Search & Destroy: Rap Before 1983

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In other words, pretty much anything released before "Sucker MCs".

― Nate Patrin, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

S: Treacherous Three, "The Body Rock". Weird electric piano, simple- but-catchy chorus, funky guitar riffs that precede "Rock Box" by three years. D: "Wham Rap!"

― Nate Patrin, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Search: Grand Wizard Theodore - "Fantastic Freaks at the Dixie", Fearless Four - "Rockin' It", Afrika Bambaata & the Jazzy Five - "Jazzy Sensation, Funky Four Plus One - "That's The Joint", Funky Four Plus One - "Rappin and Rockin the House", Kurtis Blow - "The Breaks", Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five - "Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel", Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five - "Scorpio", Grand Wizard Theodore - "Can I Get A Soul Clap", Grand Wizard Theodore & Kevie Kev Rockwell - "Military Cut", Grandmixer D ST - "Cuts It Up", Spoonie Gee - "Spoonin' Rap", Afrika Bambaata & the Soul Sonic Force - "Zulu Nation Throwdown", and, natch, Fatback Band - "King Tim III (Personality Test)".

Destroy: Cold Crush Brothers - "Punk Rock Rap"

― J Blount, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

search: Harlem World (2cd comp, came out last year in UK, fucking priceless), The Sugarhill Records Story 3cd (or the Rhino five disc thing), Afrika Bambaataa "Death Mix" (on Paul Winley, reissued on CD last year), Funky 4 + 1's "Rappin' and Rockin' the House," any good Grandmaster Flash comp, the back-of-book lists in Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists.

destroy: most Sugarhill Gang records. they SUCKED

― M Matos, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

'destroy: most Sugarhill Gang records. they SUCKED'

World Xtreme Suckage Olympics - Tackhead vs. Living Colour

― dave q, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Destroy "Rappers Delight" without mercy. The most overrated song not called "Bohemian Rhapsody" in history.

― Judd Nelson, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Doug Wimbish, conflicted. Interestingly he played on some of those early Grandmaster Flash records.

― J Blount, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

didnt keith leblanc do early sugarhill + ON-U ?

― a-33, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Keith was in Tackhead and Sugar Hill, yes. As were Wimbish and Skip McDonald.

― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Skip McDonald, right. Forget Living Colour & Tackhead - Little Axe win the all-time suckiest suck award in the suckage olympics

― dave q, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I mean, Christ, being completely and utterly blown out of the water and rendered obsolete by MOBY!!!

― dave q, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

am i the only one to remember "The Crown" by Gary Byrd?

― Baxter Wingnut, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My favorite from this era is "New Rap Language" by Treacherous Three. One of my 10 favorite hip-hop tracks ever, for what it's worth (not much, probably.)

― Mark, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Beat Bop, Rammelzee vs K-Rob

― Ben Williams, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i really like rammelzee vs. k-rob - beat bop, it has this echoey spacey thing going on. some of the bits from the wildstyle soundtrack do this too - search 'wild style theme rap' and 'gangbusters scratch mix' for starters. a lot of the other tracks on the soundtrack are hard to listen to for more than 20 seconds at a time, but there are some cool 20 second bursts on them so its worth a listen.

― minna, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Beat Bop=first undie hip-hop track ;)

― Ben Williams, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

pipped! :)
oh well, i should also mention the basketball court throwdown from wildstyle, it's cute (and short, for once).

― minna, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like or love almost every song searched here, but why the antipathy toward "Rapper's Delight" and the Sugarhill Gang? I'm guessing that the argument against them is some thinly-disguised authenticity thing- -i.e., because they weren't really a group (put together on the cheap to quickly cash in on the emerging "fad"), or because their songs sound more jokey or novel next to the Furious Five's or the Funky 4's. Am I wrong? What gives?

― s woods, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What J Blount said + "Pack Jam" (Jonzun Crew), "Play At Your Own Risk" (Planet Patrol), "Looking For The Perfect Beat".
(there may not be any actual rapping on some of these, but too good to overlook)

"Rapper's Delight" = GRATE

― Jeff W, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Sugarhill Gang are the Bill Haley & the Comets of hip-hop.

― J Blount, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

How so?

― s woods, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

'Hustlers Convention' - Lightnin' Rod.

― Andrew L, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

major flaw in sugar hill/bill haley comparison: the sugar hill gang are black.

also, rock&roll somewhat established as offshoot of r&b/rockabilly before haley took it to the masses; "rappers delight" first major hiphop hit on wax, no?

