Monday, June 18, 2007

Sugar Hill Gang - Auditorium Shores - June 23, 2007

From the does this band indicate how old I am crowd... Sugar Hill Gang @ Auditorium Shores on June 23rd @ Urban Music Festival.

So I forgot that Tupac's birthday was June 16, 1971, he would have been 36 yrs old... crazy right...



More info:

The Sugarhill Gang is an American hip hop and Funk group, known mostly for their biggest hit, "Rapper's Delight", the first hip hop single to become a Top 40 hit. The track uses the bass line from "Good Times" by Chic as its foundation. The members, all from New York City, called themselves Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank, and Master Gee. They were assembled into a group by producer Sylvia Robinson who also founded Sugar Hill Records along with her husband record mogul Joe Robinson.

"Rapper's Delight" was a #36 hit on the US pop chart and a #4 hit on the US R&B chart in 1979 (see 1979 in music), though hip-hop was dismissed as a brief fad. The Sugarhill Gang never again topped the charts, though they had a few minor hits, such as "Apache", "Eighth Wonder", which was also performed on America's hit music show, Soul Train in 1981, "Rapper's Reprise [Jam Jam]", and "Showdown" (with the Furious Five). In 1989 (see 1989 in music), they reunited and recorded "Jump on It", a hip hop children's album. They continue to tour.

Some claim that "Rapper's Delight" is the first hip-hop single ever, but it was actually preceded by "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" by the Fatback Band. The term "rap" is also claimed to be derived from the title of Rapper's Delight. In addition, Grandmaster Caz from the Cold Crush Brothers claims that Sugarhill Gang member Big Bank Hank used his rhymes on "Rapper's Delight". This claim is attributed to the lyrics "I'm the C-A-S-A-N the O-V-A and the rest is F-L-Y," used by Big Bank Hank in the song. (At the time Grandmaster Caz regularly referred to himself as "Casanova Fly.") It is said that Grandmaster Caz wrote Big Bank Hank's lyrics for the entire song. But the Sugarhill Gang's place in music history seems secure as the first hip hop group to have a Gold single.

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