Yo! Boombox is the new instalment of Soul Jazz Records’ Boombox series on the early days of hip-hop on vinyl and features some of the many innovative underground first-wave of early rap and disco rap records made in the USA in the period 1979-83.
The album includes the first releases of seminal groups such as Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five and The Funky Four Plus One through to a host of rarities and little-known obscurities such as the Carver Area High School band’s ‘Get Live 83’, an awesome record made at a Chicago high school.
The album comes as a deluxe double CD pack with 30-page booklet and slipcase.
Yo! Boombox also features the stunning photography of Sophie Bramly one of a very select group of photographers (alongside Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, and Joe Conzo) who were allowed full access to document the exciting early days of hip-hop in New York.
These first exuberant wave of innocent, upbeat, party-on-the-block rap records were the first to try and create the sounds heard in community centres, block parties and street jams that first took place in the Bronx in the mid-1970s. Where the first DJs - Flash, Kool Herc and Bambaataa - were back-spinning, mixing and scratching together now classic breakbeat records like The Incredible Bongo Band’s Apache or Babe Ruth’s The Mexican, these first pre-sampling rap records were all made using live bands, often replaying then current disco tunes. As Chic’s ‘Good Times’ was to ‘Rappers’ Delight’, the songs here feature then-current dancefloor hits such as the Tom Tom Club’s ‘Genius of Love’, Cheryl Lynn’s ‘To Be Real’, MFSB’s ‘Love Is the Message’ while MCs rapped over the top, creating a unique new sound. In fact, the links between disco and rap date back earlier to the ‘party style’ MCing of figures such as the legendary DJ Hollywood or radio DJs like Frankie Crocker.
This new Soul Jazz Records collection celebrates these first old-school rap records, bringing together rare, classic and obscure tracks released in the early days of rap.
1. Carver Area High School – Get Live '83
2. Mike T – Do It Any Way You Wanna
3. Chapter III – Real Rocking Groove (Rap & Breaks)
4. Sinister Two – Rock It, Don't Stop It
5. Sangria – To The Beat Y'all
6. Funky Four Plus One More – Rappin' and Rocking The House
7. The Just Four – Girls Of The World (Genius Rap & Breaks)
8. Eye Beta Rock – Super Rock Body Shock
9. Funky Constellation – Street Talk (Madam Rapper)
10. Kool Kyle The Starchild – Do You Like That Funky Beat (Ahh Beat, Beat)
11. The Just Four – Jam To Remember
12. Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five – Super Rappin' No. 2
13. Silver Star – Eei Eei O
14. Magic's Trick – Magic's Rap
