They Said It Wouldn't Last But Rap Music Has Had a Very Long Past...
Celebrating Fifty Years Of Rap Music

by Doreen Ambrose-Van Lee

(Excerpt)

They said it wouldn't last, But rap music has had a very long past, Kurtis Blow, Sequence and the Sugar Hill Gang, Were party rappers who did their thang! Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, & Run DMC kept the party alive. Then came Roxanne Shante' and The Real Roxanne, Who are two very different women but who were probably rapping About the same man! Were you there when Blondie Immortalized Fab Five Freddy in her mega hit Rapture She said Flash is Fast Flash is cool like... LL Cool J, Heavy D may he rest well & Da Boyz rest well Trouble T Roy, Queen Latifah, Monie Love & Salt and Pepa along with cute Spinderella, Came along to add some flava, Then came NWA, Ice T, Warren G, and Snoop Dogg their west coast neighbors. Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick & The Get Fresh Crew gave us The Show to keep us afloat & UTFO rest well Kangol Kid & The Educated Rapper along with Dr. Ice was on the same note. There was Kool G Rap and DJ Polo. Members of the Juice Crew, Kurious, KMD and Mobb Deep. There was Sweet Tee, Kool Moe Dee, Eric Sermon and EPMD and Naughty by Nature, Big Daddy Kane and Eric B. and Rakim, Always talkin' 'bout gettin' that paper! There's Miss Melodie The Born Again Rebel & BDP & KRS One, and The One Who Rules The World Nas the Talented Son! Back in da day Whodini rest well Ecstasy and the Fat Boys rest well Prince Markie Dee were a force to Be reckoned with, Groups like Public Enemy set out to destroy myths, Then there was the Beastie Boys and Onyx, Whose lyrics were filled with pure sonics! There was a Del Da Funky Homosapien a Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, Whose beats were always fresh and funky and never old! There was Special Ed and Count Cool Out, & the Rapping Duke and Biz Markie who went the funny route, Then everyone started feeling Rob Base and Third Bass Then the south rose up with Andre3000 and Big Boi of OutKast, The Midwest rang out with Da Brat, Common and Twista, you know the one who raps really fast! There was Cash Money & Marvelous talking 'bout Finding & Ugly Woman and Making Her Your Wife and that would make you happy for the rest of your life. There was Positive K and with I Got A Man and Joeski Love promoting the Pee Wee Herman Dance & Rapper Dana Dane With Game abruptly Leaving the party with one shoe at his earliest chance. Now on the West Coast scene we have Kendrick Lamar AKA 'A-Benz-is-to-me-just-a-car!' Rapping along with Drake and Two Chainz! There was Tone Loc with the very deep voice, & Too Short who was the ladies choice! Then there was Young MC with Bust A Move and Vanilla Ice who some say paid The ultimate price for trying to build up street cred, Then there are the two rappers who turned up dead! Tupac and Biggie! There's Record Executive and Rapper Puff Daddy or presently P. Diddy and Rapper Mase, There was singer who had a song I think his name was Case. Who sang a song called Touch Me Tease Me which included A rap by the beautiful and talented Foxy Brown...