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© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.From Killer Mike to Fat Joe, hip-hop stars talk about how first rap song resonated with them
By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. and GARY GERARD HAMILTON LOS ANGELES©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
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CuteUsagi
Am I old-fashioned?
I do not appreciate poorly written music praising the thuggery and the degradation of society.
I really miss great so-called black bands writing real music and singing in great harmonies about the problems with society.
Sorry if I offended you all.Invalid CSRF
Blacklabel
I feel sorry for anyone who had their first exposure to rap being Will Smith.
kinda explains why haven’t heard of their own rap career at all or why they are a DJ just playing the music of actually talented people,
FizzBit
That would have been 1980
Blondie’s Rapture
Fab Five Freddy told me everybody's fly
DJ spinnin' I said, "My My"
Flash is fast, Flash is cool
France Soir c'est pas Flash et Nous Deux
François c'est pas, Flash ain't no dude
And you don't stop, sure shot
Go out to the parking lot
And you get in your car and drive real far
And you drive all night and then you see a light
And it comes right down and it lands on the ground
And out comes a man from Mars
And you try to run but he's got a gun
And he shoots you dead and he eats your head
And then you're in the man from Mars
You go out at night eatin' cars
You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns too
Mercurys and Subaru
And you don't stop, you keep on eatin' cars
Then, when there's no more cars you go out at night
And eat up bars where the people meet
Face to face, dance cheek to cheek
One to one, man to man
Dance toe to toe, don't move too slow
'Cause the man from Mars is through with cars
He's eatin' bars, yeah wall to wall
Invalid CSRF
Jeremiah
The 80s was a renaissance of music.
kaimycahl
@CuteUsagi No just a little out of touch! but that is your choice BTW what is a so-called black band? Either they are called black or African American! NOT SO called!!!
Am I old-fashioned?
I do not appreciate poorly written music praising the thuggery and the degradation of society.
I really miss great so-called black bands writing real music and singing in great harmonies about the problems with society.
Yrral
Cute,you probably do not like music promoting Black liberation either,Like fight the power that be
Mocheake
A lot of the rappers in NYC in the late '70s had songs on tapes before the first official hip-hop song came out. I heard lots of Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Treacherous Three, Crashcrew, Spoonie G and Cold Crush songs before Rapper's Delight or King Tim III were put on wax. I was just speaking to my man in Jersey yesterday and we were both talking about how we wished we still had some of those tapes. Gold now.
memoryfix
Young generations will never know James Brown, Billie Holiday, John Lee Hooker and more. Great blues and funk music legacy destroyed because of rap and hiphop dominating the spotlight. And people are afraid to say so and criticize because of what they will be called if they do.
Chabbawanga
Makes perfect sense. Everyone totally forgot about Mozart and Tchaikovsky too when Jazz was invented.
/s
opheliajadefeldt
Remember the first rap song you heard? ............No, I am still waiting. Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Rossini etc etc....were not in to it........thank dog. I have never heard a rap song, in fact I tend to ignore most modern music, except the 2 Best Japanese Female hard rock bands. They are the best in the world, and I listen to them as much as the composers above so they must have some thing very special.
memoryfix
Musical traditions are destroyed by rap and hiphop -except for diehard collectors - because they get no airplay anymore. You get hiphop as the backing music in family restaurants and shopping malls now. It’s everywhere. No variety.