Passage V

Selling Hip-Hop

One night in the late seventies, at a popular club in New York City, singer and music producer Sylvia Robinson had a revelation. At the time, hip-hop subculture—based on the graffiti, breakdancing, deejaying, and rapping art forms—were emerging as a phenomenon. Robinson watched as DJ Lovebug Starski spun records for the crowd and rapped over the instrumental breaks in the music. Every time the DJ chanted, "Throw your hands in the air," everyone obeyed. Robinson could hear the enthusiasm shared between the hip-hop performer and his audience. She knew she had to capture that excitement on record.

Robinson wasted no time in recruiting three aspiring rappers: Big Bank Hank, Master Gee, and Wonder Mike—to record on her label as the Sugarhill Gang. (65) Wanting to re-create the feel-good vibe of the music she'd heard, an upbeat disco record provided the background that the rappers rhymed over. The resulting track, "Rapper's Delight," sold fourteen million copies; Robinson had produced the first rap record to break into the charts.

Nevertheless, Robinson's musical instincts, and business savvy had served her well with the Sugarhill Gang. However, there was more to hip-hop music than party-ready club anthems. She hoped to capitalize on her success by expanding the genre, Robinson signed Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, a group that already had a following, to her label.

Robinson allowed the group to record a track that studio musician Edward Fletcher had written. The track, titled "The Message," encountered new commercial hip-hop ground by addressing harsh realities of inner-city life. It was a far cry from the more digestible singles the group had previously released because the rappers were hesitant to record it. But Robinson believed it was a surefire hit. In the opposite fashion, Fletcher and Melle Mel (one of the Furious Five) recorded the track, which became the group's biggest hit. Its socially conscious rhymes helped usher in a new generation of artists and secured Robinson's legacy in the landscape of commercial hip-hop.