What was the FIRST Hip Hop Song? AN INVESTIGATION
Рет қаралды 32,583
3 ай бұрынTap in to the Livestream Giveaway on Wednesday April 17th at 5pm PST - exclusively on Patreon (free tier included) / diggingthegreats
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Today I want to answer the question - what was the first Hip Hop SONG? Let’s just say, the rabbit hole goes a lot deeper and a lot earlier than you might expect. Like, a LOT.
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SOURCES
blogs.loc.gov/law/2011/01/sla...
jazzobserver.com/the-origins-...
www.bbc.com/travel/article/20...
www.tota.world/article/546/
ia904506.us.archive.org/28/it...
www.britannica.com/art/Africa...
www.nms.si/en/collections/hig... oldest musical instrument in the world%2C a 60%2C000-year,and has four pierced holes
www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... cornet was invented in,and which bear his name
And the video where the woman plays the Neanderthal flute: • The 60,000-year-old ar...
@randomcharacter6501 3 ай бұрын
This is honestly too good for KZfaq. Somebody get this man a show on a streaming service!
@MakeSomeNoiseAgencyPlaylists 3 ай бұрын
YT this is a streaming service ! But they dont pay artists enough, eventhough they are Google and pay almost NO TAXES ! Check your head.....
@hhhsp951 3 ай бұрын
What's that thing from space again?,
@gezblair 3 ай бұрын
Public service broadcasting at its finest.
@theseanwardshow 3 ай бұрын
Seriously. Give him a budget, let him travel and interview people, 6-8 episodes, he'll give us the entire history of recorded music
@luisbarahona6255 3 ай бұрын
Definitely, the quality of the page and all the nuanced insights warrants and has earned the merit for one
@thaddeusford 3 ай бұрын
as a sixth generation jazz (black american music) trumpeter from new orleans, i want to commend you for presenting this accurate, thorough presentation. and the fact that you have introduced the legend of the great buddy bolden to tens of thousands of people that may have never heard of him is awesome. much respect to you and please continue doing what you’re doing.
@artistlovepeace 3 ай бұрын
Digging The Greats is literally genius. His lectures are astonishing. He literally breaks down why these records are wonderful. He is a Professor.
@CantTellYou 3 ай бұрын
High school music teachers need no more than to just put on a DTG playlist and let the kids watch
@matlee9832 2 ай бұрын
He is literally white, yuck!
@montygraves3650 3 ай бұрын
It doesn't matter that you sound White bro, you're speaking the universal language of Hip Hop (quite masterfully, I might add). So in this sphere, you're dialect is well understood and very much appreciated in OUR community!! (that includes you, of course)
@lonwoolf7370 2 ай бұрын
Man speak for yourself.. he’s not welcome in OUR community, we don’t even know the man.. and as black men we gotta be better.. ain’t no way we should be having a yt man teach us anything about our culture
@mokodo813 3 ай бұрын
Nothing makes me happier than to see Digging The Greats drop a new video 💯
@Kanyewestbiggestfan123 3 ай бұрын
Happier than*
@godforreal7355 3 ай бұрын
Not even when it's about a musician you like?
@mokodo813 3 ай бұрын
@@godforreal7355whoops. typo
@C.Ellis_BMI 3 ай бұрын
Indeed Fam! 2:42
@craigpeacock3601 3 ай бұрын
The first time I heard rap on the radio was “King Tim the 3rd” by the Fatback Band which was before “Rapper’s Delight”
@citizencain01 3 ай бұрын
"Way back in the days, 1979 Fatback band made a record using rhyme..." BDP - "Hip Hop Rules"
@LarryMiller88 3 ай бұрын
📠📠📠📠📠
@leewightman8619 3 ай бұрын
Never heard of them but all check them out
@greghamilton4129 3 ай бұрын
Agreed. I heard it while shopping on Jamaica Ave in Queens.
@itzdm0r3 3 ай бұрын
The Fatback Band is classic funk!
