DJ's Old-Time Granny and Dyn-O-Mite spin old school soul, funk, and disco jams! The show airs on special occasions on WCOM radio, 103.5 FM in Carrboro, NC, and streams online worldwide. www.resoul.org
While hanging out at the new gelato spot today, I ran into a CT-based rapper and producer named Skobie Won. It intrigued me to learn he's out of New London, since I recently relieved the the New London Sal's of all their decent vinyl, and found another large used record stash at a nearby antique mall that yielded some goodies, too. Skobie said he had a big collection, and I bet he does...those producer cats stockpile up all the good crate-dug shit. He just dropped his third album, Drive, and checking out his website led me to this very dope electro-flavored track right here, Burn:
which was the first single off his last album, Bedlam and Squalor. Burn to the ground, baby! Just keep the flames away from the gelato.
So imagine how psyched was I today when I found out their first ever recorded track was pretty freaking incredible, too. And I also never knew Spoonie Gee was originally a member of the crew! The New Rap Language was the B-side to Spoonie Gee's Love Rap, and came about because Spoonie was the nephew of veteran NYC record-store owner and independent record producer Bobby Robinson (no relation to Sylvia Robinson of Sugarhill Records). When Spoonie got signed to his uncle's label Enjoy Records, he convinced Robinson to let Special K, Kool Moe Dee, and L.A. Sunshine (plus DJ Easy Lee) back him up on his first single's B-side.
Bobby Robinson also went on to helm The Treacherous Three's other classic joints. This cat was legendary! His record shop ("Bobby's Record Shop," later "Bobby's Happy House") opened its doors in 1946, and was the first black-owned business on 125th Street in Harlem. Damn! And he founded or co-founded five record labels in all. Back in the day, he produced The Happy Organ for Dave "Baby" Cortez, which went all the way to #1 in 1959, and was the 1st-ever instrumental to top the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the first pop hit to feature the electric organ as the lead instrument.
Anyway, The New Rap Language was groundbreaking. It paved the way for fast-talking rappers everywhere (their style was dubbed speed-rapping), and took lyrical prowess to a new level at the very dawn of the rap era.
Listened to some more of the vinyl from this week's thrift store score, and the joint that stood out was Funk You Up, by The Sequence. It was the very next release (SH-543) on Sugarhill Records in '79 after The Sugarhill Gang dropped Rapper's Delight (SH-542), and these ladies were layin' down some powerful rhymes...rappin' in the key of R-A-P. Straight outta' Columbia, South Carolina, where the three of them were high school cheerleaders together.
Apparently, the first rap record released by a female group. Hip hop history! The cut reached #15 on the Black Singles chart, and was co-written by label owner Sylvia Robinson. Later, The Sequence backed up Spoonie Gee on his 1980 hit Monster Jam, and much later, starting in the 90s, lead rapper Angie B (Brown Stone) had a neo-soul career as Angie Stone.
