I’ve been doing cartwheels over Hip-Hop Essentials 1979-1991, Volume Five (Tommy Boy). Why? Because it leads off with “That’s the Joint” by the Funky 4 + 1 and “Freedom” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. I taped these two singles off the radio (WKTU-FM) when I was 12, and I played them over and over and over again. With the arrival of the Tommy Boy compilation, I’m hearing this music for the first time in roughly 26 years.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I moved to hip-hop straight from musicals like “My Fair Lady,” “The Music Man” and “A Chorus Line.” I was doggedly determined to memorize the lyrics to show tunes, and when I first heard “Rapper’s Delight” it spoke to me in exactly the same way. I learned every word, every inflection. As for “Freedom,” I remember being taken by the distinct vocal personalities of Melle Mel, Cowboy, Raheim, Kid Creole and Mr. Ness. I loved Sha Rock of the Funky 4, one of the very earliest female rappers. The Sugar Hill Gang’s “Eighth Wonder” and Kurtis Blow’s “The Breaks” were also in heavy rotation on my cassette deck.
My friends found my rap and disco mania rather odd and eventually converted me to rock. One of my first rock obsessions was “Back in Black” by AC/DC. Looking back, I’m sure that what appealed me was the skittering rhythm of the verses, as sung by Brian Johnson—who, let’s face it, barely “sang” at all. The song sounded like hip-hop to me. Call it the “Walk This Way” effect.
On “Freedom” and “That’s the Joint,” the party-music origins of hip-hop could not be clearer. I’m not anti-profanity per se, but its absence from these records is striking. You could play this music for five-year-olds.
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