@RenR70 3 ай бұрын
Like Roger & Zapp said, “music comes in all forms but the blues is where it started from”.
@CantTellYou 3 ай бұрын
That quote is so true, so ruff AND so tuff
@jcmurie 3 ай бұрын
So glad you mentioned The Last Poets. That debut is one of the best albums I've ever heard and the rest of their catalog is phenomenal as well
@chiarosuburekeni9325 3 ай бұрын
I’m glad common and Kanye gave them their props by having them on that song The Corner. They made a banger even better with their verses
@KtotheG 3 ай бұрын
I've always felt that funk is to R&B what bebop is to jazz. Bebop was essentially jam sessions put to record, which is why a lot of people didn't get it at first. I've always saw funk in a similar way. They are jam sessions for rock and R&B musicians. And hip hop was born out in the park where the B-boys "jammed" to funk tunes being played by a DJ. The breakdown was always the funkiest groove, which made the B-boys really get down and jam. That's essentially how hip hop was born.
@user-xj6yu6li8h 3 ай бұрын
No mention of "Here Comes the Judge" by Pigmeat Markham as one of the first (if not THE first) person "rapping" over drums?
@LLMelvinL 3 ай бұрын
Yes!!!!
@Starmann2004 3 ай бұрын
Good to mention
@hansolo9585 3 ай бұрын
Before that you had Muhammad Ali in 1963 rapping over drums in what can arguably be called the first battle raps.
@heyitsmesomeone6371 2 ай бұрын
@@hansolo9585 Im sorry where can u find the clip of his singing?
@soulchorea 3 ай бұрын
when you flipped the flute sample I busted out laughing 😆
@CantTellYou 3 ай бұрын
so close 😂
@ncherrie 3 ай бұрын
I'm a 37 years old and a massive Hip-Hop fan, can't believe I only just discovered your channel! Honestly one of the best channels on KZfaq, love your breakdowns of classic songs I grew up with and love and hearing the stories behind them. Video production quality is also top tier!
@froggyspond1133 3 ай бұрын
Channel deserving of millions of subs, honestly. Don’t worry tho these 300k are worth 3m “normal” channel viewers. You have almost no bots in your comments and I’m sure your engagements are genuine. This channel rocks buddy. Thank you.
@puertoricanguy999 3 ай бұрын
Flipping great video as always, DTG! Also, I'm kinda surprised you didn't talk about the "Here Comes The Judge" song from comedian Pigmeat Markham, which even goes ALL THE WAY back before King Tim III.
@diggingthegreats 3 ай бұрын
Should have brought it up. By my own definition in this video it would count and predate the fatback band. But it also predates the culture of hip hop itself. Absolutely a precursor like Gil Scott Heron, or even the Jubilaires. These lines are difficult to draw, as I show in the rest of the video. Even calling the fatback band song the first gets tricky.
@samwest1097 3 ай бұрын
My mom used to have ‘Here Comes the Judge’ on Vinyl. As a kid I couldn’t tell he was rapping, just thought he was hilarious. But I know he inspired a lot of NY brothas that would go on to be entertainers.
@garrytreymendeziii5650 3 ай бұрын
Damn, I live about 15 minutes from Slovenia in Croatia and I’m sad to report that after 60,000 years of trying, they still haven’t made any bangers over here.
@diggingthegreats 3 ай бұрын
😂😂😂
@danielhoskins4690 3 ай бұрын
Give them time…
@Tabb2468 3 ай бұрын
I’ve always thought as “here comes the judge” by Pigmeat Markham as the first hip hop song. He was a soul/comedy artist from the 60s but “here comes the judge” is delivered in a rapping style not a spoken word, and there’s even a drum break to make it sound even more like early hip hop and it came out as a single in 68.
@user-xj6yu6li8h 3 ай бұрын
I made a similar comment before reading some of the other comments here.
