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This article summarizes the events, album releases, and album release dates in hip hop music for the year 1979.
On March 25, 1979, the Fatback Band released the single King Tim III (Personality Jock) which is often cited as the first recorded hip hop song, [1] even if a record called Enterprise who was released in the play Runaways (Original Broadway Cast Recording) on July 7, 1978, [2] [3] is also considered as the first recorded hip hop song. However, the exact origins of hip hop remain debated, with various recordings and performances from the 1970s contributing to its early development. Regardless of the specific milestone, these early releases laid the foundation for the vibrant and influential genre that hip hop would become. [4]
On September 16, 1979, The Sugarhill Gang released the single Rapper's Delight which became the first commercially successful hip hop song. It is often mistaken as the first recorded hip hop song. [1] In 2011, the song was preserved into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress stating that the infectious dance number might have launched an entire genre. [5]
Russell Simmons decided that he wanted to create a rap record with Kurtis Blow. He realized that the best way of earning money was by creating a Christmas record as it would be played every year. After playing the song for 22 labels, they finally got it released on Mercury Records. [6] The record was eventually sold over 500,000 times. [7]
Bramsam – Move Your Body [8]
Dr. Superman / Lady Sweet – Can You Do It (Superman) / Back to Metropolis [9]
David Lampell – I Ran Iran [10]
Eddie Cheba – Lookin' Good (Shake Your Body) [11]
Family – Family Rap [12]
First Class – Rappin' It Up [13]
Funky Constellation – Street Talk (Madam Rapper) [14]
Funky Four Plus One – Rappin' and Rocking the House [15]
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five – SuperRappin' [16]
Jocko – The Rocketship [18]
Jazzy 4 MC's – MC Rock [19]
Joe Bataan – Rap-O Clap-O / El Rap-O Clap-O [20]
Lady B – To The Beat Y'all [21]
Lady D / MC Tee – Lady D / Nu Sounds [22]
Little Starsky – Gangster Rock [23]
Mr. Q – D. J. Style [24]
Mr. Q – Ladies Delight [25]
Mr. Q – Love & Time / Rapping Time [26]
Mr. Q – Party Party / Party Rapp [27]
Neil B / Brooklyn Express – Body Rock [28]
The Sequence – Funk You Up [29]
Ron Hunt / Ronnie G. & The S.M. Crew – Spiderap / A Corona Jam [30]
Paulett and Tanya Winley / Ann Winley – Rhymin' and Rappin' / Watch Dog [31]
Scoopy – Scoopy Rap [32]
Sicle Cell & Rhapazooty – Rhapazooty in Blue [33]
Spoonie Gee – Spoonin Rap [34]
Steve Gordon & The Kosher Five – Take My Rap... Please [35]
T.J. Swan – And You Know That [36]
Troy Rainey – Tricky Tee Rap [37]
Uno – Boogie Beat [38]
Wackie's Disco Rock Band – Wack Rap [39]
Willie Wood & Willie Wood Crew – Willie Rap [40]
Mr. Magic – Rappin' With Mr. Magic
Xanadu & Sweet Lady – Rappers Delight / Rockers Choice [41]
Younger Generation (early name of Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five) – We Rap More Mellow [42]
Midnight Marauders is the third studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on November 9, 1993, by Jive Records. Recording sessions for the album occurred at Battery Studios, Platinum Island Studios and Scorcerer Sound in New York City. Its production was mainly handled by Q-Tip, with contributions from Skeff Anselm, Large Professor and the group's DJ, Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A culmination of the group's two previous albums, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm and The Low End Theory, it features an eclectic, gritty sound based on jazz, funk, soul and R&B samples, in addition to socially conscious, positively-minded, and humorous lyrics.
Duane Hughes, better known by his stage name Spyder D, is an American old-school rapper and producer from New York City.
The Cold Crush Brothers are an American hip hop group that formed in 1978 in the Bronx, New York City. They were especially known for their memorable routines which included harmonies, melodies and stage-stomping performances. The Cold Crush Brothers still perform in the United States as of 2023. "A snapshot from hip-hop's 50th summer: A live mixtape"..
Daniel Denton, better known by his stage name Moka Only, is a Canadian rapper and singer. He has won three JUNO Awards, five MuchMusic Video Awards, and has been nominated for 11 Western Canadian Music Awards. Originally from Langford, British Columbia, near Victoria, he began his musical career in Vancouver. He was previously part of the hip hop group Swollen Members, and was briefly part of the band Len. Moka has released albums through Feelin' Music, Legendary Entertainment, Battleaxe Records, Domination Recordings, Camobear Records, Wandering Worx and URBNET Records.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were an American hip hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. The group's members were Grandmaster Flash, Kidd Creole, Keef Cowboy, Melle Mel, Scorpio, and Rahiem. The group's use of turntablism, breakbeat DJing, and conscious lyricism were significant in the early development of hip hop music.
Gabriel Jackson, better known by his stage name Spoonie Gee, is one of the earliest rap artists, and one of the few to have released rap records in the 1970s. He has been credited with originating the term hip hop and some of the themes in his music were precursors of gangsta rap.
Funky 4 + 1 was an American hip hop group from The Bronx, New York, composed of Jazzy Jeff, Sha-Rock, D.J. Breakout, Guy Williams, Keith Keith, The Voice of K.K. and Rodney Stone. The latter two members also performed together as the duo Double Trouble, notably in the film Wild Style. They were the first hip hop group to receive a record deal, as well as the first to perform live on national television. The group was also notable for being the first to have a woman MC, Sha-Rock.
