1,669.) Mon Jun. 28, 2021

The Song of the Day is:

Sugarhill Gang – “Apache”

From the album 8th Wonder (1982)

As I said before, you could sense the danger
When you’re stung by the rapping ranger
When Silver and I, take a route
All you suckers better step aside
I sting squaws, then I run away
Hi-yo Silver, is what I say
Hit it, gang

Tonto, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it
Kemosabe, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it
Custer, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it
Apache, jump on it, jump on it
A-hunga-hunga-hunga-hunga

Jerry Lordan – Sylvia Robinson – Clifton “Jiggs” Chase – Cheryl Cook – Michael Wright

I asked Junior what kind of music he wanted to hear today, and his reply was hip-hop, so I decided to take it old-school. Real old-school. Today I introduce Sugarhill Gang to the blog, but I’ve purposefully not selected their most famous song: “Rapper’s Delight”. Yes, that song is a milestone recording, and it’s rightfully celebrated for being the song to bring recorded hip-hop to the masses. Frankly though, I just don’t think it’s a great song. The sample of Chic’s “Good Times” grows tiresome, the raps are rudimentary and it drones on for too long. I’m sure in 1979 it was revolutionary, but today it’s a more of a novelty. It’s kind of the same story as the Original Dixieland Jass Band’s “Livery Stable Blues” in 1917, the first recorded jazz song. Sure, it’s important because it was first, it captured minds and attentions, and widened the genre’s reach, but it was far from the best. Back in 1917, that honor could have been bestowed upon Louis Armstrong or Duke Ellington or even perhaps Buddy Bolden, and in rap’s case, it could have been Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, or the Treacherous Three. Instead, it was the Sugarhill Gang, a producer-assembled group comprising of Michael “Wonder Mike” Wright, Henry “Big Bank Hank” Jackson, and Guy “Master Gee” O’Brien. The producer who created the group is an important figure in hip-hop, Sylvia Robinson, who was known for her own 1973 hit “Pillow Talk” and 1957’s “Love is Strange” by Mickey (Baker) & Sylvia. Robinson, along with her husband Joe, founded Sugar Hill Records and successfully launched the label with a theme-song of “Rapper’s Delight” by the local rappers that she hand-picked (& Sugar Hill Records would become the de facto capital of hip-hop for many years). However…that’s not today’s song. Not my preference. I would rather jam out to the Gang’s “Apache”, a genuine party song. The music recalls an old first generation rock and roll instrumental of the same name, most famously performed by a Danish guitarist named Jørgen Ingmann in 1961. Its direct sample comes from a 1973 funk cover of the song by the Incredible Bongo Band. It might not be as widely recognized as “Rapper’s Delight”, but I think “Apache”, despite its egregious cultural appropriations, is a much more fun song, with a great dance move (a move which I bumbled through as a demonstration for Junior). “Apache” was not a sensation upon release, but it has grown in stature as one of the great early hip-hop records. Sadly, Big Bank Hank passed away from cancer in 2014, but Wonder Mike and Master Gee are still performing as the Sugarhill Gang.