from the 12” single, Enjoy Records, 1979There will always be debate as to where exactly the recorded legacy of hip-hop begins, but what most heads have come agree upon is that the crew who typically gets the props for this achievement, the Sugarhill Gang, were indeed a bunk group that was assembled by record producer Sylvia Robinson and who spit lyrics penned by the awesome Grandmaster Caz, although he received no royalties on the cut (that fact alone is enough to disqualify them from the running, in my humble opinion); thus, if you really want to know what the block parties around NYC sounded like previous to hip-hop becoming co-modified by the mainstream, look no further than this smokin’ gem by famous DJ Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five MCs: Melle Mel, Kid Creole, Rahiem, Cowboy & Scorpio. Any fans of J-5 will recognize the modus operandi here, albeit 20 years their former, “…we’re gonna make five voices sound like one…”; shit, even Tribe only loosely improved on the blueprint drawn up for everybody here, and it took them a full decade on from this to do so. I know hip-hop can’t go backwards, but damn…
