The Sugarhill Gang - "Rapper's Delight"

[Deleted]

It's rare to be able to pinpoint a single that changed music, but here's one. Listening to it is like hearing a history of rap music because so many lines have been sampled in other songs. A classic.

Bizarrely, even though it only got to #36 in the US, it was a top three hit all over the rest of the world.

[Sir Benji]

My dad used to have like all of their albums on vinyl. This is definitely a classic, Nile Rogers of Chic produced this. I think this didn't chart as high in the U.S. because it was a disco-sounding song and the Disco backlash had already started.

[Soulsista]

I love it.

[B-Boy]

Classic. I liked the Def Squad remake, which I believe I heard first on the radio. Actually, in it's entirety. But a couple of years earlier, I remember hearing some of it in The Wedding Singer trailer.

[horchata]

I'm pretty much in love with this, totally classic.

[Deleted]

JAM! One of the best rap songs ever.

[Deleted]

This is being inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress this year.

[HolidayGuy]

Actually, Sylvia Robinson is the credited producer of the track. However, Chic's "Good Times" provides the bass line. :)

Rodgers and Bernard Edwards initially threatened to sue, but then settled and received co-writing credit.

[Stefan85]

Every time I hear "Don't stop", I always think of this song. :)

[Soulsista]

Hit #4 on the R&B chart in late 1979.

The Sugarhill Gang were recently featured on Unsung.

[H.]

Classic. This is a great rap song.

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

A hip hop classic made by hip hop legends.

[jdanton2]

Jul 28, 2011 14:33:18 GMT -5 Sir Benji said:

My dad used to have like all of their albums on vinyl. This is definitely a classic, Nile Rogers of Chic produced this. I think this didn't chart as high in the U.S. because it was a disco-sounding song and the Disco backlash had already started.

i think it was only released as a 12 inch single in the US which hurt it's chart position. not sure about other countries where it charted higher.

[gonecountry]

Love it, great beat. Amazing how this was fundamentally a top 10-ish hit everywhere except the US and Autralia. We were a little late to the party on hip hop.

[disman00911]

One of the greatest 70s/80s rap songs ever.  I used to hear this as a flashback on B96, WGCI 107.5 and V103 when I was younger.  I've never grown tired of this song as it still sounds good today.

The Full Version is over 14 minutes long!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUAESacQM

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

#101 on Billboard's 500 Greatest Pop Songs

You Know What It Is: With winningly cheerful rhymes riding atop an iconic Chic bass line, “Rapper’s Delight” introduced millions of listeners outside of New York to a nascent art form — hip-hop — when it cracked the top 40 in 1980.

These Words: The opening lyrics that started it all: “I said a hip-hop, the hippie, the hippie/ To the hip, hip-hop and you don’t stop…’”

Who Put the Bomp: “Rapper’s Delight” was produced by Sugar Hill Records co-founder Sylvia Robinson, who scored a hit with the pre-Hot 100 pop classic “Love Is Strange” as part of the duo Mickey & Sylvia in the late 1950s, and then as a solo artist in the ’70s with the sensual disco ballad “Pillow Talk.”