Liner Notes

Kurtis Blow Presents: The History Of Rap, Vol. 1

Out Of Print

Chart #1: The Early to Mid-'70s

In the beginning there was rhythm...until something else emerged from New York City's South Bronx: a rougher, rowdier spin on funk innovators like James Brown, George Clinton, Marvin Gaye, and Sly Stone. Rap. Based on the fundamentals of "beats" (copped off other people's records) and "breaks" (assisted by a turntable and some discreet crossfading), the MCs' contrasting delivery styles soon split along two camps: Disco and B-Boys.

Disco: Appealed more to black disco crowd and stressed crowd response over actual rhyming.

Pete DJ Jones -- New York's #1 DJ, c. early '70s. His mixing style and sound system kept 'em moving with MCs the Disco King and JT Hollywood.

DJ Hollywood -- c. 1974. One of the genre's early top New York DJs; assisted by DJ Junebug, who was murdered in the early '80s. Key record: "Hollywood's World."

Eddie Cheeba -- New York's #1 DJ, c. 1975-77, earning $2,000 a night.

"Love Bug" Starski -- Goes back to the days of Pete DJ Jones. His career peaked in the mid to late '70s. Kurtis Blow: "The only guy I ever saw who could play to both crowds. Nobody could mess with 'Love Bug'!" Key record: "Gigolette."

Early Originators:
Plummer
Maboya
Grandmaster Flowers (supported James Brown at Yankee Stadium).
  All came in Jones' wake as disco DJs/MCs

Kurtis Blow -- né Walker; Kool DJ Kurt, c. 1976.
  Felt drawn to both camps for different reasons: "When I saw Pete (DJ Jones), I realized it didn't have to be one or the other."

B-Boys: More in touch with the streets than their counterparts. Favored a tougher, rapid-fire rhyming approach.

Kool DJ Herc -- "The godfather of hip-hop"; despite his slight rhyming skills, his massive stature and sound system inspired such followers as...

"Herculoids"

Afrika Bambaataa -- Founded modern B-Boy style. Ex-Black Spades gang leader's 26 record crates made him a topflight DJ.

Grand Master Flash -- "Herculoid" who created his own aggressive turntable style. As Raheem notes: "To see Flash at that time, you'd be in awe. He'd catch (a record) in the air...handcuffed!" Accompanied by "Cowboy" Keith Wiggins, one of rap's first certified MCs, Flash formed Future Players. Often strapped for cash, they didn't seem strapped for acts, as attested by earlier efforts.

Paul Winley -- Issued two Bambaataa 12-inch singles in 1980, including "Zulu Nation Throwdown."

Bobby Robinson -- Enjoy Records (1979-82). Debuted Flash and crew ("Superrappin'") and Funky 4 + 1, which included future Furious Fivester Raheem, among others.

Sylvia Robinson, Joe Robinson, Joey Robinson Jr. -- Family-run Sugar Hill took over when Bobby Robinson of Enjoy Records dropped out of the scene.

Russell Simmons -- Then a local promoter (c. 1979-80), just taking it all in...

CHART #2: 1979-'84

Why is it so difficult to sort out hip-hop's maze of claims, counterclaims, and contradictions? Nobody worried about documenting what remained essentially a local scene, nor the diehard separation between the B-Boy and disco camps, which never acknowledged each other's contributions. With the success of Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rappin'" (1979) and "The Breaks" (1980), along with "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" (Fatback, 1979) and "Rapper's Delight" (Sugarhill Gang, 1979), the original categories evolved into "just plain ol' rap!" as Kurtis would have it.

Grandmaster Caz -- His rhymes are said to have provided the backbone of rap's (and Sugarhill's) first big hit....

Sugarhill Gang -- Michael "Wonder Mike" Wright, Guy "Master Gee" O'Brien, and Henry "Big Bank Hank" Jackson. "Rapper's Delight," "8th Wonder," "Apache," "Funk Box."

The Treacherous Three -- "Feel The Heartbeat"

Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five -- "White Lines (Don't Do It)," "Jesse." Recruited new members and kept group's name for two years following the '83 split.

Sugar Hill Records
  Rahiem: "The way they were able to get records on the street -- that was amazing! If we cut that week, the record was on the street next week."

