was at high school someone leant me a badly dubbed NWA album, and I was like "it's alright, but why do they swear all the time?". If I look through my record collection the one slighty hip hop song I have is "I'm the man" by Anthrax, but that's not a great song! Anyhows, some of Dr Dre's videos are cool, I liked the "Last Episode".

― jel, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"It's Tricky"; I sang it with a friend at a talent show in 1st grade - - take that, anyone who's ever doubted my hip hop cred.

You'd have to flash forward 5 years to "Scenario" for the next one I really liked...although now I pretty much like anything in between.

― Larmey, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

RUN DMC/Aerosmith - Walk this Way if that counts, otherwise Beastie Boys - You Gotta Fight... if that counts, otherwise definitely EPMD - You Gots To Chill.

― Kris, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Come to think of it, it's true - hip-hop wasn't my initial interest.

Adam Ant, AntRap.

― the pinefox, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Another vote for "Roxanne, Roxanne" by UTFO, which is the first rap I ever remember *hearing*, unless you count "Rapture".

And "Rapture" wouldn't get my vote -- I have always found it a little too stilted and awkward, the self-concious attempt of a great band trying too hard to be hip. The "Music" of it's time.

― Nicole, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Uh. Fairly late in the game -- Run-DMC's "Walk This Way" (the album) but only ten years+ after it was released. Then, Outkast's first album, about three years after it was released. Hip hop, for me, unlike the techno/house/electronic spectrum, ended up being mainly a dancefloor revelation -- going to parties with Hip-Hop DJs was the only way that it began to make sense to me. I do recall a lightly passing interest in LL Cool J's "Doin' It" as well as some early Will Smith stuff, but neither was exactly a gateway.

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the answer would be doug e. fresh & the get fresh crew's "the show." flipping through the radio in 1985, i came across a song that replayed the theme from "inspector gadget" and it was so much fun and i'd never heard anything else quite like it. the beginning, if you will, of an era for me.

― fred "the king of rock" solinger, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"night of the living baseheads." is it me or were videos better in the 80s?

― sundar subramanian, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

sundar,

yes, videos were better in the 80s (though "black steel..." is my favorite p.e. video. totally badass). the technology has increased exponentially, unfortunately the creativity hasn't kept pace.

― fred solinger, Wednesday, 28 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Showing my (lack of) age somewhat, first singles would be 2pac's "California Love" and Biggie's "Mo Money Mo Problems" (their deaths convinced me that hip hop and I were not meant to be together. That kind of shit made us not want to meet eachother). First albums were Missy Elliot's "Supa Dupa Fly" and Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Lynx". If Tricky counts, he beat all of them, but in my head he doesn't.

― Tim, Thursday, 1 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The first song I really remember loving is Doug E Fresh and the Get Fresh Crews' "The Show (Oh, My God)", but I remember Grandmaster Flash "The Message" (ironically not anything to do with him) being played on the radio as a very wee nipper, but not really loving it until I heard it rejigged on the old green cross advert - you know the one: "Don't cross before you have looked both ways..." or something like that! Anyone remember the actual lyrics to this most unlikely of pairings?

― Chewshabadoo, Thursday, 1 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nation Of Millions. I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard it. I'd borrowed a tape and started with side 2 for some reason so the first track I actually heard was "Night Of The Living Bassheads".

Before that I don't remember being hostile to hip-hop but on the other hand I didn't really hear any of it.

― Tom, Thursday, 1 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

First record as in single would definitely be "The Message".

First record as in entire album... hmm. The first hip-hop record I owned was _Licensed To Ill_, but I don't remember if I got that before or after hearing Public Enemy's _Yo! Bum Rush The Show_.

― Dan Perry, Thursday, 1 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Don't step out when you're close to the edge, something something something"

Oh well, it started OK. I'd have to go with Rock Steady Crew, as featured on NOW 1, as first song featuring what could be described as rap, or Wham Rap possibly, although Smiley Culture could also feature. 3 feet high and rising was the first rap record i bought though, didn't get into PE til quite a bit later.

