don't be scared.
turn off all lights- except the strobe for later on. or if you are at work just close your eyes.
and crank the vol.
what you will experience will be pure delight. enjoy.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Rapper’s Delight - The Sugarhill Gang
We can all agree that this jam is classic, but many believe that it gave rise to that form of rap that we commonly call 'hip hop'. Others maintain that the term ‘rap’ itself became known worldwide because of it. They will say, without hesitation, that this was the first hiphop track ever created. And though tempting to believe, we at Obvious Jams are under no obligation to claim any jam a “First Jam”… not in any genre.
Never has hiphop seemed so homosexual as in its first inklings.
That aside, what is perhaps more relevant to this discussion is the singular effect Rapper’s Delight has had on Western music overall. Featuring one of the earliest references to 'hip' and 'hop' and a bass line sampled from another recently popular song (Good Times by CHIC), this singular jam sought to meld an emergent urban lingo and the craft of the remix into a futuristic art form. Fortunately for us, it succeeded admirably.
What is absolutely undisputed about this jam is that it was the first ‘hiphop’ or ‘rap’ single to become a Top 40 hit. Though the Top 40 is no indication of a song’s relevance, it certainly can stand as a testament to it’s obviousness. This song’s obvious nature is a predictable result of it’s nativity: in order to capitalize on the spontaneous popularity of NYC block parties featuring the now emblematic Technics 1200 setups and brightly vested MCs, Sugar Hill Records simply formed a group of black men with easily digestible lyrics and accessible flow, had them regurgitate this jam and sat back as the money rolled in. The erstwhile record label simply said, “wow, these people have something obvious on their hands: let’s cash in!” And cash in they did. Rapper’s Delight sold more than 8 million copies.
Furthermore, it single handedly launched ‘hiphop’ into the national canon of popular music, so that today sucka MCs and old skool fools alike may wear Sean Jean threads and gold chains, throw shapes into the camera and boldly display oversized t-shirts with this cryptic message:
“I am Hip Hop”.
KRS-One currently weeps at the site of it.
Never has hiphop seemed so homosexual as in its first inklings.
That aside, what is perhaps more relevant to this discussion is the singular effect Rapper’s Delight has had on Western music overall. Featuring one of the earliest references to 'hip' and 'hop' and a bass line sampled from another recently popular song (Good Times by CHIC), this singular jam sought to meld an emergent urban lingo and the craft of the remix into a futuristic art form. Fortunately for us, it succeeded admirably.
What is absolutely undisputed about this jam is that it was the first ‘hiphop’ or ‘rap’ single to become a Top 40 hit. Though the Top 40 is no indication of a song’s relevance, it certainly can stand as a testament to it’s obviousness. This song’s obvious nature is a predictable result of it’s nativity: in order to capitalize on the spontaneous popularity of NYC block parties featuring the now emblematic Technics 1200 setups and brightly vested MCs, Sugar Hill Records simply formed a group of black men with easily digestible lyrics and accessible flow, had them regurgitate this jam and sat back as the money rolled in. The erstwhile record label simply said, “wow, these people have something obvious on their hands: let’s cash in!” And cash in they did. Rapper’s Delight sold more than 8 million copies.
Furthermore, it single handedly launched ‘hiphop’ into the national canon of popular music, so that today sucka MCs and old skool fools alike may wear Sean Jean threads and gold chains, throw shapes into the camera and boldly display oversized t-shirts with this cryptic message:
“I am Hip Hop”.
KRS-One currently weeps at the site of it.
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