Most of the rappers who performed in clubs did not want to record. He also stated that "as innovative and important as "Good Times" was, "Rapper's Delight" was just as much, if not more so."īefore the "Good Times" background starts, the intro to the recording is an interpolation of "Here Comes That Sound Again" by British studio group Love De-Luxe, a dance hit in 1979.Īccording to Oliver Wang, author of the 2003 Classic Material: The Hip-Hop Album Guide, recording artist ("Pillow Talk") and studio owner Sylvia Robinson had trouble finding anyone willing to record a rap song. Rodgers admitted that he was originally upset with the song, but would later declare it to be "one of favorite songs of all time" and his favorite of all the tracks that sampled Chic. Rodgers and Edwards immediately threatened legal action over copyright, which resulted in a settlement and their being credited as co-writers. The song turned out to be an early version of "Rapper's Delight," which also included a scratched version of the song's string section. Rodgers approached the DJ who said he was playing a record he had just bought that day in Harlem. A few weeks later Rodgers was on the dance floor of New York club Leviticus and heard the DJ play a song which opened with Bernard Edwards' bass line from Chic's "Good Times".
When Chic started playing "Good Times", rapper Fab Five Freddy and the members of the Sugarhill Gang ("Big Bad Hank" Jackson, Mike Wright, and "Master Gee" O'Brien), jumped up on stage and started freestyling with the band. On September 20th-21st, 1979, Blondie and Chic were playing at concerts of The Clash in New York at The Palladium. Rodgers experienced this event the first time himself at a high school in the Bronx. In late 1978, Debbie Harry suggested that Chic's Nile Rodgers join her and Chris Stein at a hip hop event, which at the time was a communal space taken over by teenagers with boombox stereos playing various pieces of music that performers would break dance to. Ten years after its initial release, an official remix by Ben Liebrand entitled "Rapper's Delight '89" was released. There are three versions of the original version of the song: 14:37 (12" long version), 6:30 (12" short version), and 4:55 (7" shortened single version). The song is ranked #251 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and #2 on both 's and VH1's 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs. The song's opening lyric, "I said a hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie to the hip hip hop," is world-renowned. While it was not the first single to feature rapping, it is generally considered to be the song that first popularized hip hop in the United States and around the world. "Rapper's Delight" is a song recorded by American hip hop trio The Sugarhill Gang. Rapper's Delight (The Sugarhill Gang single) Originally credited: Sylvia Robinson, Big Bank Hank, Wonder Mike, Master Gee Later credited: Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers Uncredited: Grandmaster Caz 4:55 (single version), 14:37 (album version)