As an aside, having failed to track down the green cross code lyrics via google, i came across this. Hey yeah, 70s disco classics are just what we need to teach the kids how to cross the road...

― carsmilesteve, Thursday, 1 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Saw that bloody "Stayin' Alive" PIF last autumn. Looked like something from the mid-80s, but then all PIFs do these days :).

Oh and Steve, the "Message"-sampling PIF is on the "Charley Says" video, which is probably the best way of discovering the words :).

― Robin Carmody, Thursday, 1 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Right, I'll answer the bloody question now (I only write in TV Cream terms when other people raise the issues, then I can't resist it).

The records that resonated with me as a Top 40 pop listener 10 years or so ago - De La Soul's "Ring Ring Ring", Snap's "The Power" if it counts (Eurorap at its hardest-sounding, even now), the odd PE track like "Shut 'Em Down", some of the appalling Hammer / Vanilla fodder - should be fairly familiar. Later, the first single that crossed over enough to really excite me was "Regulate" and then, at a phase of more advanced interest, "California Love". My first album might well have been, somewhat shamefully, "Wu-Tang Forever", though "... Nation of Millions ..." would have followed very soon after.

― Robin Carmody, Thursday, 1 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Not suprisingly, a Public Enemy album. Imagine a Black Planet and It Takes a Nation of Millions.

The first hip hop album I ever bought was the black eyed peas self titled album.

― Luptune Pitman, Friday, 2 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

California Love, odd it'd come up because once my parents let go of their iron-anti-rap grip that'd developed from about 88 - 94 or 95, I played that song non-stop. There are no rap songs besides California Love. I could be shot dead this instant, and if California Love was playing, I'd die happy. In fact, I'd go so far to say that there are virtually no other songs, period, besides California Love. Genius - when the bass and piano come swaggering in like John Wayne on a bender, it's simply the best moment ever and I never tire of it.

I always wondered why my parents took issue with rap but not with the extrodinarily depressing, suicidal music I was allowed to listen to. Hell, to this day, my sisters are barely allowed rap - Eminem was forcibly taken from one.

― Ally, Friday, 2 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Y'all are so WHITE!!! :-)

The first hip hop album that knocked my socks off was "No Need for Alarm" by Del the Funky Homosapien. Absolutely incredible battle rhymes, mostly freestyled, jaw-dropping goodness.

― Clarke B., Sunday, 11 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

midnight marauders rocks, swings and jiggles like a bobby-soxer with an icecube down her back. impish joy bubbling up through the head bopping beats on the waxing lyrical, ifyouknowhatimeanlike! Everyone who agrees shake your head to the right.

― Bluegerm, Saturday, 24 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

three weeks pass...

Definitely "The Message".

― Sean Carruthers, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

None.

― hmm, Tuesday, 12 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

Either "Rightstarter (Message to a Black Man)" by P.E. or "Goin Back to Cali" by L.L. I heard them both the same summer.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 13 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Eminems Marshall Mathers
Because i could eqaute it with Johnny Cash

― anthony, Friday, 13 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

First rap song I liked: "Roxanne, Roxanne" and the follow-ups. Close second was "Top Billing" by Audio2.

First rap record I liked: "Straight Outta Compton."

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Friday, 13 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yet another vote for "Roxanne Roxanne"!
First hip-hop album bought was 'Smoke Some Kill' by Schooly D, for all the honorable reasons you might expect. "You're a faggot, your dad's a faggot, and your sister's so low, she'd suck the dick of a little maggot"

― tarden, Friday, 13 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Just realizing that the summers I heard Cali and Righstarter were about 5 yrs apart. So: Cali. But I didn't get really bitten by the bug until summer of 1988 when I heard Yo Bum Rush the Show in its entirety.