Spoonie Gee -- "Monster Jam," "Spoonin' Rap," "Spoonie Is Back"

The Sequence -- Angie B, Cheryl the Pearl, Blondie. "Funk You Up," "Monster Jam," with Spoonie (well, what else would you call it?)

Grand Master Flash & The Furious 5 -- "The Message," "Freedom," "It's Nasty (Genius Of Love)," "New York, New York"
  Flash -- Went to Elektra with Raheem and Kid Creole
  Rahiem -- "Reflecting back, 'Message II (Survival)' and 'New York, New York' should have been on The Message album. That wasn't in our foresight, and I guess it wasn't in Sylvia's either."
  Remained rap's preeminent group until discontent with their label, and internal dissension, led to court battle, then split into rival camps. Rahiem: "I remember one Christmas 'The Message' had been out a few months, and we were expecting some kind of money, and when it didn't happen, I remember the group pitching a bitch about it. When I say 'divided,' we were divided over our decisions, and when I say 'conquered,' we were conquered...over money. In the music business, you don't get what you deserve -- only what you negotiate."

Kurtis Blow -- Early successes led to supporting Bob Marley and the Commodores on tour and management by Russ Simmons. Russell's younger brother Joey Simmons (Run) broke his arm, so he couldn't DJ for Blow in 1980. No matter; Blow produced Joey's crew as well as the Fat Boys, who both reaped considerable benefits from Kurtis' guitarist, Larry Smith, and multi-instrumental DJ, Davy DMX!

Run DMC -- "It's Like That," "Sucker MCs," "Rock Box"

Fat Boys -- né the Disco Three, c. 1983. "The Human Beatbox" Darren "Buff" Robinson (died of cardiac arrest in '95), Mark "Prince Markie Dee" Morales, Damon "Kool Rock-ski" Wimbley

Afrika Bambaataa -- "Planet Rock," "Funk You," "Renegades Of Funk," all smashes on Tommy Boy Records.
  Mr. Biggs
  Pow Wow
  MC G.L.O.B.E.
  Jazzy Jay -- producer, "Jazzy Sensation"

"Love Bug" Starski -- "At The Fever"/"You Gotta Believe," 1983

Rob Base & D.J. E-Z Rock -- "It Takes Two"

Whodini -- "Friends"

UTFO -- "Roxanne, Roxanne"

Juice Crew -- Roxanne Shanté, M.C. Shan, Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane. All off to solo careers.

Chart #3: 1984-Present

The mid- to late '80s marked a new reality: East meets West, with the new, California-based breed seemingly taking their counterparts to the cleaners, businesswise and saleswise. For example, Ice-T's earliest pressing deal with Macola Records guaranteed him 50 percent for every 12-inch record sold. N.W.A.'s main men, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, have expanded on that capitalism to form their own production companies, labels, and spinoff ventures (has anybody forgotten the Wu-Tang Clan's "Wu Wear" yet?). Artistically, the genre split into "hard-core," with political and social commentary versus the in-your-face "gangsta" acts, who have earned razzes from Democrats and Republicans, critics, old-school acts, educators, and parent groups alike. "Music is always a reflection of where we are," quoth Rick Rubin. Indeed, what else is new?

West Coast

Duffy and Jerry Hooks -- Made first inroads with their 1981 "Gigolo Rapp" 12-inch.

L.A. Dream Team
The Egyptian Lover
Toddy Tee & Mixmaster Spade
  Kurtis: "They did the first sing-rap, like Domino does..."

Ice-T
  Widely regarded as the creator of the "crime rhyme"; early records like "6 In The Morning" and movie roles (Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo) paid off big in the studio. He hasn't looked back after the rough 1987's Rhyme Pays and landmarks like 1991's O.G. Original Gangster.

World Class Wreckin Cru
  When Prince-style funk and braids didn't move the requisite units, along came an alleged drug dealer in Eric Wright (Eazy-E), whose profits helped fund Ruthless Records (thanks to a J.J. Fad smash in '88), and a new attitude.

Tupac Shakur (2Pac)
  One of Death Row's biggest acts. His acclaimed roles in Poetic Justice and similar platinum sales weren't enough to prevent his 1996 murder in Las Vegas. His posthumous album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, moved units anyway.

