Rapper's Delight

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“Rapper’s Delight” is a 1979 single by American hip hop trio The Sugarhill Gang; it was one of the first hip hop hit singles.

1 History
2 Predecessors
3 References to this song
4 In the media
5 External links

[edit] History

“Rapper’s Delight” hit #36 on the US pop charts, #4 on the US R&B charts, and #3 on the UK singles chart. It was the first hip hop single to go gold. The following year, the song was the anchor of the group’s first album, The Sugarhill Gang. In spite of a few more minor hits, The Sugarhill Gang quickly faded into obscurity.

It was the first Top 40 song to be available only as a 12-inch extended version—no 7″, 45-RPM record was made.

The song inspired Blondie’s 1980 hit, “Rapture”, which is considered by some to be the second major hip hop hit after "Rapper’s Delight".

Grandmaster Caz from the Cold Crush Brothers claims that Sugarhill Gang member Big Bank Hank used his rhymes on "Rapper’s Delight". The verse in which Big Bank Hank raps Caz’s name (“I’m the C-A-S-AN the O-V-A”) seems to support this claim.

To honor the song that many believe started it all, Erick Sermon, Redman, and Keith Murray covered the song in 1998.

The Spanish summer hit, "Aserejé" (2002) (released as "The Ketchup Song" in Germany, Norway, the UK, and the US), sung by Las Ketchup, tells the story of a boy who asks a DJ to play the “song he desires most”. Since he cannot produce the correct title, he mispronounces the first lines of "Rapper’s Delight": “I say the hip hop, the hip...” which becomes the meaningless refrain “Aserejé ja dejé...”.

The song was used in the final stages of an imaginative Honda commercial/advert, The Cog, in the United Kingdom in 2003/2004.

On December 1 2004, BBC 1Xtra celebrated the 25th anniversary of its entry into the British charts by broadcasting a revised recording of Rapper’s Delight performed by several English rappers.

[edit] Predecessors

Like many songs from the time, “Rapper’s Delight” was performed over the breakdown section of a disco hit (played by the group Positive Force), in this case CHIC’s “Good Times”.

Although "Good Times" is reported as being replayed by Positive Force, there is some debate among hip hop historians. The strings and piano sections on "Rapper's Delight" sound so close to the original recording that some suggest portions of the track are in fact tape loops. The listener can settle this controversy him or herself by listening to Chic's recording (the long version) and drawing his or her own conclusion.

Considering it would have been extremely rare for a brand new independent record label to hire a string section to execute nothing more than a "Disco Blast", much less a hip hop act in 1979 to hire a string section, this may prove to be true. However, the bassline and handclaps in "Rapper's Delight" do not match rhythmically nor tonally to "Good Times", suggesting these portions were replayed by Sugar Hill's house band. It could be noted that the parts may have been "cut up" and that replay on a standard turntable can significantly alter characteristics of pitch and timbre, particularly when the recording is maniputlated while spinning ("scratched"). Since the very birth of hip hop was the DJ's art (scratching and cutting), it is likely the band (represented in the form of Sylvia, the label's founder and a woman well known for her business savvy at all stages of her career) were simply contesting usage of the recording to avoid paying a fee to Atlantic Records (while remunerating Rogers and Edwards through their publishing entities).

[edit] References to this song

The lyric in this song “What you hear is not a test” was also said in ShG’s hit song "Apache".

In an episode of For Your Love, Mel (James Lesure) is stunned to learn that Malena (Holly Robinson) does not know all the lyrics to “Rapper’s Delight”, telling his brother and friends that he would never have married her if he had realized this beforehand.

In an episode of Scrubs, J.D. gives Turk a Sugarhill Gang alarm clock as a wedding gift. When it goes off, the rappers appear, performing “Rapper’s Delight”.

Phrases in this song are referenced by numerous hip hop and R&B artists, as an homage to the first commercially successful rap track. Artists include Run DMC, TLC, Kid Rock, Wyclef Jean, Lil’ Kim, The Beastie Boys, Afroman, R. Kelly and Limp Bizkit.

The Tesco Vee song “Crapper’s Delight” is a parody of "Rapper’s Delight".

The titular character of the film Kangaroo Jack sings the intro during Charlie's unconscious dreaming. The only difference between this and the original is Jack sings "My name is Jackie Leggs and I'd like to say 'Hello!'"

An elderly woman flawlessly raps the lyrics in the Adam Sandler movie, The Wedding Singer.

The "old school rappers" on the Saturday Night Live sketch "Rap Street" sing a nonsensical spoof of "Rapper's Delight," enthusiastically belting out "Rap rap, ribbity rap rap, rip rop ribbity do!"

R. Kelly quotes this song in Cassidy's Hotel "Ho-tel, Mo-tel Hoilday Inn(Say Wha'?)I said if your girl start actin' up Then you take her friend"

Several British Hip-hop(Brithop) rappers remade the song in 2005. The seven minute long song includes the original beat with rising English rappers such as Kano and Rodney P paying homage to the original