- Sun, 2007-10-21 16:18
The Sugarhill Gang is an American hip hop and funk group, whose Rapper's Delight track was the very first hip hop single to become a Top 40 hit. In fact, this pioneering group inaugurated the history of recorded hip-hop with the single, which became a multi-platinum seller and radio hit in 1979.
I Like Music caught up with the legendary Original Sugarhill Gang to talk about their one-off on stage collaboration with Dizzee Rascal at the Sony Walkman launch, what it feels like to be pioneers of hip hop music and their party atmosphere creation secrets.
"I Like Music because.... it gives me an opportunity to truly express myself, unlike what happens in an everyday living situation where there are restrictions on you and limitations on you and demands on you and bills to pay, through music I can truly be comfortable with who I am, and do what I really want to do and say what I really want to say.” Master Gee
"I Like Music because.... Music is a part of my life. I express my feelings through music. Music is a universal language, it is the one language that people all over the world, no matter what colour, creed and no matter what language they speak, they all understand music. And even God himself, his favourite entertainment was music. It definitely flows through my veins. Sometimes I think if you were to cut me, I would bleed music. There’s nothing else in the world that I’d rather be doing.” Hen Dogg
"I Like Music because.... As a listener to music, as the audience, I get to listen up for melody or rhythm or lyrics or a combination of all three it makes me feel better. I can appreciate a melodic and rhythmic trip for the duration of a certain piece of music. As a performer it allows me to express myself. I like it on both levels, as a performer and a hearer. Human beings need to express themselves and expression is extremely personal. When you step out on a limb and express something that’s different from the norm and speak to your own drum beat and express how you see things in this life, it’s kind of liberating. That’s how we fall in love… because you put your guard down and say things that you wouldn’t say in front of other people; men as well as women. If we see a nice sunset or are driving through the mountains and the snow is out, we’ll say, ‘hey baby, this is nice, check this out over here’ and people might say, ‘you’re a big punk, you’re a sissy boy’ but you feel better and that’s how it feels entertaining.” Wonder Mike
ILM: First of all, sorry to have to ask the question you must get asked the most but, seeing as you are pioneers and inventors of hip hop and Rapper's Delight, was the first-ever top 40 hip-hop single to go gold and be released nationally, (spawning the genre of recorded hip-hop and rap music). How did it feel to be the first, to invent something that has grown so huge?
Wonder Mike: It feels great!
Master Gee: It’s a truly humbling experience, when you think of the magnitude of what the music has become as far as all the different avenues that it’s gone into… movies, publishing, clothing, fragrances, food… you never in a million years, if somebody would have told me when I was recording Rappers Delight, that one of the products of the Master Gee project, which is what we’re out here working at the moment, but at that point recording Rappers Delight, we never thought it was going to be that huge and for people to even ask that question that concerns Mike and myself and the rest of the cats in reference to that is truly humbling.
ILM: What’s your take on hip hop today, how it’s evolved from the hip hop that came from the bloc parties of the 1970s to the gangsta rap of today and other styles of rap and hip hop of today?
Master Gee: The view now is that it’s pretty much more of a media driven art form. I think a lot of that that’s being exposed to people, from the gangsta music and the negative connotations that come along with that, I think it’s mainly media driven. At the end of the day, it all goes down to what the market is going to bare. If me as a fan or you as a fan come together with millions of other fans and say we’re mad as hell and not going to take it anymore, if we come together and say we’re not going to mess with that, then based on the media, the music will continue to take an evolutionary change to another genre.
ILM: You’re performing at Sony Walkman launch and you’re appearing alongside one of the UK’s finest rappers who is part of the UK hip hop/grime scene – Dizzee Rascal…
Master Gee: We’re truly honoured to perform with him.
Wonder Mike: We’re very honoured to be part of the whole Sony project and part of the Master Gee project.
ILM: If you had to describe old school to an alien landing on planet earth, how would you describe the whole vibe, scene, music?
Master Gee: That was actually in the times when you did it first for the art and not for the money. A time where Russell Simmons had no movie deals, there were no commercials; that was before Russell Simmons was even starting to grow.
Wonder Mike: [rhymes] Those days it was of the art, you did it second for the money and first for the heart. You had to be a rhyme believer. And we all smoked cheaper cheaper cheaper.
ILM: Every time a performer asks the audience to throw their hands in the air and wave them like they just don't care, we have you guys Sugarhill Gang to thank …
Hen Dogg: That started before, we did that at the parties.
Master Gee: Yeah, we used to do that at the parties, ‘Throw your hands in the air, and wave em like you just don’t care.’ We did that before any record. That’s why I say that in the first rap in Rapper’s Delight.
Hen Dogg: That’s when it was originally used.
ILM: And you certainly know how to work an audience and incite FUN… do you have any tips for other artists on audience interaction?
Master Gee: What you’ve got to do, you’ve got to perform for every audience as if it’s the first time that they’ve ever seen you. And the only way that they’ll ever know who you are is if you give them what you came there with.
Hen Dogg: Right. Project! (Claps)
Wonder Mike: Five people or 50,000… it doesn’t matter.
Master Gee: That really is our motto, whatever the capacity or level… any person that entertains must understand the honour and the privilege that you have to be an entertainer; to be able to get paid to stand up on stage or in front of a camera or on a baseball field… everybody that does anything in public is an entertainer. Football players are entertainers; that’s why they slam a football down when they get to the end zone, they don’t just run to the end zone and just drop the football, because there’s a certain amount of entertainment that goes along with that. So anybody entertains has to understand the privilege and honour to get paid for what it is that you’re doing and put it into perspective and give it back to the people, because those are the people who pay you.
ILM: You guys are from New York. Teenagers are facing a lot of pressure these days to be cool and do what their peers do and there’s more and more violence and gangs and bad stuff. What’s your advice on dealing with peer pressure and earning respect from peers while still staying safe? Staying safe on the streets?
Master Gee: The best way to earn respect from your peers, believe it or not, is to learn how to walk to your own beat. You know what happens a lot of times, a lot of peer pressure has to do with people not having experience of life. 90% of that peer pressure, in ten years it’s not going to matter anyway first of all. If someone tries to push you or degrade you or down you because you don’t do what the rest of the group is doing, especially if they’re on a bad path, it doesn’t matter.
Think about it, in ten years that’s not going to matter anyway, so the most important thing you’ve got to do is to learn how to walk to your own beat, because you came into this world by yourself and you go out of this world on yourself. You’ve got to do things for you. If you get arrested and you’ve got to do 10 years, you’re not doing 10 years with that guy. Especially if you get picked up and the other guy walks down the street, guess what’s gonna happen? He’s going to keep on walking down the street and you’re doing 10 years by yourself.
Wonder Mike: Respect individuality! If you don’t go along with the crowd because you naturally disagree with the situation, people will look up to you. Peer pressure is wanting to be accepted within a certain group of people, but if your personal beliefs and ideals differ with a group of people, when you state that, people might try to push you aside, but really they’ll respect you more. Think and be for yourself!
All together now…
“I said a hip hop the hippie to the hippie
to the hip hip hop, and you don't stop
the rockin' to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie
to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat”
