Comments on: EARLY RAP IN THE UK TOP 40

By: Kuen-Wah Cheung

Kuen-Wah Cheung — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:25:04 +0000

Thanks for such a great list!

Wham’s ‘Young Guns (Go For It)’ charted in November 1982, a few months before ‘Wham Rap!’s re-release.

By: Marcello Carlin

Marcello Carlin — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:14:06 +0000

Regarding IS THIS REPEATABLE? it should be noted that due to sampling restrictions at the time the Sugarhill house band had to play the “Good Times” riff over and over again for fifteen minutes on the full-length “Rappers’ Delight”; since they went on to become Tackhead/Mark Stewart’s Maffia they are thus the missing link between Terry Riley and Massive Attack.

Also NO ONE in Britain had heard of Flash when DH namechecked him in “Rapture” since IPen’s page-long NME rave review of “Wheels Of Steel” appeared a full month after “Rapture” was a hit so that was beyond cool (WOS/Message dichotomy being the popist/rockist divide, i.e. WE MUST TAKE IT SERIOUSLY ERGO END OF FUN).

By: Mark M

Mark M — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 08:51:17 +0000

I know tha’s the theory, and it is certainly there in Wild Style, with Blondie as the bridge from the Bronx to the East Village, but I’m still sceptical about whether that really happened. The Message – the track that takes rap beyond novelty for both the wider and critical audience (for good or ill) came a pop eon after Rapture, by which time I don’t think Blondie’s endorsement was so weighty.

By: pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør

pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 08:19:45 +0000

isn’t the point that rapture brought it to an in-crowd audience? who’d heard of rap before but not been open enough to see the possibilities? (or possibly: liked it — debbie’s rap has a goofy “will this do”? charm which sez THIS IS FUN YOU CAN DO BETTER WHY NOT TRY whereas the earlier two are technically adept (=feels out of reach?) as well as a bit hermetic (DO I GET THIS? NOT SURE) *and* novelty-esque (IS THIS REPEATABLE? NOT SURE) — so they took rap to a wide audience yes but not in a way that said “this is yours also”?

(obv another way to express that is “white folks be stealin black music”– but the existence of a certain kind of white listener is part of what gave post-old skool the useable encouragement) (i’ve always thought anyway) (have to go, chuck D is on the phone, i better talk fast…)

By: Marcello Carlin

Marcello Carlin — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 07:15:19 +0000

Arguable:
Jul 68: Pigmeat Markham - Here Comes The Judge #19
(not to be confused with the simultaneously charting version by Shorty Long which was sung rather than “rapped”)

By: Mark M

Mark M — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:41:49 +0000

There’s a vital point at the top of this list: Rapture is often credited – inc by folk like Fab Five Freddy, who is of course mentioned on it – with bringing rap to a wider audience. But it followed two big ‘proper’ early hip hop hits. What’s interesting, I guess, is how long the old school/novelty years lasted.