DJ magazine suggests hendrix's crosstown traffic was the first rap record ever

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MWAHAHAHA

that was in the lady sov random single review. whatthefuckever, dude. do love how rockcentric journos always link everything back to rock.

― mwahahah, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)

i remember when norman cook said this was the first big beat record!

― pete b. (pete b.), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

the reason given is cos its 'talking over a record'. haha
it wasnt even the first to do that!

― mwahahaha, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

What the heck? This talking blues is from 1920-something!

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)

See also "House of Blue Lights" from around 46, by, um, is it Ella Mae Morse and someone?

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Apparently he hasn't heard "Subterranean Homesick Blues" either.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, Ella Mae Morse and, get this, Freddie Slack (if that isn't an old school rap name, I'm just some jerk from Saskatchewan!), in 46.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 15:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Pigmeat Markham's hit "Here Comes the Judge" also from 1968 is much more proto-rap than "Crosstown Traffic".

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

OK jizzbingers,
Firstly I said it was 'talking over BEATS'. Obviously Crosstown Traffic isn't the first record to have talking on it you dumb motherfuckers, what do you take me for? A fucking imbecile? CT is talking over beats, and the beats Mitch Mitchell makes are a hell of a lot more similar to the breakbeats hip-hop uses than anything suggested above. Still, thanks for the obscure reccomendations (not Dylan obv before someone flips) and spoddy one-upmanship, much appreciated.
Secondly - I am not a 'dude'. I am British.
THirdly - the notion that anyone could talk about hip-hop's beginnings without mentioning the Watts Prophets or Last Poets is preposterous - the point of the review was to point out the ephemerality of genre cut off points and the way we can make up our own pop historical landscape and call it gospel anywhichway we like.
Yes, I am the most rockcentric writer on earth, that IS true. Yes, I can't talk about hip-hop without talking about rock music. Check my book on rap - 140 pages of nothing but reference to the Eagles and Steppenwolf. Sheesh.

― Neil Kulkarni, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the test is whether it would set the dancefloor off at a party where the DJ was playing hip hop and I can say with some certainty that it does, every time.. not really sure about the effect Ella Mae Morse would have

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Ch-Ching!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Tracer Hand OTM. (and I suspect, not having read the review, Neil K OTM by extension).

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I swear that I heard a song once on a Chuck Berry box-set that was as rap as rap could be. I forgot the title.

― JoB (JoB), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

'Jizzbingers' - hahahaha! Actually, what the fuck, Neil, you were misrepresented here by our man Mwahahah. You're one of the few writers I'd like to see more of, rather than less of. Which sounds a bit sycophantic, so I'll quietly go and hump myself in the corner.

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, and just to show I can be a jolly jolly goodsport - how about 'Say Man' by Bo Diddley? If that ain't proto-Pharcyde/Redman I don't know what is.

We can all think of dozens of egs.
Point is WHAT RAP MUSIC DOES was being done before it was called rap. 'CT' seemed to me to be just as good and arbitrary a starting point as anything else. The POINT of the review is the brute way it states that it is historical truth when it's simply an opinion. All our historical 'truths' about music beyond dates and details are similarly precarious, and as immortal and righteous as we wanna make em.

And to go back to original question - is 'Crosstown Traffic' just a rock song? Like Eric Clapton would make? Or is there something going on in the grooves and Jimi's delivery that suggests it has more to do with funk, soul & blues than white noise? I know what I hear.

― Neil Kulkarni, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, change that to 'funk, soul, blues AND white noise'. I'm dancing to it right now.

― Neil Kulkarni, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Hendrix was definitely a lot more funk than he was given credit for (I consider him my Isleys/Funkadelic/Mayfield gateway drug), which is why it pisses me off when I stumble across articles (old or new) claiming that the next Hendrix was Robin fucking Trower. Christ.

I know there's gonna be semantics over "rap music" = talking rhythmically vs. "hip-hop" = doing same over manually or sample looped breakbeats, but I'll choose to ignore that for now and state that "Little Miss Lover" sounds great following "Ante Up" on a mix.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

where is the love for MAHOGANY RUSH!!

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 17:28 (twenty-one years ago)

where is the love for ULI JON ROTH

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I want to make a thread just so I can make up one of these cool new, thread-specific names. Like, I'd make a thread about strawberry smoothies and I'd make my name "StrawberrySmoothie" and my e-mail would be "[email protected]"

― David Allen (David Allen), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 17:36 (twenty-one years ago)

not to neil-bash or anything, but can i just say that while i thoroughly love the new edan album, and really thought the review in DJ mag was OTM, saying edan surpasses de la and prince pauls finest moments is really over the top. i dont blame your over enthusiasm though, the album is hot to death.

― ppp, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 17:47 (twenty-one years ago)

PPP,
y'know what? I was just listening to the Edan for the first time in about a month and yr right - I think it was just the SHOCK and AWE of hearing it those first few times - it is over the top to say it surpasses PPaul & DeLa - I was only talking about 'Fumbling' - oh, just put it down to over-enthusiasm at finding an album that seems to EXPLICITLY make the connections you've felt have been hinted at for ages.
BUt yeah, I do get overexcited. As do you I'm sure . . .

― Neil Kulkarni, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 18:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Hm, now I need to hear this Edan album! (And hiya Neil, good to see you here again.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

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