Sugar Hill Records was an American record label specializing in hip hop music that was founded in 1979 by husband and wife Joe and Sylvia Robinson with Milton Malden and funding from Tony Riviera and Morris Levy, the owner of Roulette Records.
Wendy Clark, better known by her stage name Lady B, is an American female rapper and radio DJ from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is one of the earliest female rappers in hip hop, and one of the first hip hop artists to record a single, "To the Beat, Y'all", in 1979. She began her career with radio station WHAT in 1979, and recorded her first single later that year, "To the Beat Y'all". The song, the title of which became a stock rap phrase, was first released by TEC, a local Philadelphia-based record label, and released again in 1980 by Sylvia Robinson's rap label, Sugar Hill Records.
Dah Shinin' is the debut studio album by American East Coast hip hop duo Smif-N-Wessun. It was released on January 10, 1995, via Wreck/Nervous Records. Recording sessions took place at D&D Studios in New York City. Production was handled by Da Beatminerz. It features a guest appearance from the Boot Camp Clik. The album peaked at number 59 on the Billboard 200. The production is the signature Beatminerz sound which is elevated from their work on Black Moon’s 1993 effort ‘Enta da Stage’. The album spawned 4 singles: Bucktown/Let’s Git It On, Wrekonize/Sound Bwoy Burriel, Wrekonize (Remix)/Sound Bwoy Burriel (edit) and Wontime. A track known as ‘Nothin’ Move but The Money’ was left of the release of the album due to sample clearance issues and was released on white label as a result.
Big Apple Rappin' is a 2006 compilation album released on Soul Jazz Records. The album is a compilation of the early days of New York hip hop by Johan Kugelberg, who had collected early hip hop material, specifically records flyers and fanzines and other memorabilia with the idea to donate them to an academic institution. The music Kugelberg gathered for the compilation surrounded hip hop music released around the period "Rapper's Delight" became a hit song. The music is predominantly hip hop with a disco backing tracks which Kugelberg described as "the first great records." Along with the music, photography and flyers were compiled from the era, as well as interviews with DJs and rappers such as Grandmaster Caz and Glen Adams.
Errol Eduardo Bedward, better known by his stage name Pumpkin, was an American musician, percussionist, and band leader. He was renowned for being the one behind many old school hip hop tracks for the Profile, Enjoy, and Tuff City record companies.
Paul Winley Records Inc. was a doo-wop record label founded in 1956 that, in 1979, became one of the earliest hip hop labels. It was situated on 125th Street, Harlem, New York City. Winley released doo-wop by The Paragons and The Jesters, and hip hop records by Paul Winley's daughters, Tanya and Paulette, produced by Winley's wife, Ann. The label can lay claim to a number of firsts: one of the earliest rock and roll compilations, one of the earliest breaks compilations, an early solo female rap artist and an early instance of social commentary in rap. Winley was also the first label to record one of hip hop's most important figures, Afrika Bambaataa.
Baller's Lady is the debut studio album by the American rapper Passion. It was released on August 27, 1996, through MCA Records. Production was handled by Kirv, Mark C. Henry and Studio Ton. The album features guest appearances from B-Legit, E-40, Rappin' 4-Tay and Too $hort. The album was a commercial failure and only made it to #85 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, causing MCA to drop her from the label.
East End × Yuri was a short-lived collaboration between Japanese hip hop group East End and singer Yuri Ichii, ex-member of J-pop girl group Tokyo Performance Doll.
Curtis Brown, better known by the stage name Grandmaster Caz or Casanova Fly, is an American rapper, songwriter, and DJ. He was a member of the hip hop group The Cold Crush Brothers from 1979 to the mid-1980s. He is best known as the (uncredited) main writer of Big Bank Hank's raps on the seminal 1979 hip hop single by The Sugarhill Gang, "Rapper's Delight".
Tanya "Sweet Tee" Winley is one of the earliest female rappers, active from 1979 to 1982. She is the daughter of Paul Winley, of Winley Records on 125th Street in Harlem. Paul Winley recorded Tanya's and sister Paulette's "Rhymin' and Rappin'" (1979) and Tanya's solo "Vicious Rap" (1980), which are two of the earliest examples of rap songs by women. Tanya Winley is possibly the first recorded female rapper, and was a contemporary of Lady B.
William Thomas Trenell Brown, known professionally as Willie B or by the stage name The Ichiban Don, is an American hip hop record producer and recording artist from Los Angeles, California. He is an original member of West Coast hip hop production team Digi+Phonics of Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). He is also a member of the hip hop collective A Room Full of Mirrors, alongside fellow rappers Punch and Daylyt, among others.
Sharon Green, also known as MC Sha-Rock, is considered the "first female rapper" or emcee. Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, she grew up in the South Bronx, New York City during the earliest years of hip hop culture and rap music. Within the hip-hop community she has been referred to as the "Mother of the Mic" signifying her role as a prominent female figure among the early rappers. As a member of the first hip-hop crew to appear on national television, known as the Funky 4 + 1, her style of delivering raps on early mixtapes influenced notable rappers like MC Lyte and DMC of Run-DMC. McDaniels cited Green as a significant influence on the style of rapping associated with the pioneering group.
James Wesley McGee was an American-Canadian musician. He was most noted for several early rap singles released under the stage name Mr. Q, including "Ladies Delight", the first known Canadian hip hop single.