Just picked up Schooly D's "PSK" b/w "Gucci Time" the other day for 45 rpm fun. Fuckin annoying how it's not "in time".

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 13 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I thought I'd try to upstage any possible response by saying Fatback Band's "King Tim III" (or whatever it's called), but actually (1) I'd heard a lot of hip-hop by the time I found that one in a cut-out bin, and (2) it kind of sucks.

So, first hip-hop record I liked: Sugarhill Gang's "Rappers' Delight"; first I loved: Spoonie Gee's "Love Rap."

Most amusing response so far, "You people are so white." Meaning what? That while white people were listening to Grandmaster Flash, that blacks were listening the Del tha Funkee Homosapien? A cosmically intriguing fact, if true.

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 13 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

In further retrospect, hip-hop beats are deeply ingrained in me. Which is to say that I learned to dance to hip-hop music. So while I never followed the stuff outside the dancefloor, I was already "receptive" in the sense that I couldn't get my groove on to anything else. Thus when I stopped listening exclusively to indie-wank, hip-hop was a natural progression. You can watch me dance (to anything) and see the hip-hop sensibility. I have a friend who grew up on ska & ska-inflected punk, and he dances in that fashion to anything. So this seems to be sort of a fairly universal phenom.

― Sterling Clover, Saturday, 14 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

ten months pass...

Grandmaster Flash + Melle Melle 'White Lines (don't do it)', also the first 12" single I ever bought. Some early hip-hop stuff Peel played intrigued me but it was 'White Lines', especially that bass line, that really hit home.

Yesterday, 15 years on, I heard Liquid L iquid's 'Cavern' for the first time, an early 80s NYC minimalist funk track that 'White Lines' heavily samples, including that bass line.

― stevo, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't have any hip hop records, so I'll say anthrax and public enemy: bring the noise.

― jel --, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I was 16 or so when I appreciated my first hip hop record. I had liked a few select singles before this, but only at a novelty level. I had grown up to that point listening to mostly old-school punk rock and 2-tone ska music.. I suppose it was a combination of 2 records, 36 Chambers and Bacdafucup by Onyx.. Wu-Tang had complex and rich-sounding beats which I hadn't noticed before, and Onyx were hardcore enough, lyrically, to appeal to my tastes on that level.. before these records I was a pretty extreme rockist. I heard hip hop a lot, but it never really clicked, I didn't understand the appeal.. these were the first hip hop albums that just made sense, musically, in my mind.

Now, hip hop makes up the majority of what I listen to.

― Bobby D. Gray, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If by record you mean single, then it would probably be Sugar Hill Gang "Rapper's Delight", which I remember liking when it came out on the radio - I must have been about 10 yrs old at the time. If you mean album, then the first hip-hop records I owned were Beastie Boys' "License to Ill" and Run-DMC's "Raising Hell" - one on each side of a C90 cassette.

― o. nate, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Does Kurtis Blow "These are the Breaks" count or is that proto-? I remember hearing a music critic (probably Ken Tucker) on the radio playing and talking about Grandmaster Flash's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel," and I remember finding it interesting (the concept), but not exactly liking it. So the real answer is probably either "The Message" or "White Lines."

― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember getting turned on to "White Lines", "King of Rock", and "Paul Revere" all around the same time in junior high (hey man, we got FUNKY at those bar mitzvah parties!) but I think the first hip hop album I actually owned and "got" was Digital Underground's "Sex Packets", which I adore to this day. I got "It Takes a Nation of Millions" and "3 Feet High and Rising" shortly thereafter, and then I heard "Straight Outta Compton" and it was all over.

― Shaky Mo Collier, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Roots Manuva's "Juggle Tings Proper", if only cos it was the first time I'd ever heard someone say they were from South London like they were proud of it... made me feel so happy.

― Mr Swygart, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I can't believe no one else has said "De La Soul".

Anyway, first rap I became aware of on radio was "The Message" played by John Peel ... I liked very much but didn't have the faintest what it was or how to get some.

