Thank you  to Gary Williams, a fellow tweeter and all round lovely person.

“My love for Rap Music

I remember my first experience involving hip hop music so well. I was in junior school it was 1984. A pupil called Richard Gilbert performed a brilliant  break dancing routine in a school assembly. I can’t remember the song he was breakin’ to because I just found what he did one of the best things I’d ever seen in real life.
After assembly I found Richard at first break and as nervous as I was approaching an older much cooler pupil than me, somehow I managed to tell him how I enjoyed what he did.  He was very grateful. An awkward silence he said thanks and went on his way.

I was 10 years old and into cartoons and playing with toys. I can honestly say music wasn’t really on my personal radar. My dad listened to Meat Loaf a lot. I remember Bat Out Of Hell every time it started as he played it that much. The Eagles featured lots as did Blondie, ZZ Top and The Who.  My dad had a crush on Tina Turner he adored her as a woman and as a singer.

My mother was a Barry Manilow fan, I did so get fed up with “oh Mandy “but the noise I made playing with my Mask toys drowned that song out most of the time. I first time I had a go at playing the family record player which was atop a huge Hi Fi system. I’d love to have that now. I remember being quiet interested in the “Flash Theme” by Queen. As I had watched the movie. The b side appealed more, it was Football Fight. A very short song but I thought it had a brilliant beat and I really liked it.

Hazy now but I’d been given a cassette by I think a friend called David Dunkley in 1986. On this cassette was a song called “This Girl Is A Slut” it was so rude but to me and my brother Paul it was excellent. There was a man making the beat with his mouth ‘Beat boxing’ and an excellent other man talking over the Beat box ‘Rapping’. All this was completely new to me. I remember Richard’s break dancing but that was just a fantastic beat he was breaking too.
This was very different. Obviously I now know they are connected.
I was unaware of any of the artists names on this cassette as was in a blank cassette box. I’m sure the next song was called “Hit It Run” I worked out who this was because they name drop. Swearing in this too but not as much as “Slut”. Raising Hell was the next song, very different and very rock music influenced. I was aware of this ‘Rock’ music as my Dad was a fan of the genre.

I can’t say I over listened to this cassette as I didn’t. I only played it every now and again. I couldn’t even tell you any of the other songs on it other than Run DMC’s Raising Hell album.  I’d started secondary school in 1985 and in 1986 my parents has split up so adjusting to this, moving house with mum and Paul and adjusting to ‘big school’ new class mates and growing up kind of took priority. Most kids at school liked bands like Europe and Bon Jovi. My mum brought me “Fight For Your Right To Party” 7″ single by Beastie Boys for my birthday. I loved it. More so the B side which was “Time To Get Ill” loved the beat, samples and scratching on the track.  I was 13 I believe when I appreciated.

I had a paper round and later that year I brought my very first record. “Licensed To Ill” by Beastie Boys. Played the hell out of it. Recorded it on to cassette so I could listen while on my paper round.

I’d become friends with a lad called Paul. He also loved rap, and graffiti too.

We both started tagging. I tagged Def, he wrote Jams. We weren’t great but good enough. Bus shelters, bridges and the local train station became our hangout areas. We got stopped by the police one day outside of a shop called Preedy. We had spray cans in our bags. We are just re-spraying our bikes line just didn’t cut it with the old bill. We had to appear down the Nick the next day. We both were shown lots of tagging and bombing photographs. We were asked to name the writers, we never would of but I honestly didn’t know their real names anyway.

I remember hearing “Paid In Full” by the amazing Eric B & Rakim on the radio quiet a lot, I thought Rakim’s voice and tone was exceptional. I was also a fan of their follow up hit “I Know You Got Soul” both songs where remixes of the tracks from the album “Paid In Full”. I didn’t buy much music I always managed with mix tapes. But one day i was in a CD store and i saw the “Follow The Leader” album by them, I brought it. Played it loads. To this day the song “Follow The Leader” is one of my favourite tracks ever.

“Give The Drummer Some” by Ultramagnetic MCs was a huge track to Jams and me. He had brought it on 12″ brilliant beats and lyrics. Also Jams had brought another 12″ record on the same day. That was “Badman Is Robbin'” by a British rap group called Hijack. I had heard of Derek B and really liked his track “Bad Young Brother” and “Bullet From A Gun” I was liking this British Rap Style.

A group called MARRS did a track called ‘Pump Up The Volume’ in 1987. It was a brilliant piece of work, and even at the age of 13 I recognised how well it was sampled and put together. Noticing straight away the Rakim lyric they had used.

In this year I also fondly remember a track called ‘House Arrest’ by Krush, this was considered a pioneering House Music track.

Around this time off the top of my head I remember buying a 7″ vinyl by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock called ‘Joy and Pain’. I’m really sure I’m only brought it because it was rap music, as I remember not being a fan of the A side track. But I was totally blown away by ‘Check This Out’ the B side. I recognised one of the samples from the Jungle Brothers track ‘On The Run’. The rapping and scratching was good stuff. At this time I’d also been lent a record called ‘That’s How I’m Living’ by an artist called Toni Scott. The b side was called ‘The Chief’. Fab funky beats and great rhymes. I used to rap along with it but changed Toni’s lyrics from “maybe you know me as Toni, but you can also call me the chief” to “know me as Gary, but you can call me the Gee”.

I also fondly remember a mix tape I played in my walkman a lot which had ‘Can You Feel It’ , ‘I’ll House You’ and ‘The 900 Number’ wishing now I’d of kept the tapes I used to own as they were excellent listens. Pretty sure it was a DJ Red Alert mix from Kiss FM radio.

Remember once I’d moved to Eastfield Rd from Queensway, I’d become friends with some cool people on the road. Sarah Love lived opposite my house, really cool kid. She was a year older then me. She looked like a rock girl, had jet black short hair and always wore black clothes. She liked her hip hop this was good our friendship was made. We shared vinyl. Very good times. A cool lad lived few houses away. His name was Ronnie, we became friends, he introduced  me to Babs, Jack, Eggy, Chromer, Media. Chrome was such a good Graf artist. As was his bestie Media, him to this day God rest his soul is one the funniest people I was ever friends with. Legend. Met a few other good girls that where friends of Sarah’s good times.  Eggy (Danny) had a mk2 escort we went in his car a few times. I discovered ‘Voodoo Ray’ and Demon Boyz, liquid gold and blue  thunderbirds.

The rest is shall we say history and I’ve so much for every rap group I’ve been into. Public Enemy,  Run DMC, Beastie Boys, Eric B & Rakim, Tuff  Crew, Ultramagnetic MCs and of course LL Cool J. British rap gets a massive shout out too. My first love was Demon Boyz,  Hijack, Hardnoise, Blade, London Posse, Overlord X, MC Duke, She Rockers, MC Mello there are more but I’d be here bigging up every rap act ever who I’ve liked loads. So a shout out to all who have made my rap head happy over all these years. MASSIVE RESPECT

Thank you G