@TYBO-xl1xz 3 ай бұрын
That’s ‘Rap’ not Hip Hop
@sjb3240 3 ай бұрын
It can't just simply be rhyming over a rhythm. If so, there were probably many corny showtunes that came before "Here Comes the Judge". That stuff is a totally different style and not connected at all to what was happening in the 1970's NYC park jams.
@AfferbeckBeats 3 ай бұрын
I agree, it's slang laden braggadocious rhyming over slamming funk drums, it's a clear close relative to what hip hop would become. Another one is What About You (In The World Today) by the Co Real Artists from 1974 which is even closer to hip hop.
@KtotheG 3 ай бұрын
It has to be over a break beat. The early hip hop pioneers were inspired by Pigmeat Markham, though.
@6lackcomedy 3 ай бұрын
We are all HUMAN.....color is no matter in great music and production....just a pure soul! You have a PURE SOUL my BROTHER!!!!
@13thcentury Ай бұрын
Except those neanderthal chaps... our cousins. Man, I'd love to go back and hear how they played it.
@TeagueChrystie 3 ай бұрын
A livery stable was like a parking lot for your horse when you came into town.
@tempeff8670 3 ай бұрын
Your expression when you're playing the flute notes over the instrumentals, classic!
@airfixx_8952 3 ай бұрын
One can def. argue that GSHeron & The Last Poets are more spoken poetry than rap, but Lightnin' Rod's "Hustlers Convention" LP (1973) certainly has the rap flavour......
@CantTellYou 3 ай бұрын
🎯 essentially a Kool & The Gang album with Lightnin Rod sorta kinda almost just about pretty much rapping over them lol it should’ve got a mention at least
@innabit5961 3 ай бұрын
Bruh! This is an all time DTG! Shouts to Keith LeBlanc, original Sugerhill drummer who passed away this week 🫡
@charlesjones4386 3 ай бұрын
You really outdid yourself on this one. Some of your best work yet. This needs 1 million views for sure!
@morreddie717 3 ай бұрын
Another banger upload from my man @Diggingthegreats! You gotta do more of these kinds of videos
@Ric-E...Ricardo 3 ай бұрын
I appreciate the content you put out. I always think about music stuff, and you make it. Good stuff man.
@k.chriscaldwell4141 3 ай бұрын
I lived in Middle-Jersey in the late 70s to the mid-80s. Hip-hop--Rap--was leaking out of NYC on to the radio stations of Trenton, Newark, Camden, and Philadelphia. We could also get some NYC stations. Mix-tapes of it would occasionally come our way. It was like discovering ice cream. I lived on an Air Force Base. The military store chain, AAFES (BX), was hip to new music. I was able then to buy my first Rap record in late '79 or early '80: The 12" of Rapper's Delight. I visited cousins in the Midwest in '81. I blew their minds with what I brought with me. Great memories. Yeah, I was THAT kid. You know, that kid that loved it ALL. From Zep, Floyd, U2, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Chic, Disco, The Flock of Seagulls, Blondie, Beatles, Doors, Adam Ant, ABBA, Duran Duran, Journey, Asia, Yes, Rush, Rap; Anything and everything but Country and Punk. Yeah, sideone of Duran Duran's Rio would end, and sideone of Zep IV would drop and blast Black Dog.
@mitmon_8538 3 ай бұрын
I can't wait to out-white someone when they say Rapper's Delight was the first rap song made. "Well, ackshuyally..." **pushes glasses up bridge of my nose**
@buenmojo 3 ай бұрын
Amazing content! What a twist with the ancient flute, very wow moment there. Keep the good work man.
@tylerlevibald420 3 ай бұрын
Amazing video as always! I love digging through all the 45s I’ve inherited to hear an amazing piece of jazz or blues that I’ve never heard before. These videos are incomparable ❤
@scottwoods8496 3 ай бұрын
Longtime viewer, first time caller. This is your best video to date, hands down.