I also became aware of Newcleus's Jam On It 'cos of the hip-hop kids at school. I knew I liked this electro stuff, when I caught it on the playing out of their beat-boxes or on the radio. But didn't know it ... what to buy etc.

Then I remember recording some of Tim Westwood's show, with UTFO & Dr. Ice, and some DJ mixes which included Buffalo Girls etc. But hip- hop was still an alien world to me.

The first rap album I bought : 3 Feet High and Rising because I fell in love with "Eye Know" at a party. Soon after that I started listening to John Peel mainly for the rap tracks ... got into Gang Starr this way. My friend copied me Fear of a Black Planet and Takes A Nation of Millions. And I was a PE fan. Suddenly half the albums I was buying were hip-hop.

― phil, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

First one I liked: Raising Hell Run DMC.
First one I loved: Fear of a Black Planet Public Enemy.
First one I came to worship with all my heart: Hipocrisy is the Greatest Luxury The DHH.
And when I'm pissed off: O.G. Original Gangster Ice T.

― Lord Custos X, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

First album I (vaguely) remember hearing: The Beat Street soundtrack.
First single I liked: RUN-D.M.C., "King of Rock"
First tape that led me to believe that I should probably seek out more of this rap stuff: BDP, "Edutainment" (yeah it ain't KRS' best but that Skatalites sample on the title track RULES SHIT)
First tape I damn near wore out my Walkman playing after coming to the revelation that hip-hop was just as interesting if not moreso than listening to rock: De La Soul Is Dead.

― Nate Patrin, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

Hands down, King Tim III was the 1st and still the best for me. I'd also include "Charley Says". We used to step so high to those tracks they built a space shuttle to bring us back down! I think you had to be there when these grooves hit. There was nothing like it at the time, nothing. Same props go to Mclaren's Buffalo Gals (as "ol fart" points out) even though I think Flash's "Wheels of steel" is a whole ton better and definitly wore that one out back in the day. peace.

― Chill gee, Sunday, 22 May 2005 05:47 (twenty years ago)

c.1981. late at night. the "god of cool" (ie my girlfriends last boyfriend) had given us lines of mda. he was standing cool, playing us his faves. we were off our tits. happy.

the message. i had never heard anything like it.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Sunday, 22 May 2005 06:01 (twenty years ago)

first single: regulate or insane in the brain
first album: erm, ill communication
first good album: 3 feet high

― Sym Sym (sym), Sunday, 22 May 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

Probably Ice T's OG. I can distinctly remember listening to that record. Weird.

― nathalie's baby (stevie nixed), Sunday, 22 May 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

c.1981. late at night. the "god of cool" (ie my girlfriends last boyfriend) had given us lines of mda. he was standing cool, playing us his faves. we were off our tits. happy.

MDA was available then?!?!?!

― A homunculus of Darby Crash, .... created for the purposes of *EVIL* (ex machina, Sunday, 22 May 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

The first hip-hop songs I remember liking were "White Lines," and "Jam On It" by Newcleus, both of which were on the radio at more or less the same time. I don't remember any other rap records from that time (roughly 1983), so either they weren't playing any others on the radio station I heard, or the ones they were playing were unmemorable. The first record I actually bought was Run-DMC's Raising Hell, and after that Public Enemy's Yo! Bum Rush The Show and Ice-T's Rhyme Pays. I remember being in summer school between sophomore and junior year of high school, and the cassette case fell out of my backpack onto the floor, and the black girl sitting next to me went all bug-eyed at the idea of this skinny white kid in the Judas Priest T-shirt listening to Public Enemy.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Sunday, 22 May 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

As a kid I remember actively liking "Rappers' Delight" and "The Message". Then the teen metal years hit and I stopped liking anything un-metal. When that wore off the first stuff I remember liking would've been Cool J's "I'm Bad" and PE's "You're Gonna Get Yours". "You're Gonna Get Yours" was the first Hip Hop record I bought.

