January 6, 2023
Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight Hits Top 40 – Today in Hip-Hop
[ad_1] XXL celebrates 50 years of hip-hop with this moment:Jan. 5, 1980: The Sugarhill Gang's classic 1979 song, "Rapper's Delight," helped move hip-hop from the humble streets of the Bronx, N.Y., to mainstream popularity.The song was the idea of the late Sylvia Robinson, who was the founder of Sugar Hill Records, along with her late husband Joseph, Sr. She enlisted Michael "Wonder Mike" Wright, Guy "Master Gee" O'Brien and Henry "Big Bank Hank" Jackson to recite written rhymes (allegedly from Cold Crush Brothers' Grandmaster Caz's rhyme book) over the bassline groove of Chic's "Good Times," which was replayed by Sugar Hill's in-house live band Positive Force.The result was a 14-minute-long song that reportedly...