The self-entitled 1980 release from Kurtis Blow came as the first full-length Hip Hop release and it comes from one of few to come from a pioneering MC. Kurtis Blow was an original as he performed with the founder of Hip Hop, DJ Kool Herc during the '70s (prior to when it was even labelled as an individual musical genre), and he performed freestyles along with Herc's Funk mixes. He also formed a group with the current Hip Hop mogul, Russell Simmons called The Force, but failed to do as much as his brother, DJ Run went on to do as part of Run-DMC. This is his debut release from the rapper who didn't really get a chance to follow-up "The Breaks".
1. "Rappin' Blow, Pt. 2"
This is the second recording from Bow, and comes as a follow-up to "Christmas Rappin'" it finds him on the same groove, and getting things started in an excited manner by representing what the true sounds of hip Hop was at the time, (as it had only just been recorded) and so here
he just continues it and shows how well he can freestyle and how it simply won’t end.
**Five Stars**
2. "The Breaks"
This is one of the earliest Hip Hop hits, and one which you should recognise (if you are old enough to do so), especially the intro of "Clap your hands everybody, if you've got what it takes, cuz I'm Kurtis Blow and I want you to know that these are The Breaks". It is a classic for the genre and one which has been sampled so many times since. "The Breaks" which are given refer to many things, but for the purpose of many, these Breaks would signal when the breakbeat instruments would come into a Hip Hop track, allowing for breakers to do their thing on the floor.
**Five Stars**
3. "Way Out West"
I just found this one funny to listen to as it seemed as though rappers from the time would think of any theme and just make rap out of it. The theme here is the Wild West, and so you have relevant backing to suit this Western track and Kurtis Blow hits you with a story which is set in the period. It is just so cheesy yet enjoyable to hear, especially when you try to compare it to modern Rap.
This is a funky little track which has Kurtis Blow delivering his lines in a way similar to what you hear on "Rapper's Delight", and it seems to match with the beat which he performs on as it is equally as funky as the Chic backing which The Sugarhill Gang received.
**Three Stars**
5. "Hard Times"
I was confused by this as Kurtis Blow doesn't really stick to the theme that well, but I don't think that it's really his fault as it's the funky rhythm which leads it, and so when you have something which contrasts with it so much, you are unable to stay with the main objective. Blow starts off by rapping about the negatives of life in general (nothing to rival "The Message"), and it didn’t' really seem to genuine at all, however you can't take his voice seriously when he's supposed to be getting us down in a depressive mood.
You get him turning towards more of the find of stuff which was popular in Hip Hop records at the time as to go along with The Sugarhill Gang’s and Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5’s, Kurtis Blow lays down a ballad here, of course it is terrible, but it shows how much they wanted their music out there in the mainstream.
**One Star**
7. "Takin' Care of Business"
In this one you have another tune which shows the desperation of the time as he gets into what sounds to be in the style of the late seventies Rock & Roll kind of work, and in the same way that Blow doesn’t fit in with a bald song, he can’t sing Rock either, and this is a straight flop as a result, but it acts as a good comparison to today’s music.
**One Star**
8. "Christmas Rappin'"
Usually listening to Christmas songs outside of the festive season annoys me, but this one can be listened to throughout the year without having to thing about everything associated with X-Mas. It seemed as though at the start Kurtis Blow had an idea of a theme, but quickly fell off the Christmasy things and couldn't be stopped with his endless rhymes which didn't need to relate that much to the subject (you quickly forget it).
**Five Stars**
9. "The Breaks" (Instrumental)
I don’t think that anyone really needs any of these early (circa 1980) Hip Hop albums as they really don’t represent what the movement was about that well, aside from the odd massive joint, and so this comes through here as you here lots of pointless themed raps and songs, to take away form what they were really trying to do, and so although I believe all should listen to his music, you should stick to a compilation.
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