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Sunday, 22 May 2005 18:22 (twenty years ago)

Oops, I forgot "Walk This Way", which appealed to the rocker and the getting interested in other stuff sides of me.

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Sunday, 22 May 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

MDA was available then?!?!?!

How sarcastic are you? It was totally available then. I remember news stores on 60 Minutes or the like c. 1982 talking about 'this amazing therapy drug'...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 22 May 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

I remember some badass older kids -- ninth graders -- taking something called MDA in 1971! It was probably watered-down LSD.

"Birthday Party" by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious 5 was the first rap record I really liked. "Rappers Delight" was OK as a novelty. Bought a copy of Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks" in 1980 after reading about it in The Village Voice but it sure didn't live up to the hype.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Sunday, 22 May 2005 18:37 (twenty years ago)

warren g and nate dogg - regulate

― elwisty (elwisty), Sunday, 22 May 2005 20:00 (twenty years ago)

The first one I heard, at the height of the breakdance craze. I liked hip-hop back then. Which hip-hop song was the first one I liked depends on how you define hip-hop. If "Hey You (Rocksteady Crew)" was a hip-hop song, then it was the first one I liked.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 22 May 2005 20:16 (twenty years ago)

The first hip hop record I actually liked was TLC's first album.

― Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 22 May 2005 20:22 (twenty years ago)

Hip hop was originally an umbrella term for NYC street culture, born and bred in the boogiedown Bronx. Hip hop = DJing ("scratching") rapping, grafitti, breakdancing. DJs were at the creative center of the action until the record industry moved in and rappers came to the fore. Hence the genre known through the 80s and early 90s as rap music. Sometime after that, around the rise of Tupac, Biggie and Puff Dad, the music came to be known as hip-hop rather than rap.

I make no proprietary claim here, I'm just a white fanboy. Call it wtf you want. But to me the term hiphop -- like the Beats in literature amd Bebop in jazz-- at heart will always call to mind this cultural moment, a movement generated by a specific cast of characters in a certain time and place. Of course its influence and inheritance continues. And you don't stop.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Sunday, 22 May 2005 20:42 (twenty years ago)

the Office Space soundtrack was the first hip-hop heavy album I ever bought.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Sunday, 22 May 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

Dr. Octagon here.

― Telephonething, Sunday, 22 May 2005 21:07 (twenty years ago)

Run DMC's "It's Like That," Newcleus' "Jam On It," and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five with "White Lines" pretty much all hit me simultaneously in 1984.

― box of socks, Sunday, 22 May 2005 21:11 (twenty years ago)

First one I bought: "Rapper's Delight" by Sugarhill Gang, as a birthday present for my friend Steve Berkowsky, who later wound up being a sportswriter in Baltimore, I believe. He liked it; I hated it, considering a silly bubblegum disco song (which it *was*, but for some reason I thought that was a bad thing), and I was embarrassed taking it up to the counter of my favorite Columbia, Missouri new wave record store.

First one I bought for myself: Kurtis Blow, "The Breaks," either after hearing Electrifying Mojo play it in Detroit or reading about it in the Voice (where it won the pazz & jop singles poll in 1980), or both.

― xhuxk, Sunday, 22 May 2005 21:12 (twenty years ago)

kris kross' totally krossed out! 1992 baby.

― deej., Sunday, 22 May 2005 21:13 (twenty years ago)

Actually thats probably not true, that was the first one I owned, I probably liked some before that.