@eancklean7922 3 ай бұрын
What a nice video man! It is soo well driven, congrats man!
@hansrajkumar 3 ай бұрын
Brilliant - I love how you tie everything together in your videos! Am also curious what the track played at 17:35 is 🎧
@BarryKrishna 3 ай бұрын
Absolutely incredible video. Keep up the amazing work brother ✌🏼
@corinne_vintage 3 ай бұрын
Another stellar deep dive! 🤩 And I'm sorry but I could not stop giggling every time you said bone flute. I just... I'll see myself out 😂😂😂
@kadu51044 3 ай бұрын
Hey, what you want on your plate when you arrive at the cookout? Because I am learning so damn much about my history, and holy crap I was not prepared for what I am stepping into when I was looking into doing something similar once upon a time. I, as a student of the beat and rhythm, I bend the knee to your knowledge and skill, and seeing you digging the greats indeed!
@chaunceypierce8803 3 ай бұрын
I don't know if it counts, but in 1978 The Emerald City Sequence from The Wiz was the first time I ever heard anyone "rap" over music.
@philosophy20 3 ай бұрын
I ALWAYS love these kinds of breakdowns! Thanks DTG ✊🏽😁. Shout out to hip-hop and the pioneering genres that came before.
@Uitverkorenen 3 ай бұрын
Chic's good times is not just Funk. It's Disco. There are a lot of classic hiphop samples taken from Disco. Like " everybody reach, reach for the top......don't stop" ....to name just one. Great channel. Love the vids
@KreshoMTB 3 ай бұрын
Every single yt video you did is an piece art for it itself... thx for such a great content!
@skottgrist 3 ай бұрын
This is one of your best videos. Beautifully done.
@SIGuess 3 ай бұрын
Seeing Digging The Greats has uploaded yk the day is going to be good
@ginether6174 3 ай бұрын
Been watching your videos for a while and they are always great even with the changes you had to make! Your voice is definitely YT as hell but I rap and do fashion blogs and In fashion we use a bunch of juxtaposition to make fits stand out! So your voice may be different than what is expected for this type of content but it’s also what makes it unique pulls the viewer in. Anyways great video keep doing your thing
@707cambam 3 ай бұрын
Wow. This was one of the most awesome music/history lessons I’ve ever learned or watched.Cant wait to watch it with my daughters!
@ingmarvanderhoek6314 3 ай бұрын
The mixing of cold sweat and so what is genius! Thank you for enlightening me once again.
@frolicious5531 3 ай бұрын
Yoooooo! Ur enthusiasm has me jazzed!
@strongislanduk 3 ай бұрын
This is your best yet, so good!
@mikescully6972 3 ай бұрын
That drum beat on ain’t no sunshine by bill withers is ahead of its time
@philpheburbs 22 күн бұрын
No idea how you wrote this and put all that research together into such a clear and entertaining video. Amazing work!
@lunaleonem3378 3 ай бұрын
Bro, at 17:25 you actually look at the point the red bar has reached! That is a high class detail.
@themotownboy1 2 ай бұрын
I thoroughly enjoyed this! I have now subscribed! In this recap of history, I was wondering why you didn’t mention Jamaican dub street MCs rapping over specially made dub versions of reggae and ska songs. This, I think, began in the late 60s. The concept of the extended version seems to come from Jamaican dub. I look forward to exploring your videos. Thank you!!!
@MasterF18 3 ай бұрын
Legitimately got emotional for me at the end with the flute. Incredible video.
@darryldays835 3 ай бұрын
Thank you for getting it right, I remember hearing this As a wannabe DJ at that time, me and my friends were so proud because it was the first Rap song that got Radio Play in New York, while everything else was underground or only played in Clubs. Wow, this made my Day, Good memories
@magicmodulator 3 ай бұрын
DUDE this is your best video yet nice one
@jackietunes 3 ай бұрын
This was so awesome. My only complain? wishing more. Nice work Sr.
