Disco-Rap
tagStarted 1979Peak 1979-1982Last big hit 1983
Located in 1 route
Rap built directly on disco grooves: live or re-played bass-and-guitar funk vamps (often modeled on Chic's 'Good Times'), four-on-the-floor drums, sweet backing vocals and long, festive 12-inch jams. MCs ride the danceable bounce with boastful, party-oriented rhymes, the bridge between disco's dance floor and recorded hip-hop.
History
The first commercial rap records were disco-rap. Fatback Band's 'King Tim III' (1979) and Sugar Hill's 'Rapper's Delight' (1979), cut over a re-played 'Good Times' bassline, introduced rap to radio. Sylvia Robinson's Sugar Hill house band supplied live disco-funk; Kurtis Blow scored rap's first gold single. Drum-machine minimalism soon displaced the style.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapper's_Delight
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-sugarhill-gangs-rappers-delight-becomes-hip-hops-first-top-40-hit
- https://www.allmusic.com/style/old-school-rap-ma0000004449