Sylvia Robinson the "Mother" of Hip Hop dead at 75

[Hotlantan]

Sylvia Vanterpool Robinson, 75, often credited as the Mother of Hip-Hop, died today at 6:28 a.m. EST from congestive heart failure.

Sylvia is revered in the rap community as the producer who took Chic’s sample of “Good Times” and with the help of the Sugar Hill Gang, turned it into “Rapper’s Delight,” the first hip-hop record to go mainstream.

Sylvia had been ill for approximately five months before passing this morning at Meadowlands Hospital in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Along with producing “Rapper’s Delight,” Sylvia also produced “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. She didn’t just work behind the scenes, though. Sylvia was half of the duo Mickey & Sylvia.

“Pillow Talk” and “Love is Strange” are two of Sylvia’s most popular songs.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Sylvia, who was married to the late Joseph Robinson Sr., was mother to three sons, Joseph Robinson Jr., Leland Robinson and Rhondo Robinson.


'Love Is Strange' stayed at number one R & B for two weeks and went to number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1957.


Pillow Talk' held the number one R & B spot for two weeks and made it to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in spring 1973.

secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Sylvia_Robinson

[Hotlantan]

Excuse my language, folks, but any rapper who disrespects women in their music is a damn fool. Because if it were not for a woman, this woman -- Sylvia Robinson, there really would be no rap music market for the rappers to make money from. A lot of people remember Sylvia for her music, but few people remember or realize her impact on modern music history. I'll talk about that later, but first I'll start from the beginning.

New Jersey's own Sylvia had a large hit, her first, as part of the 50s duo Mickey & Sylvia with a corny pop song called "Love is Strange." Fast forward to the 70s with another large hit, the pornographic "Pillow Talk," which featured Sylvia breathing hard and heavy about 3 years before Donna Summer did it in "Love to Love You Baby." This time Mickey was not part of the act -- good move; it made her a sultry superstar and reached #1 on the R&B charts (#3 Pop). It was also a good move that Sylvia recorded the hit herself, as it was originally penned with the hopes that Al Green would sing it. Also at this time, Sylvia was the owner of a record label empire including All-Platinum, Stang, Turbo, and Vibration just to name a few.

When she acquired the rights to Chess records in the late 70s and began having financial trouble, she needed a way to jump-start her record empire. She hired 3 New Jersey kids, called them the Sugarhill Gang, and had them rhyme a "Rappers Delight" like the authentic rappers she'd noticed in New York. Add a funky house band to play a sure-fire riff ("Good Times" by Chic) and "cha-ching!" Sugarhill records was born. While "Rappers Delight" was not the first recorded rap song, it was definitely the first major rap hit. And over the years, Sylvia remained in charge (production-wise and managerial-wise) of all the great talent that gave up the Sugarhill groove from Grandmaster Flash to Sequence to the Funky Four.

Sugarhill introduced the world to rap music and culture. And Sylvia introduced us to Sugarhill by founding that label. She is as responsible as any of the rappers for the major role of rap music in popular culture. And probably more so because she took that chance that changed the face of music history.

Oh yeah. And her solo albums aren't bad either.

[Deleted]

Truly a pioneer. Not only the founder of the label that spawned the first rap hit, but she produced it, and also had one of the first female rap releases ever.

[Kishi KCM]

It's unfortunate that she passed away, but it's moments like this where I get to learn and research an artist's contribution to music.

[kingofpain]

I didn't know about her involvement in the hip-hop movement... I always thought of her as a one-hit wonder with Pillow Talk, one of my favorite classics from the 70's that they don't play on radio anymore. Forget Barry White, this is the song you need to put on in the background to get in the mood!