Early hip-hop: block parties, breakbeats and the first rap records
Hip-hop began as a way of playing other people’s records. That makes it the natural last stop on an old school route: it’s built directly from the funk and soul on the rest of this site.
The breakbeat idea
In the Bronx in the early 1970s, DJs noticed dancers waited for the “break”: the stretch of a funk or soul record where the band drops out and the drums carry on. DJ Kool Herc, whose 1973 parties are usually cited as a starting point, played those breaks back to back. Grandmaster Flash refined the technique with two copies of a record and precise cueing, so a few seconds of drums could run as long as the crowd wanted.
MCs began talking, then rhyming, over those breaks. For most of the 1970s this happened live, at parties and in parks, not on records.
Records the DJs played
A handful of records became standard break sources. Knowing them makes early hip-hop, and a lot of later sampling, easier to hear:
- The Incredible Bongo Band, “Apache” (1973): percussion-heavy, and one of the most famous breaks of all.
- James Brown, “Funky Drummer” (1970): Clyde Stubblefield’s drum break became one of the most sampled pieces of music ever recorded.
- The Jimmy Castor Bunch, “It’s Just Begun” (1972): a b-boy favourite with a hard-hitting break.
For the full picture of the funk underneath, read our 1970s funk guide.
The first rap records
Rap reached vinyl in 1979. The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” built on an interpolation of Chic’s “Good Times,” became the first big hit. Early rap singles were usually played by studio bands rather than sampled, which is why they sound so much like disco and funk.
| Record | What to listen for |
|---|---|
| The Sugarhill Gang, “Rapper’s Delight” (1979) | Party rhymes over a live band playing a disco groove. The template for the first wave of rap singles. |
| Kurtis Blow, “The Breaks” (1980) | A major-label rap single built as a joke on the word “break,” with a live band. |
| Grandmaster Flash, “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel” (1981) | A DJ performance cut live from other records. The closest thing on vinyl to hearing a 70s party DJ. |
| Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, The Message (1982) | The title track swaps party rhymes for a bleak, detailed picture of city life. |
| Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force, “Planet Rock” (1982) | Drum machine and Kraftwerk-inspired synths: electro, and a big step away from live bands. |
| Run-D.M.C., Run-D.M.C. (1984) | Stripped-down drum machine beats and shouted rhymes. The sound that closed the “old school” era. |
Why this belongs next to soul and funk
Early hip-hop is the moment the soul and funk archive turned into raw material. Later producers built whole careers on digging for records, which is one reason original 70s funk and soul pressings are sought after by collectors today. If you want to start digging yourself, see our guides to choosing a turntable (a direct-drive deck suits scratching and cueing) and cleaning used records.