Offshoots

By the '80s women had made inroads into what had been virtually an all-male preserve, including: Queen Latifah and Salt-N-Pepa.

Eric B. & Rakim -- Production wizardry proved no hedge against personal hassles. Key record: "Paid In Full"

  N.W.A. (Niggas With Attitude)
  Only two albums -- 1988's Straight Outta Compton, and '91's Efil4zaggin (read it backwards!) -- and both were hugely successful. The group fell apart in '91 due to business hassles, but they left their mark!
  Dr. Dre -- Successful solo/production career. After N.W.A. split up, Dre established Death Row Records in 1992, where he recorded his solo album The Chronic, which sold three million copies and spent eight months in the Billboard Top 10. His first artist signing was Calvin Broadus, whom Dre rechristened Snoop Doggy Dogg, yielding the multiplatinum Doggy Style album along the way. By 1994 he'd rapped on or produced albums selling nearly 28 million copies.
  Eazy-E -- d. 1995 of AIDS complications
  Ice Cube -- Like Dre, Ice Cube (né O'Shea Jackson) has expanded his provocative stance into an awesome multimedia profile, including music production, a movie production company, movie roles, and of course a string of solo work, including 1990's AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and 1991's Death Certificate, which Entertainment Weekly called "20 tracks of the most visceral music ever allowed in public." Despite protests from the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference over his material's inflamatory stance, Cube seems hardly about to tone anything down for anybody. Why should he when his 1992 album The Predator topped Billboard's pop and R&B chats simultaneously -- the first album to do so since Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life (1976)?
  DJ Yella
  MC Ren
  (Solo careers)

East Coast
(Hard-core)

Run DMC -- Lost steam after failure of 1988's Tougher Than Leather movie and lawsuits against their label, Profile Records; came back strong with 1993's Down With The King album.

LL Cool J -- "Rock The Bells," "I Can't Live Without My Radio," "I Need Love"

Slick Rick
  Two more successful parts of Russ Simmons' and Rick Rubin's Def Jam empire. Cool J grew into mainstream success (at last count, two possible versions -- clean and X-rated -- of his forthcoming autobiography are being discussed), while Rick went to prison for attempted murder (which yielded the aptly titled I Shouldn't Have Done It album). Two different stars, two different tales! Kurtis: "(Rick) definitely acted that way...off the record!"

Public Enemy -- "Miuzi Weighs A Ton," "Don't Believe The Hype," "Welcome To The Terrordome"
  Chuck D and Flavor Flav -- Rappers
  Terminator X -- DJ, cuts   Professor Griff -- Minister of Information
  Picked up political direction when other Def Jam earners lost ground. Yo! Bum Rush The Show (1987), It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988), and Fear Of A Black Planet (1990) set a higher, socially conscious standard. Flav's string of drug busts and Chuck's growing multimedia profile (Slam Jamz Productions) have put the group on hiatus, though a new album is rumored for this year.

Boogie Down Productions -- "Stop The Violence"
  Begun by KRS-One and DJ Scott La Rock (killed, 1987) along similar lines as Public Enemy. By Any Means Necessary (1988), Ghetto Music: The Blueprint Of Hip Hop (1989), and Edutainment (1990) raised the genre's political consciousness and added D-Nice along the way

-- Researched, compiled, and designed by Ralph Heibutzki
-- Graphics: Lisa D. Quinlan

As you can see, there are many artists who stake legitimate claims to their part in the genesis of rap music. Pick your favorite. As for me, I love them all. In the end, we're all in the same gang, pieces of the same puzzle that is the history of rap. The history lesson will continue with Volume 2....

-- Kurtis Blow

There is no holiday season without "Christmas Rappin'," and there was no 1980 without "The Breaks," thanks to B-Boy, disco DJ, and old-school rap pioneer Kurtis Blow. His first five albums helped launch the international rap attack that revolutionized the music industry. His creation of the sample loop changed the way rap records are made.

Blow's seminal hit "The Breaks" was the first certified-gold rap record. Another of his major hits, "If I Ruled The World," was recently covered by star rapper Nas. Kurtis currently hosts a weekly old-school hip-hop radio show on KPWR (Power 106-FM) in Los Angeles.