@KalebPeters99 3 ай бұрын
Wow, this was such a journey! Great idea to hook people with the backstory of hip-hop, then sneak in an entire history lesson 😅 Amazing content as always, some of the best on the internet 🙏❤
@eldorado5319 3 ай бұрын
👋👋👋 Wow Brandon, your best work so far. Recap, so your saying Miles Davis "sampled" (and ripped off) a 60.000 year old Neanderthal #1 hit song?
@diggingthegreats 3 ай бұрын
In a way, yes 😂
@DavidBennettPiano 3 ай бұрын
Amazing video !!🎉
@BenD_Bass 3 ай бұрын
Dude, you're channel is so good.
@519schoolofhiphop 3 ай бұрын
My new favorite video of DTG! 💎🖤🫡
@paulvantveer6072 3 ай бұрын
Very enjoyable, original and honest. Thanks!
@noctivagentmusic9339 2 ай бұрын
You’re a legend for that bone flute mix at the end 10/10
@peoplecallmepeechez 3 ай бұрын
Best part of these videos is reading the comments of everyone else thoughts on what the first hip hop song is. Gotta look some of these up
@Moconvomedia 3 ай бұрын
You be dropping so much knowledge. Thank You
@davidpellerin5952 3 ай бұрын
~Bro, you bringing this channel from better to best! ~Amazing! Keep at it. Gold quest! ~You got it, for real, this is most appreciated. ~So much inspiration, I’mma call it revelations! Thank you very much. Peace!
@grittyshaker 3 ай бұрын
Wow! This is the first time I’ve seen you in my feed in ages. I thought you stopped making vids for a while
@diggingthegreats 3 ай бұрын
Welcome back! Still publishing every Friday, must've been an algo shift!
@PurpleSunTAS Ай бұрын
Started with debating the first hip-hop song, ended up with a PhD in musicology.
@ralphjackson8295 3 ай бұрын
It's because of "Rappers Delight" it's called Hip-Hop. People were going into the record store looking for Rappers delight but they didn't remember the name so they would say...do y'all got the album that goes "Hip hop, a hippie, a hippie to the hip hip hop you dont stop"...So many people did so, that the record stories put up sign saying Hip-Hop here. So the answer is YES, it is the first hip hop album. Everything before it was rap and everything after it became hip-hop.
@emmp6799 3 ай бұрын
Now that is some good storytelling. Such an enjoyment to watch and listen.
@notafamousperson95 3 ай бұрын
holy shit, what a journey! thank you for this video. its crazy i caught those 2 notes as soon as you did and how it all connects
@notafamousperson95 3 ай бұрын
also, to me, 'Here Comes the Judge' by Pigmeat Markham is the first Hip Hop song
@zimberlin9978 2 ай бұрын
This was a ride. LOVE THE VIDEO!!
@BluePhoenix476513 3 ай бұрын
Nice! My favorite episode yet.
@peachy-tay 3 ай бұрын
absolutely dying at the revelation in the end haha great video
@angiegray4987 3 ай бұрын
The bone flute playing So What and the James Brown song is pure gold. I can almost forgive you for all that crazy evolution talk...
@yodjruthless924 3 ай бұрын
what's with "Here Comes the Judge " by Pigmeat Markham, i would call this the first hip hop song
@diggingthegreats 3 ай бұрын
Should’ve mentioned this in the video as well. Almost brought up cases like this and the Jubilaires. Could be considered the first hip hop song, but it’s before the culture of hip hop was born. Now I gotta do another video 😂
@diggingthegreats 3 ай бұрын
It’s hard to draw lines in general too - is 8/11/73 the absolute beginning? Is the Fatback band song the first song? That’s also part of my point in the video - these lines are hard to draw
@ASSman864 3 ай бұрын
@@diggingthegreats some consider jimi hendrox castles made of sand to be one of the first instances of rapping
@vinylarchaeologist 3 ай бұрын
I was laughing with tears by the end of the video, and weeping. Such a Delight!
