From the Vault: Rhymefest

"I reminisce for a spell; or shall I say think back." May, 2006 just to keep it on track.

I was a happy dude the day I got my ticket to the Brooklyn Hip Hop festival. The show was dope too...rain and all. Long Live the Kane!

And now, another trip into the Vault.

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For those who registered for the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival 2 months ago, check your email boxes - I GOT MY TICKET!!!
And if you didn't register and wanna go, check the link below before its too late:

http://www.brooklynbodega.com/

So in honor of me getting my ticket, today's J Hunte's Daily Quotable comes from Rhymefest (my second most anticipated album of the year! I'm lovin "the Chi" right now) who will perform at the festival along with headliners Big Daddy Kane and Lupe Fiasco.

"Whose the first ghost writer? Grandmaster Caz. /
Sylvia Robinson went and found three young lads, /
And the Sugar Hill Gang took all the cash! /

Ain't it strange? Thats when the language changed. /
MCing was created - Its a dangerous thang. /
You see, young ones need to know from whence they came. /
It ain't all about the wack mixtapes and gold chains. /

B-Boy Anthem - Rhymefest; Mr. Bluecollar

Here's a little background for yall that don't know what Rhymefest is talkin about - back in the late 70s, producer Sylvia Robinson pulled together three guys (Wonder Mike, Master Gee, and Big Bank Hank) to form pioneering rap group the Sugar Hill Gang. In 1979, the group released the groundbreaking track "Rapper's Delight," which was the first commercially sucessful rap song and went on to sell roughly 8 million copies worldwide. All good right? Mostly.

See while Wonder Mike and Master Gee were both local rappers at the time Big Bank Hank was the manager of another rap group, the Cold Crush Brothers. Since he didn't rap, Hank used one of Grandmaster Caz's (one of the members of the Cold Crush Brothers) rhymes for his verse on "Rappers Delight" in exchange for his help in getting Cold Crush a record deal. Well, the record deal never materialized. The Sugar Hill Gang went on to help change the course of music history (and became rap's first boy-band). And Grandmaster Caz is credited as rap's first Ghostwriter (and hasn't seen a dime). The Game was f'd up in '79! Someone should've pressed Reset...

Want more irony? Sylvia Robinson ended up branding the Sugar Hill Gang and still receives royalties everytime that song is played anywhere. Her family is now ridiculously wealthy and her grandson, Darnell Robinson, will be featured TONITE on MTV's Super Sweet 16 at 10pm. According Darnell (on Hot97 this morning), the "Coming to America" themed pary cost over $300Gs! This boy better not have WIPERS!!!
Carry On...