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September 18, 2009 3:39 PM Subscribe

Mark Skillz, hip hop historian of a sort and an occasional writer for Wax Poetics, represents the old school of hip hop and lets others tell their stories on Hip Hop 101A. From Eddie Cheba recalling his time as a top DJ in the small world of hip hop in 1977, to the life of Sparky D, who took up the good fight for UTFO and started the Roxanne Wars, one of hip hop's first rap battles. Read up on the fall of funk and the rise of Planet Rock, and reminisce with Reggie Wells about the birth of hip hop from black club deejays in Manhattan who were refining a slick style of talk over disco records to open hip hop jams in the park. As a bonus, Wells throws out a playlist straight from Club 371 (videos after the break).

Double Cross 每 First Choice (Double Cross single, 1979)
Soul Makossa 每 Manu Dubango Pipeline (Soul Makossa single, 1972)
Galaxy 每 War (Galaxy album, 1977)
Runaway Love 每 Linda Clifford (Runaway Love single, 1978)
Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me 每 Peter Brown (Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me single, 1977)
Shame 每 Evelyn Champagne King (Shame single, 1977; music video)
Turn the Beat Around - Vicky Sue Robinson (full song as part of a playlist) (Never Gonna Let You Go album, 1976; live video / another live vid)
Hot Shot 每 Karen Young (Hot Shot single, 1978; live video)
Busting Loose - Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers (Bustin' Loose single, 1978; live video, Chuck Brown talking about the song)
Super Sporm (slight edit to fit onto YouTube) 每 Captain Sky (Super Sporm single, 1978)
Put The Music Where Your Mouth Is 每 Olympic Runners (Put The Music Where Your Mouth Is / Do It Over single, 1974; re-edit)
Runnin＊ Away 每 Roy Ayers Ubiquity (Running Away single, 1977, modern live show cut)
Movin＊ On 每 Brass Construction (Brass Construction album, 1974)
Dr. Love 每 First Choice (Dr. Love single, 1977; instrumental dub version)
Love is the Message 每 MFSB (Love Is The Message album, 1973; bonus: Danny Krivit Special Edit, video, in playlist)
Ladies Night 每 Kool and the Gang (Ladie's Night single, 1979; live video from 1979, in a playlist, and a more recent live video, with the band being introduced by Sinbad)
Let＊s Get it Together 每 El Coco (Let's Get It Together / Fait Le Chat (Do the Cat) single, 1976)
Bounce, Rock, Skate and Roll (part 1) 每 Vaughn Mason and Crew (Bounce, Rock, Skate & Roll single, 1979, part 2)

If you're looking for more hip hop history, check the MetaFilter archives .

posted by filthy light thief (23 comments total) 29 users marked this as a favorite

Thanks to nicwolff, whose comment in reply to an AskMe about the Hotel/Motel, Holiday Inn lyric (video link is to the lyrics in Rappers Delight) linked to Hip Hop History 101A, in particular the Reggie Wells' post.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:42 PM on September 18, 2009

1977 - hip hop invented
1977 + 1 day - hip hop not as good as it was
posted by Artw at 4:07 PM on September 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

are you kidding. all this time i thought blondie invented rap.
posted by empath at 4:17 PM on September 18, 2009

Here's some Double Dee and Steinski
posted by empath at 4:19 PM on September 18, 2009

Hey, does anybody remember an old rap with like 2 or 3 rappers that was set up like the dating game? It has a full on into in the dating game style, with a cheesy horn. Each verse starts out with "Bachelor number blah".

"Bachelor number one, how do you know - where in the world girls like to go?" (actual lyric)

One of the rappers is talking about how he can take a girl to the beach and "beat a bongo".

And at the tail end they loop in Eddie Murphy's comedy like "Don't bring a bigfoot in my home, girl!"

I've got it on some old tape from the 80's, so I could transcribe more lyrics, but no tape player handy.
posted by cashman at 4:51 PM on September 18, 2009

Awesome freaking post by the way.
posted by cashman at 4:52 PM on September 18, 2009

cashman - are you thinking of the intro skit on De La Soul's 3 Feet High & Rising? it's similar, but not exactly the words you're using.

also, great post.
posted by gnutron at 5:00 PM on September 18, 2009

Nah, this is old old school - like early/mid 80's.
posted by cashman at 5:04 PM on September 18, 2009

Oh yes, and the ladies are the ones saying "Bachelor number one....blah blah", then the rappers come in.
posted by cashman at 5:06 PM on September 18, 2009

Hmm. I think I heard yet another variant on that one time in which the suitors were all obnoxious psychopaths and the replies were all given in the form of loud bursts of rap-metal... Not sure who that one was by either.
posted by Artw at 5:09 PM on September 18, 2009

If you like this post, you might enjoy the history of hip-hop mixes from The Rub, one per year going back to 1979. (Not that the mixes are from then, but the songs in each mix are from that year.)
posted by snofoam at 6:34 PM on September 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

err let me try that again

Gucci Crew - The Dating Game
posted by empath at 8:49 PM on September 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

I love you. How did you find it! Ha - the dating game. I am such a dumb ass.
posted by cashman at 8:59 PM on September 18, 2009

Needs more Treacherous Three.
posted by vronsky at 9:01 PM on September 18, 2009

Speaking of being treacherous, and triples (Come on, ya!).
posted by cashman at 9:38 PM on September 18, 2009

I love you. How did you find it!

searched youtube for: "dating game" hip hop
posted by empath at 11:33 PM on September 18, 2009

snofoam, your link is pure awesome! that and all the videos from filthy light thief are going to keep me busy.
posted by shinyshiny at 2:12 AM on September 19, 2009

Brothers used to go there and buy sharkskin suits and gator shoes and Al Packer sweaters,§ added Silk.

Ah, who could forget the legendary old school knitware designer, Al Packer...
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:23 AM on September 19, 2009

Great post. This is a period of hip hop history that doesn't get enough attention.
posted by joedan at 12:12 PM on September 19, 2009

I knew of the breakbeats and early turntablism, but I didn't realize that some of the MCing started as "smooth talking over disco tracks." Even though there are only 20 posts on Hip Hop 101A, they all are really in-depth and quite interesting.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:50 PM on September 19, 2009

Hah, Gucci Crew's track samples Herb Alpert in the intro. That made me think of the Evolution Control Committee mash-up of Herb and Public Enemy (on the 7" record, that track is backed with By The Time I Get to Arizona). The first video looks official from ECC (here's another version, from ECC's own YT profile), the second seems to be a nice fan-made vid.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:05 PM on September 19, 2009

Kraftwerk helped to create hip hop? Amazing
posted by yoHighness at 1:13 PM on September 19, 2009

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It＊s on and on and on on and on like the hot butter on the what? Popcorn! September 18, 2009 3:39 PM Subscribe

It＊s on and on and on on and on like the hot butter on the what? Popcorn!
September 18, 2009 3:39 PM Subscribe