― deej., Sunday, 22 May 2005 21:16 (twenty years ago)

I liked "The Breaks" better than m. coleman, I think. But the first ones I really really really LOVED were "That's the Joint" by Funky Four Plus One and "Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel," both 1981 (also among my top ten singles that year, if these count: Clash "Magnificent Seven," Debbie Harry "Backfired", Teena Marie "Square Biz.") (Non-rap-related singles in my top ten that year, published in the University of Missouri *maneater*: Laurie Anderson "O Superman"/"Walk the Dog," "Gap Band "Burn Rubber on Me," Generation X "Dancing With Myself," Grace Jones "Pull Up to the Bumper," John Lennon "Watching the Wheels."; top ten albums went Prince *Controversy, Rosanne Cash *Seven Year Ache, Grace Jones *Nightclubbing, Elvis Costello *Almost Blue, Joe Ely *Musta Notta Gotta Lotta, J Geils Band *Freeze-Frame, David Byrne *The Catherine Wheel, Various Artists *Seize the Beat, Merle Haggard *Big City, Gang of Four *Solid Gold.)

― xhuxk, Sunday, 22 May 2005 21:21 (twenty years ago)

probably red-head kingpin's 'shade of red', though young mc and the early beasties albums had filtered through via my sister..

― chris andrews (fraew), Sunday, 22 May 2005 21:53 (twenty years ago)

please hammer, don't hurt 'em to thread.

― marc h., Sunday, 22 May 2005 22:05 (twenty years ago)

This is a great thread.
I gave this some thought and the first album that totally grabbed me was Ice-T's "Power". It would be years afore I would hear the Curtis Mayfield version of 'Pusherman' and my first reaction was "Dude's bitin' Ice T!"
Also: 'GLGBNaF' is the ROXXXOR when you're thirteen.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Sunday, 22 May 2005 22:05 (twenty years ago)

I liked "Rapper's Delight" enough to buy the single while it was still on the charts in early '80 - certainly never heard anything like it before. Then never gave the genre much more thought until I saw the video for the equally-unprecedented-to-my-ears (rap meets metal!) "Rock Box."

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 23 May 2005 07:07 (twenty years ago)

Tupac "California Love"

― Nic de Teardrop (Nicholas), Monday, 23 May 2005 07:19 (twenty years ago)

Boring answers, but "Rappers Delight" in its full 15-minute 12-inch form when it came out was the first one I liked, and "Wheels Of Steel" which I bought after seeing Penman rave review in NME stating that THIS RECORD IS THE FUTURE and by gosh he was right! was the first one I loved (Does "Me No Pop I" count as rap?).

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 23 May 2005 07:21 (twenty years ago)

One of the Rap Traxx cassettes, I believe. Possibly #3? If it had Redhead Kingpin & The FBI's "Pump It Hottie" on it, that's the one.

― Jay Watts III (jaywatts), Monday, 23 May 2005 07:52 (twenty years ago)

In 1987, my dad brought me back a Def Jam compilation from a business trip to NYC. All the usual suspects were on it, PE, LL, Beastie Boys, etc. My French suburban 11 y.o. ass was diligently kicked. I remember particularly liking "Rebel Without a Pause".

― The Emancipation of Baaderonixx (KERERU 4 LIFE!) (Fabfunk), Monday, 23 May 2005 12:04 (twenty years ago)

P.M. Dawn, Of the Heart, of the Cross, and of the Soul: The Utopian Experience. "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" was my jam in 8th grade. These days remembered mostly by Jim DeRogatis and Ned Raggett.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 23 May 2005 12:18 (twenty years ago)

Wait, wait, what am I thinking, I owned both Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em and To the Extreme before that. I liked the hits from those records, but I think I liked P.M. Dawn's album more.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 23 May 2005 12:20 (twenty years ago)

Pre-1991 hip-hop songs I liked: "Bust a Move," "U Can't Touch This," "Ice Ice Baby," "Poison," "Knockin' Boots," "Push It."

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 23 May 2005 12:25 (twenty years ago)

GZA "Liquid Swords", "Shadow Boxing". Chuck those're pretty cool lists!

