Whenever you ask a regular person to spit out a few verses of rhyme from the mind, more often than not, they end up reciting lines from one of the best rap songs in the whole world, Sugar Hill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight.
Personally, this rhyme is catchy as hell and easy to memorize. And thanks to that Adam Sandler movie The Wedding Singer, even old ladies have now learned a thing or two about hip hop. This 1979 single by the American trio SHG is considered to be the very first song that popularized hip hop in the United States. Rolling Stone Magazine even ranked this gem at #248 in the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, while VH1 ranked it #2 in the 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs.
The epitome of old school rap, Rapper’s Delight was actually produced thanks to r & b singer Sylvia Robinson. In the 1970’s when things had to be done by actual people, Robinson had a hard time looking for rappers and musicians alike to record the song. But her perseverance paid off.
The musicians, including bassist Chip Shearin (17 at that time) were sweating bullets because they were told they had to play the drum and bass for 15 minutes straight with no mistake while kids talked fast over it. Demanding yes, but worth it! Like many songs from this time, Rapper’s Delight was also one to use a sample of classic disco hits, in this case, Chic’s Good Times.
Charlie Rock, from the Harlem World Crew, shares that Sylvia Robinson actually got the idea of rapping at a birthday party they threw for her back in the day. He claims that she was being told about some Hip Hop tracks to be put on wax, and a couple of months later, there she was with her Rapper’s Delight song. Whatever the actual story is, even Charlie Rock himself can’t second guess the legitability of Rapper’s Delight. He even states that it’s one of the best raps songs in the world would!
So no wonder DJ’s nowadays still spin that mother up. Thanks to the combined efforts of Sylvia Robinson, Sugar Hill gang and the musicians who made no mistake during recording, after 30 years this song is still alive and kick’in.
Bea writes for rap music’s HardKnockRadio. Read her latest on rap video girls. She also contributes to jazz online site SummerJazz.net, where she’s writing about jazz guitar chords.