(they both have the requisite self-reflexive titles tho.)

― jess, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

World Xtreme Suckage Olympics - Tackhead vs. Living Colour

So, what is this, DRAG TACKHEAD TO THE GROUND AND SHOVE SHIT IN THEIR WOUNDS day? Yeah, Tackhead and Living Colour are TOTALLY rap before 1983... :-p

The Sugarhill Gang are the Bill Haley & the Comets of hip- hop.

Sooooo, who would be the James Brown of hip-hop then?

― Brian MacDonald, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Why, James Brown, of course.

― s woods, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Re Bill Haley/Sugarhill Gang -- pretty fun comparison, I think. Tracing the birthpoint of rap is much easier than rock'n'roll, though, because you just have to ask "were they talking rhythmically over funk beats?" to know if it was rap (the "funk beats" part is so "Convoy" doesn't get identified as first rap tune.) Rock 'n' Roll just sort of developed and eventually became a genre, where "rap" describes a very specific technique.

― Mark, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"King Tim III" is the "Rocket 88" of hip-hop.

― J Blount, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

VU - Murder Mystery

― A Nairn, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

why the antipathy toward "Rapper's Delight" and the Sugarhill Gang? I'm guessing that the argument against them is some thinly- disguised authenticity thing- -i.e., because they weren't really a group (put together on the cheap to quickly cash in on the emerging "fad"), or because their songs sound more jokey or novel next to the Furious Five's or the Funky 4's

no, it's because their flow sucked, basically. if they were 100% authentic I'd still think this

― M Matos, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Weren't they accused of biting Grandmaster Caz, too?

(Also found this after googling "Sugar Hill Gang + biting")

― Nate Patrin, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't care I don't care I don't care. The verse about eating bad food rings true.

― Sterling Clover, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I only have a vague idea of what "flow" is--the way the words sit on top of or slide around the beat is my first guess--but these rhymes are *classic*:

"A hip-hop, a hippy / a hippy to the hip-hip-hop a-you-don't-stop / break it up baby bubba to the boogie ta bang / to the boogie to the boogie to beat..." ("Rapper's Delight")

"Dang-a-dang diggy-diggy dang-diggy-dang a dang-a-dang diggy- diggy..." ("8th Wonder")

("Super sperm" is a damn great term, too...and what about "Woo- hah!"?)

And c'mon, Nate, a little bizarre, don't you think, to accuse rappers of "biting"?!

― s woods, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If you mean using the term "biting"=bizarre, then what should I say? "The scalliwags amorally pilfered Mr. Caz's lyrical concoctions"?
If you mean the charges are unfounded, keep in mind that Big Bank Hank said "I'm the c-a-s-an-the-o-v-a", which is said to be a Grandmaster Caz line changed slightly.

― Nate Patrin, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(And by slightly I mean not at all.)

― Nate Patrin, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

you ass. Big Bank Hank read Grandmaster Caz lyrics for Caz rapping over his beats. he got really good at that verse and decided it was worth spitting on another recording. get off his jock.

― peter, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

you ass
Yes, I really care about your opinion now.

― Nate Patrin, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Sugarhill Gang were a scam, and not even a particularly good scam on the level of the Sex Pistols or the KLF, but I take a certain satisfaction in seeing a Big Bank Hank defender in action.

― J Blount, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like the "chicken tastes like wood" verse a lot myself. but overall, they've never done much for me musically, the way that early Flash/Five, or Family Four, or Funky 4 + 1 do. sorry.

― M Matos, Wednesday, 15 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

My advice is go to isohunt.com and search Ego Trip its a huge file with a bunch of songs from 79 to 89 and you can select which ones you want to keep or not.

― Rusty, Friday, 12 May 2006 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

"I KNOW A MAN NAMED HANK
HE HAS MORE RHYMES THAN A SERIOUS BANK"

Come on, a line that endearingly bad alone makes "Rapper's Delight" one of the greatest singles of all time.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Saturday, 13 May 2006 01:27 (nineteen years ago)

Search "The Message" and then destroy virtually all other rap records ever made.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 13 May 2006 01:34 (nineteen years ago)

Btw. to the history discussion upthread: Didn't Kurtis Blow's "Rappin'" predate "Rapper's Delight"?

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 13 May 2006 01:37 (nineteen years ago)

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