Delight in Rapture

My earlier post about the NYC rock'n'roll scene got me thinking about other times when music in NYC was exciting. 

Specifically, rap music. 

Perhaps no era was more pivotal than 1979-1981, and these two videos show it.

First, 1979: the Sugar Hill Gang produced Rapper's Delight, arguably the first great and popular rap song. Back then, however, rap was viewed as niche or "black music", or not even "music" at all -- and certainly not mainstream. 

But if you ever doubted that rap would go mainstream i.e. that it would conquer white America, then only look at this video for Blondie's great 1981 song "Rapture" in which, halfway thru, the very white Debbie Harry raps. The future of music was obvious from these two songs and the consequences would change American culture. And it started here in NYC.

Interesting trivia: in "Rapture", the famous, short-lived artist Basquiat can be seen playing. Apparently he was a last-minute addition when Grandmaster Flash failed to show up for taping.