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Monday, 23 May 2005 12:29 (twenty years ago)

'That's How I'm Livin'' by Ice-T, for some reason. I think it was in a cheap bin. Then Bomb The Bass, 'Bug Powder Dust'

― DJ Mencap0))), Monday, 23 May 2005 12:30 (twenty years ago)

LL Cool J, "Goin Back To Cali."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 23 May 2005 12:32 (twenty years ago)

The first rap tune I remember liking is "Walk This Way", mainly because of the video. I'm not sure what the first rap record I bought was, maybe Ill Communication or 36 Chambers. I had listened to lots cheesy Euro-rapping before that though, back in my pre-teen days when Europop was my thing.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 23 May 2005 12:38 (twenty years ago)

"The Show" by Doug E Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew. Some kid used to bring it on my school bus when I was a kid and the bus driver used to actually play that stuff for us! NICE! Anyway, I didn't find out until years later who it was and all of that, but I still get a big smile when I hear it.

― Hutlock (Hutlock), Monday, 23 May 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

Beastie Boys or Run DMC. First record I remember buying (as opposed to someone taping for me) was Easy-E.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 23 May 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

First heard Rapper's Delight in a black skating rink circa 79/80. I was like, "why did they remake Good Times with people talking on it?"

Heard Kurtis Blow's Breaks shortly after, and was like "oh, talking on Disco. I get it now..."

Then heard waaaay too many disco-rappy tracks on mixtapes (mostly by my babysitters older brother). I began to dislike the rap.

Then, Grandmaster Flash's The Message hit, right as I decalred my dislike. I was confused. It was clear this song kicked ass, despite/in part due to all the huh-huh-huh-huhs.

Then, Planet Rock hit, and I was like "Holy shit! Must be a fluke."

Then, Run DMC's 'Sucker MC's/It's Like' That became the sound of everywhere I went, and I was completely won over.

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Monday, 23 May 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

http://www.amkw.org/images/randoms/fatboys.jpg

This was the first hip hop record I ever bought, back in 4th grade (when it came out). We used to buy little nylon hoodies so they'd make our backspins go faster during PE.

Around the same time I got Kurtis Blow's "Basketball", Run DMC's self-titled and Whodini's "Escape"

I still own that Fat Boys vinyl, but it's all scratched to hell from being taken to school too many times.

― rentboy (rentboy), Monday, 23 May 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

that new black eyed peas song. classic!

― blahbariantheoriginal, Monday, 23 May 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

My brother had B.D.P.'s Blueprint back in the day, which astounded me into immediate respect. Licensed to Ill and NWA's Straight Outta Compton followed soon thereafter.

― Pat., Tuesday, 24 May 2005 00:51 (twenty years ago)

>First one I bought: "Rapper's Delight" by Sugarhill Gang, as a birthday present for my friend Steve Berkowsky, who later wound up being a sportswriter in Baltimore, I believe.<

update!! (from Dallas Morning News, May 23, 2005!):

>Dallas Morning News — Hired as copy editors Tiffani Hill-Patterson, assistant sports editor at the Florence Timesdaily; Matt Wixon, sports editor at the Yuma Sun; Kevin Stone, sports copy desk chief at the Mesa Tribune, and Steve Berkowsky, copy editor at the Journal News in White Plains, N.Y. .<

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 24 May 2005 01:12 (twenty years ago)

These days remembered mostly by Jim DeRogatis and Ned Raggett.

I sorta hope this is the only sentence we'll ever feature in together.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 01:16 (twenty years ago)

Ha ha, the first person for whom I ever purchased a hip-hop record can also be found here; this is kinda funny, actually!

http://www.vigodas.com/sdsoftball/softballhome.htm

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 24 May 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

first three i fell in love with, in order, i'm reasonable sure:

1. "this is radio clash"
2. "white lines"
3. "it's like that"

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 01:55 (twenty years ago)

actually, i was quite exposed to electro beats as a real youngin' (i was born in early '79) - i remember a breakdancing exhibition when i was just a tot (around 1983 or 4 i guess), and the likes of planet rock, perfect beat, electric kingdom etc - are all lodged in my brain

― chris andrews (fraew), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 02:31 (twenty years ago)

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