Old School Rap
A first-wave hip-hop tag for the records that turned Bronx block-party culture into a commercial form. The music still feels bright, loose, and social, even when the rhymes are simple by later standards.
Origins and context
Documented as an early New York City hip-hop style that formed around block parties, club performances, and the first commercial rap records in the late 1970s.
How to listen
Start here
- Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang
Mood
- Party-oriented
- Playful
- Communal
History
Old School Rap emerged in New York City, especially the Bronx, in the late 1970s as DJs and MCs turned block parties and club sets into a new recording language. AllMusic places the recorded history of the style at two 1979 singles, Fatback’s "King Tim III" and The Sugarhill Gang’s "Rapper’s Delight," while also noting that the movement had been forming for nearly a decade before those records. The style’s early reach was shaped by Sugar Hill Records and by artists such as Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, Afrika Bambaataa, Run-D.M.C., and The Sugarhill Gang. Apple Music notes that The Sugarhill Gang’s "Rapper’s Delight" became the first hip-hop single to become a Top 40 hit, and Grandmaster Flash’s page points to the early technical and documentary breakthroughs that helped codify the genre.
Notable artists
- TSThe Sugarhill Gang
- GFGrandmaster Flash
- KBKurtis Blow
- RRun-D.M.C.
- ABAfrika Bambaataa
Essential listening
- 1
- 2
- 3
