Song of the Day — August 19
“Rapper’s Delight” — Sugar Hill Gang
“Rapper’s Delight” — Sugar Hill Gang
19.August.2020
Sugar Hill Gang
“Rapper’s Delight”
1979
In 1979 I was deeply embedded in the Mid-west, and somehow I ended up purchasing this 12" record.
At the time, rap wasn’t even a word I think I knew, let alone a genre of music. Exactly how this made it on to my turntable remains one of my unsolved mysteries.
Honestly, no idea.
My best guess can only be that “Rapper’s Delight” made it into catalog one of two ways:
It was suggested at whatever record store I went to.
Columbia House Record Club (that was a thing back then).
Some fun facts about “Rapper’s Delight”:
It’s #251 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
While not the first rap song, by incorporating things like braggadocio, dancing, honesty, and sex (always with the sex), it serves as the lyrical archetype for rap music.
It’s #2 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs.
It’s included on NPR’s list of the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century.
In 2011, “Rapper’s Delight” was preserved in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2011.
Folklore has it hat the principals, Big Bank Hank, Wonder Mike, and Master Gee, met producer Sylvia Robinson on a Friday and recorded “Rapper’s Delight” the following Monday.
“Rapper’s Delight” was recorded in one take!
After hearing it, I recall turning my friends on to it. I don’t remember them being as excited about it as I was, but memories are wonky. All I can say is that “Rapper’s Delight” was just unlike anything I had ever heard …and I loved it.
Because of the song’s success, there are loads of lawsuits around it. I think perhaps the personal injury law business is the only other type of law that is more litigious than the music business.
There’s a decent documentary that documents the song’s origins and all the other stuff from 2011 called I Want My Name Back.
There is not much more I can say about this song. If you’ve never heard it, you’re doing yourself a grave injustice.
And if it’s been a while since you have heard it, listen to it post haste!
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