2010Released
3:55

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Rapper's Delight - Single Version. By Songfacts®.

This was the first rap song to enter the US Hot 100. Rap music had been around for about seven years, but it was usually heard at block parties and discos where DJs would loop breakbeats and MCs would add live vocals. Outside of the Bronx, rap was generally considered a fad, and record companies had no interest in financing it. The first rap song commercially released was "Kim Tim III (Personality Jock)" by the Fatback Band, which came out in the summer of 1979, but was relegated to the B-side of a more traditional R&B tune. "Rapper's Delight," released on September 16, 1979, was a serious push to get a rap record into the mainstream, and it worked. The song reached the Hot 100 (at #84) on the chart dated November 10, and cracked the Top 40 (at #37) on January 5, peaking at #36 a week later. These chart positions may look modest, but getting a rap song national attention was quite an accomplishment, making "Rapper's Delight" a seminal song in hip-hop history. The winning formula was boastful lyrics over a sampled beat - a technique that became ubiquitous in rap.

The Fatback Band used an original beat on their song "Kim Tim III," making "Rapper's Delight" the first rap song to use a sample or interpolation, which of course was done without permission because no precedent existed for clearing them. The beat that plays throughout was taken from "Good Times" by Chic, a song that was in the crates of every DJ who played at the block parties where rap got its start. The "Good Times" groove was easy to loop on turntables, creating a breakbeat that was perfect for MCs. The Sugarhill Gang wasn't the first to borrow it - Queen used the bassline in their song "Another One Bites The Dust." "Rapper's Delight" used real musicians to re-create the "Good Times" rhythm because the technology didn't exist to make it into a sample loop. The only way to do it would be splicing tape together, and that could get choppy. But Sugarhill Gang didn't just use the "Good Times" beat; the string stabs were also lifted (these were samples, played from the record), so the entire "Delight" track was made up of pieces from the Chic song. "Good Times" was written by Chic's guitarist/producer Nile Rodgers and bass player Bernard Edwards. Rodgers heard "Rapper's Delight" for the first time when he was out at a club and the DJ played it. After he threatened a lawsuit, the credits on the song were changed. Originally, the three Sugarhill Gang rappers and their label boss Sylvia Robinson were listed as the song's writers, but now the only composers listed are Rodgers and Edwards, who receive all the songwriting royalties it brings in (Edwards' share goes to his estate, as he died in 1996).

The group was put together by Sylvia Robinson, owner of the New Jersey label Sugarhill Records, to take advantage of the rap music that was gaining popularity at New York City block parties. Her son, Joey Robinson, just 18 at the time, was the vice-president of promotion for the label and found the rappers for the group: Wonder Mike (Michael Wright), Big Bank Hank (Henry Jackson) and Master Gee (Guy O'Brien), all from Englewood, New Jersey. None of them had much credibility and weren't part of the "crews" that were rapping and dancing at the block parties. Some members of the early hip-hop scene thought the group was a sham, but the song became very popular in clubs and had a huge impact. Robinson, a shrewd businesswoman who died in 2011 at age 75, is the same Sylvia who had a hit in 1973 with "Pillow Talk," and was half of Mickey And Sylvia, who had the 1956 hit "Love Is Strange." She discovered rap music because her kids liked it, and used her business savvy and industry experience to create the first hit in the medium.

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Rapper's Delight - Single Version.
DKey
MajorMode
4/4Time Signature
112BPM

Album

The album Rapper's Delight - Single Version is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Rapper's Delight - Single Version.
Castle Communications
© 2010 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd., a BMG Company
℗ 2010 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd., a BMG Company

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