I maintain that Blondie's "Rapture" should be counted as the first authentic rap tune to make it to the top ten. It consciously used the cadence and rhythm of the emerging street genre we now know by that name. It also transported that culture from the streets of the Bronx to the shopping malls of suburbia. And we are all the better for it.
I dunno, "Convoy" doesn't really seem that different to me from rockabilly songs like "Hot Rod Lincoln." The Commander Cody rendition of "HRL," which is the one most people are familiar with, came out in 1972 (a few years before "Convoy") and reached #9 on the Billboard pop chart. (It was originally recorded by its author, Charlie Ryan, back in 1955, and a second recording he did of the song in 1959 hit #14 on the country chart and #33 on the pop chart.)
As with many things, this depends on your definition of "rap" doesn't it? If you think of it as words spoken rhythmically with a musical background, you'll get one answer. If you think of it as a specific style of spoken/chanted word, then you'll get a different answer.
CG Hill's got an awfully good answer by bringing up "Big Bad John" though. That would certainly predate "Convoy."
Just for the sake of discussion, though: country music and black music come from the same place; the intersection was largely the blues, as it happens. :-)
Yeah. I'm not sure exactly where I draw the line, but I'm pretty sure that white guys talking about driving trucks fall on the not-rap side of my line.
Y'all do know that Chip Davis, who worked with Bill Fries to create the "C. W. McCall" material, is the founder of American Gramaphone and the bandleader of Mannheim Steamroller -- right?
My first choice was going to be Jerry Reed (Ko-Ko Joe, When You're Hot, You're Hot!) and those may beat Convoy; I don't recall the actual release dates.
But Ara is correct with "Subterranean Blues". That trumps the rest.
But, what about Doctor Seuss?
Repeat out loud with me, rap style:
My name is Sam,
It's Sam I am,
I will not eat,
green eggs or ham! (gesturing with big, ugly rings on my fingers)
funk this mutha up....The first Rap song to be consider by the artist of today and yesterday, started with Sugarhill..Just because rythmes play a part, doesn't mean it's rap...you have to have the dance beat behind it, mixes, and scratches...Nuttin' wrong with country music, but it isn't rap..it's singing..
now you wanna hear some backbeat that'll Funk you up...wait to see my new single...Boom Boom Tissue
I assume you are using the Billboard Hot 100 as your benchmark.
If so, then you would be correct.
Oddly enough, James Brown (who is not only the Godfather of Soul but also the Godfather of Rap, in my book) only got as high as #3 with "I Feel Good."
I have never really regarded "Convoy" as a rap number, mostly because it's actually pretty good.
Then again, Jimmy Dean's "Big Bad John" is even better, and it spent five weeks at #1 way back in the pre-Beatles Sixties.
I maintain that Blondie's "Rapture" should be counted as the first authentic rap tune to make it to the top ten. It consciously used the cadence and rhythm of the emerging street genre we now know by that name. It also transported that culture from the streets of the Bronx to the shopping malls of suburbia. And we are all the better for it.
Y'all keep spelling crap wrong.
LOL!!
Tony Bennett once said about rap singers, "I keep waiting for them to sing the second note."
re: the Sixties...
Although it never made the Top Ten or anything, Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues really WAS rap before any else.
I dunno, "Convoy" doesn't really seem that different to me from rockabilly songs like "Hot Rod Lincoln." The Commander Cody rendition of "HRL," which is the one most people are familiar with, came out in 1972 (a few years before "Convoy") and reached #9 on the Billboard pop chart. (It was originally recorded by its author, Charlie Ryan, back in 1955, and a second recording he did of the song in 1959 hit #14 on the country chart and #33 on the pop chart.)
By which I mean that "Convoy" was more a continuation of the rural country-derived tradition than the beginning of a new urban tradition.
As with many things, this depends on your definition of "rap" doesn't it? If you think of it as words spoken rhythmically with a musical background, you'll get one answer. If you think of it as a specific style of spoken/chanted word, then you'll get a different answer.
CG Hill's got an awfully good answer by bringing up "Big Bad John" though. That would certainly predate "Convoy."
Just for the sake of discussion, though: country music and black music come from the same place; the intersection was largely the blues, as it happens. :-)
Yeah. I'm not sure exactly where I draw the line, but I'm pretty sure that white guys talking about driving trucks fall on the not-rap side of my line.
Y'all do know that Chip Davis, who worked with Bill Fries to create the "C. W. McCall" material, is the founder of American Gramaphone and the bandleader of Mannheim Steamroller -- right?
My first choice was going to be Jerry Reed (Ko-Ko Joe, When You're Hot, You're Hot!) and those may beat Convoy; I don't recall the actual release dates.
But Ara is correct with "Subterranean Blues". That trumps the rest.
But, what about Doctor Seuss?
Repeat out loud with me, rap style:
My name is Sam,
It's Sam I am,
I will not eat,
green eggs or ham! (gesturing with big, ugly rings on my fingers)
Yerronner, Ah rests mah case....
theres not much one can say about that. unless ure racist
funk this mutha up....The first Rap song to be consider by the artist of today and yesterday, started with Sugarhill..Just because rythmes play a part, doesn't mean it's rap...you have to have the dance beat behind it, mixes, and scratches...Nuttin' wrong with country music, but it isn't rap..it's singing..
now you wanna hear some backbeat that'll Funk you up...wait to see my new single...Boom Boom Tissue