Piano Guidance
Piano Guidance
Photo: Iurii Laimin
the Sugar Hill Gang The first full length rap album was the self-titled debut of the Sugar Hill Gang, released in February of 1980.
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Read More »Though the full-length Rap album followed the first Rap singles by less than a year, the rap album did not start to take full form in format, content and promotion until well into the 1980s. The first full length rap album was the self-titled debut of the Sugar Hill Gang, released in February of 1980. This album was created out of necessity: to capitalize on the success on the gargantuan hit “Rappers Delight,” which was famously the first commercially successful rap record and the one responsible for bringing Rap music to those outside of the boroughs of New York and around the world. “Rap was such a new format and 'Rappers Delight' had done so well that [Sugar Hill Records founder] Sylvia (Robinson wanted to capitalize off of its momentum and also legitimize the group by adding a few ballads and funk songs," explains Craig Derry of the Sugar Hill Band. This legitimizing included the label telling radio program directors that the vocals on those ballads were the late Big Bank of the Sugar Hill Gang, when in actuality they were Derry and members of Harrisburg, PA funk band Positive Force who were also signed to the label. Because the music was so new and perceived to be a fad by so many adults at the time, a full album of Rap songs was inconceivable. The second full length Rap album landed in September of 1980 in the form of Kurtis Blow's self-titled debut album. Blow was Rap music’s first solo star and the first rapper signed to a major label (Mercury/Polygram). His first album rode the success of his hugely successful single “The Breaks” and followed the same format as his predecessors - a few up-tempo party songs combined with a few ballads and mid-tempo jams (all sang by Blow). Where the Sugar Hill Gang debut was more about partying, Blow’s album showed more maturity handling social issues on “Hard Times” (eventually becoming Rap’s first cover song when it was remade by Run-D.M.C. in 1984) and “Throughout Your Years." The 12-inch single was the format that rap was born on and it thrived there throughout the first decade of recorded rap music. There was usually a long version on the A side and a short and/or instrumental version on side B. This served as the best format because the music was so new that most labels were simply testing the waters with it, because it wasn’t expected to last - even by those who were direct participants in it. Additionally, because of the limited amount of music that could fit on a 12-inch single, the audio was louder than a full-length album and perfect for club D.J.’s. Lastly the instrumental versions of these songs served as a sound bed for aspiring M.C.’s to write their rhymes to. Many M.C.’s and recording artists who became titans in the genre wrote their first rhymes to instrumentals from Sugar Hill Recordings and singles by Kurtis Blow. Although Rap as a genre had proven it’s potential to sell records and Rap artists had proven that they could fill arenas and stadiums (Kurtis Blow toured extensively with The Commodores and Bob Marley and The Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 toured with Cameo, Rick James, The Gap Band, Parliament Funkadelic and The Barkays) Rap albums were still rarely produced. Even in cases where singles were certified as Gold or Platinum full albums rarely followed.
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Read More »1982’s “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 featuring the late Duke Bootee was the single that changed Rap as a genre forever. Although a couple of artists had dabbled in a few lines of social commentary on previous Rap songs, The Message placed you right in the middle of the effects of Reaganomics on the poor and disenfranchised. The grittiness and realness of the song had never been realized in popular music. The success of the record demanded a full-length album. “We didn’t start on The Message album until a year after the single was released," says Rahiem of the Furious 5. "We didn’t have time to record material for an album prior to or in the process of making The Message. The album could have been much more successful had it been ready to go eight weeks after 'The Message' single was released."
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