Rapper’s Delight by Sugarhill Gang (hip hop) 1980 Song: • Upbeat • Fun • Movement • Its about woman • Positive • Funny lyrics Hip Hop: • This song introduced this genre to a wider audience. • On charts of being one of the best hip hop songs. • Record companies didn’t want to finance hip hop artists. • Started being something just played at parties. • Using samples of other artists songs and adding rap sections to it. • Break-dancing is a popular element of hip hop. o Decreased the amount of violence. o People where expressing themselves through the dance and rap. • DJ battling was when two rappers would battle each other to see who was better. • The ‘scratch’ was made by a mistake. o DJ grand wizard Theodore tried to hold the spinning record still so he could hear his mother talking. Sugarhill Gang History: • American – New Jersey • Members o Wonder Mike (Mike Wright), o Big Bank Hank (Henry Jackson), o Master Gee (Guy O’Brien), o Kory O (replaces Master Gee) • Sylvia Robinson o was a founder of a record label. o She heard the increase of rap music and wanted to release a record. o She originally was only going to have one person but after auditioning Wonder Mike and Big Bank Hank she decided to put them together to create a group. o She auditioned Wonder Mike in her car outside a pizza shop where he worked. o She heard Big Bank Hank rapping while on the job (bouncer). • Big Bank Hank was also a part-time hip-hop manager. He used to rap along with songs he was given to test. • Rapper’s Delight was half planned and half spontaneous. • When hip hop crews heard Rapper’s Delight, they were shocked because they had never heard of the Sugarhill Gang before. • Used the groove from Chic’s hit Good Times. Controversy: • Big Bank Hank was rapping to a sample song he was given from another artist when Sylvia Robinson heard him. • Sylvia thought that the song was created by Big Bank Hank, he did not correct her. o The song was written by Grandmaster Caz of the Cold Crush Brothers. • Big Bank Hank later visited Grandmaster Caz to tell about using his song. o Grandmaster Caz allowed Big Bank Hank to use the song thinking that he would help him in the future although he never did. Bibliography: • https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/may/02/sugarhill-gang-how-we-made- rappers-delight-interview • http://www.oldschoolhiphop.com/artists/emcees/sugarhillgang.htm • https://www.biography.com/people/sylvia-robinson-582 • https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-hip-hop-1925-to-now-2857353 • https://www.centralhome.com/hip-hop-history.htm .