Uncovering the Next Generation's Hall of Fame
Sugarhill GangNot in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame | |||||||||||||||||||||
Eligible since: 2005First Recording: 1979Previously Considered? Yes what's this? |
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R.S. Top 500 Songs (?) | Rank | Version | |
Rapper's Delight (1979) | 427 | 2021 |
Essential Songs (?) | Wikipedia | YouTube | |
Rapper's Delight (1979) | ☆ | ☊ | |
Apache (1981) | ☆ | ☊ |
Sugarhill Gang @ Wikipedia
Will Sugarhill Gang be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? "Musical excellence is the essential qualification for induction." |
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18 comments so far (post your own)As much as people hold The Sugarhill Gang in high regards, the true father of rap is a jump blues singer named Louis Jordan. Posted by Andrew on Saturday, 09/14/2013 @ 17:59pm |
As much as people hold The Sugarhill Gang in high regards, the true father of rap is a jump blues singer named Louis Jordan. Posted by Andrew on Saturday, 09/14/2013 @ 18:00pm |
Oh yeah, because TONS of rappers looked to Louis Jordan for inspiration. Posted by GFW on Sunday, 09/15/2013 @ 07:27am |
I think that the mistake that people always make is to confuse rap with anything the seems rap like even though it has nothing to do with it and is not self-consciously part of that subculture. Rap refers to a very specific musical subculture that developed in NYC in the mid to late 70s. But people will always find a song where the performer is rhyming and claim that this was the "first rap song." One guy even once argued that that it was an early 1900s song from Sweden. Posted by astrodog on Sunday, 09/15/2013 @ 19:59pm |
I don't know which rappers have acknowledged Louis Jordan as an influence, but even if none have cited Jordan, his vocal style and delivery certainly constitute a predecessor to rap. Just listen to songs like Beware, Beans and Cornbread, Gal You Need A Whippin', Saturday Night Fish Fry, Caldonia, and Open the Door Richard and you'll hear a semi-spoken delivery not unlike the typical rapper. It's no coincidence that one of Jordan's biggest fans and students, James Brown, also pioneered a style of proto-rapping with tunes like Say It Loud, I'm Black and Proud and Brother Rapp. Posted by Zach on Sunday, 09/15/2013 @ 22:55pm |
Most eary rappers would credit Isaac Hayes, Parliament-Funkadelic, Sly & The Family Stone and James Brown as major influences rather then Louis Jordan. Posted by Andrew on Monday, 09/16/2013 @ 16:03pm |
Yeah while people may credit "Rapper's Delight" The Sugarhill Gang as a whole aren't really rated. Posted by GFW on Monday, 09/16/2013 @ 17:12pm |
@GFW-There are some decent documentaries on how it developed. Essentially the early DJs and rap artists would spin records an then weave them together, creating long musical breaks (which is where break dancing came from). Slowly as they were spinning the records they started to talk over them. It was a very homegrown phenomenon. Posted by astrodog on Tuesday, 09/17/2013 @ 22:34pm |
What would you recommend as the best doc's, Astro? Posted by GFW on Wednesday, 09/18/2013 @ 07:16am |
@GFW-They're on Youtube. I don't know the names embarrassingly enough but a couple by the BBC and also one about 1977 in NYC. The 1981 20/20 report was actually a good piece of journalism. In NYC in the mid 70s you had punk, disco and hip-hop all developing in parallel. Posted by astrodog on Wednesday, 09/18/2013 @ 08:52am |
"I think that the mistake that people always make is to confuse rap with anything the seems rap like even though it has nothing to do with it and is not self-consciously part of that subculture. Rap refers to a very specific musical subculture that developed in NYC in the mid to late 70s. But people will always find a song where the performer is rhyming and claim that this was the "first rap song." One guy even once argued that that it was an early 1900s song from Sweden." Posted by Philip on Wednesday, 09/18/2013 @ 19:25pm |
"I think that the mistake that people always make is to confuse rap with anything the seems rap like even though it has nothing to do with it and is not self-consciously part of that subculture. Rap refers to a very specific musical subculture that developed in NYC in the mid to late 70s. But people will always find a song where the performer is rhyming and claim that this was the "first rap song." One guy even once argued that that it was an early 1900s song from Sweden." Posted by Cheesecrop on Thursday, 09/19/2013 @ 05:19am |
I won't deny it came out of a distinct subculture, but to say it belongs to one and only one is just wrong. It doesn't even really give any acknowledgment to the rise of West Coast rap, and you can't tell the story of rap without that (those) story(ies) being told. Of course, on the other hand, people who claim primitive or "first" rap songs are also revisionistically forgetting that rap was also originally that of a DJ culture. That's why we honor and induct Grandmaster Flash, Jam Master Jay, and Terminator X as part of their groups. It's a huge oversight. Posted by Philip on Monday, 09/23/2013 @ 01:27am |
The Sugarhill Gang (weather they stole the song or not) Posted by Micheal on Sunday, 05/11/2014 @ 12:55pm |
RIP, Big Bank Hank Posted by Aaron O'Donnell on Tuesday, 11/11/2014 @ 12:34pm |
Sugarhill Gang are one-hit wonders. Their one hit was "Rapper's Delight." I learned that from a VH-1 show that had 100 songs that were from one-hit wonders. Posted by Brian Schonour on Saturday, 10/9/2021 @ 21:04pm |
Brian Schonour: But still, that one hit was probably the very first rap hit--or at least acknowledged as the first rap hit. That alone speaks to influence. Two of the commenters, above, said that this was one of the few times that one song should induct an act, and I wholeheartedly agree. Posted by Joe S. on Sunday, 10/10/2021 @ 10:30am |
I say this from listening to a wide variety of music from all eras and genres but rap and hip hop is excellent right now and not just nwa clones. Posted by David W Richman on Sunday, 02/6/2022 @ 18:32pm |
Future Rock Legends is your home for Sugarhill Gang and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, including year of eligibility, number of nominations, induction chances, essential songs and albums, and an open discussion of their career.
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