@MrAyla 3 ай бұрын
Amazing work as always
@ka1iban 3 ай бұрын
Stealth "Cold Sweat" video! Awesome!
@davisspictures 3 ай бұрын
Keep putting out the greats. Everyone will dig at some point.
@Mixxwizard 3 ай бұрын
I feel honored to be able to meet Tim, aka King Tim iii, when I was ten years old. He & my dad used to hang out together. I remember when we brought my dad a copy of his first single. Dang, I feel old now.😂... Thanks for sharing the knowledge with those who did not know about this.
@gigigalli2485 3 ай бұрын
great video as usual, just a little note... I think that Herc doesn't have the crossfader, he only moved the needle backwards to restart the break every time (at least that's what I understood from the documentaries I watched)... Sorry for my english and greetings from Italy!
@HonestWatchReviewsHWR 3 ай бұрын
Did anyone else think he was going to given mention to 'The Jubalaires - Noah', when it came to the origins of rap?
@mruhopper 3 ай бұрын
Yep....as a matter of fact, as great as this video was, I'm a little disappointed.
@MetalSonic420 3 ай бұрын
A great investigation and a great video.
@AgentZ7 3 ай бұрын
Rap goes so far back, Hiphop on the other hand is an amalgamation of several tenets as you said.
@zoranlojanica 3 ай бұрын
OK this was amazing. Love your videos, but this one... whoa. Presentation level 9000
@crowfoot7355 3 ай бұрын
Another great episode 👏 👏👏👏
@hongkongbeat2164 3 ай бұрын
That was… wow, just wow. Excellent video and deep dive
@The_One_Cosmos 3 ай бұрын
There are actually 5 pillars of Hip Hop. Emceeing, Dee Jaying, Graffiti, Break Dancing, and Beat Boxing. People now days try and remove Beatboxing, but in fact, it can never be removed since it is a core element of Hip Hop as one of the 5 elements. And in fact, Beatboxing still has a scene and is still used in music and may always be.
@josephwhite8896 3 ай бұрын
Hahaha the flute mix is hard my guy 🤣
@moneymikz 3 ай бұрын
We should bisect hip-hop into two eras BEB&R and AEB&R… because before Rakim it was pretty much all Froot Loops rap
@chinortega3 3 ай бұрын
This was almost unhinged haha great content
@H2o661Beats 3 ай бұрын
wonderful vid great info ty
@Polygroove1 3 ай бұрын
I have to make just a “little” addition to the “pillars” or what some of call the “elements” of Hip Hop. There are actually 5 Of Elements….Emceeing, DJing, Dance, Graffiti and Fashion….what we wear is just as important as what we rap, tag or scratch…..❤
@ashyshre 3 ай бұрын
underrated vid fr fr🔥🔥
@DJZenDaddy 3 ай бұрын
OMG! love the music history nerding out... Now gonna go dig the crates so to speak!
@michaelmeece 3 ай бұрын
What’s that tune at 11:30? I’ve heard it on another channel. Is it a public domain sample kit?
@justinr5989 26 күн бұрын
That closing of the loop on those two notes, oh my goodness. You should work for Smithsonian, honestly 👊🏼
@WesleyVerhoevePhotography 3 ай бұрын
you really outdid yourself with this one!
@Wc7823 Ай бұрын
Your best video yet!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍
@LLMelvinL 3 ай бұрын
People forget about pigmeat Markham ! He was the first to rap on a track and he said his rapping on a track.
@Dondonmixedflip 3 ай бұрын
My dad had a tape with raps from the 80s and 70s. Some of the songs were jocko rythm talk, yo mama and count coolout .
@jonntischnabel 3 ай бұрын
I was definitely thinking that adriano celantano would get a mention in there, in my opinion a legit hip hop song, and recorded in 1970. It still slaps today. ❤
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