May 5, 2021 1979: The Sugarhill g--- - "Rapper's Delight" 1980: Kurtis Blow - "The Breaks" 1981: Afrika Bambaataa & The Jazzy Five - "Jazzy Sensation" Rebuttals: 1979: Paulette & Tanya Winely - "Rhymin' and Rappin" 1980: Afrika Bambaataa - "Zulu Nation Throwdown" 1981: Funky 4 + 1 - "That's the Joint" Questions: 1. Which picks do you agree with? 2. Which picks do you disagree with—and do you agree with the rebuttals? If not, what song would you nominate? 3. Importance (or lack thereof) aside, which of these songs do you like or dislike? Feel free to ask any questions you come up with as well!
May 10, 2021 Started reading earlier and honestly went into it expecting it to be corny, but after reading the first couple chapters it’s clear Serrano really cares about and respects rap, even if I don’t agree with all of his takes.
May 11, 2021 Forward and intro done. Can see the "most important Vs best" arguement causing some debate.
May 11, 2021 The analogy of Rap being a tree and the branches being subgenres by ice t was simple but really effective I really enjoy the idea of having rebuttals so the book doesn't feel like a vacuum of one person's opinion It also stood out to me that Kurtis Blow helped create the rap hook I never knew that I also didn't know about DJ Kool Herc (the name sounds slightly familiar) and how influential he was to DJ'ing And finally I should listen to the songs listed fully cause the only song I've heard in the first three chapters was rappers delight I don't even think I've heard that fully
May 11, 2021 @icecube @jankland @Winter sorry for all the tags and moving s--- around but I modified the schedule to make more sense and moved your posts to here, so feel free to discuss at length! @BookClub
May 11, 2021 I agree! That's one of the best parts about the book to me, which leads me to a thought I had about the 1979 chapter: it's pretty hard to dispute Rapper's Delight as the most important song of 1979 when there was barely any recorded rap in the first place (discounting recorded live shows, I'm talking official recordings), so it's cool to me that they included "Rhymin' and Rappin." I'd never heard it or even heard of it until I read this book for the first time five or six years ago. Still need to reread 1980, 1981, so I'll post my thoughts on those later this week.
May 11, 2021 I've read a little ahead since I got the book like 2 weeks ago and it's pretty hard for me to go against the picks. Afrika Bamabaataa (and Zulu Nation) and Kurtis Blow are names that every Hip Hop head should know, are some of the founding fathers of Hip Hop, alongside Kool Herc. Rappers Delight has 'Rapper' in it's name and is probably the oldest song to do so. I wasn't alive during that era and I'm not from the USA so I pretty much can only agree with the picks. Gotta be honest besides Bambaataa, I don't know any of the Rebuttal artists
May 11, 2021 I'd never heard of Paulette & Tanya Winely til I read this book, and I only knew of Funky 4 + 1 from a rap history book I'd read previously. I'm glad you're learning new artists though cuz part of the purpose of this book club is to teach about early rap history!
May 11, 2021 Yeah it's pretty interesting to see that there have been female MC's such early on in Hip Hop history. Overall I probably won't revisit those early 80s classics but it's very educational to see gimmicks, that are omnipresent in todays Hip Hop, having their origin in this house-mouse rap songs (until RAKIM the goat changed everything)
May 11, 2021 Call me ignorant but I never realised Rappers Delight was 15mins long and had 10 verses!! I'm def gonna listen to each song at the end of each chapter.
May 11, 2021 Em would blow these guys outta the water nowadays. They had no technicality, just rhythm.
May 12, 2021 There’s multiple different versions of the song, the most common form of it is like 7 minutes long (at least in my experience). There’s also a 4 minute or so cut i believe.
May 12, 2021 Yeah I found a few that were just 3 verses when I was looking for it. Glad we ended up with the 3 16 bar verse tradition!
May 13, 2021 Just finished the prelude and the intro. About to start the first chapter. I was also surprised at this. I had the same thought. It should enhance the reading by listening to the songs. At least for me
May 13, 2021 Rappers delight seems like the right choice to me for 1979. I can appreciate the rebuttal but when you think of impact, I don't think there is a question about it. The beat, and the way Wonder Mike opens with his verse...iconic. Its going to be hard for me to say how the times were in the 1970's and 80's without being around, but looking back at it, it is one song that everyone knows when it comes on, regardless of if they like the genre or not. On to chapter two!
May 14, 2021 Yeah, that's why I really like that they include the rebuttal, because it's fun to look at other perspectives even with a song as ubiquitous as Rapper's Delight.
