
The 50 Best Rap Singles of 1981
Most of the best hip-hop of 1981 didn’t appear on rap records — with Grandmaster Flash’s “Wheels of Steel” a gloriously historic exception.
Most of the best hip-hop of 1981 didn’t appear on rap records — with Grandmaster Flash’s “Wheels of Steel” a gloriously historic exception.
The opening intro of Wham!, a documentary about the early 80s boy band, kicks off with the sound of their first single, “Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do).” As Andrew Ridgeley explains, the song — and the band’s name — was inspired by line-dancing at Le Beat Route (which he pronounces “lay bee-trow”). “Wham! Bam! I am the man!” he chanted as he danced. A scene depicts him, “Yog” Panos (aka George Michael), and their friends Dee C. Lee and Shirlie Holliman shimmying to the Funky Four + 1 More’s “That’s the Joint.” “We were fusing rap with disco, and then we added pop,” says Ridgeley. In short, “Wham Rap!” is suffused in Black American idioms. Modern-day commentators have noticed. Several reviews fault the doc’s filmmakers for avoiding issues surrounding white appropriation of Black culture. But it’s still a revealing look at how early rap penetrated the pop mainstream. Key genre codes and aesthetics didn’t exist when “Wham Rap!” debuted in June 1982. Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force’s “Planet Rock” had only debuted two months earlier. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five’s “The Message” wouldn’t hit until later that summer. Thanks to Ridgeley and Michael’s “social” lyrics about being “a soul boy” and “a dole boy” — teenage unemployment was at an all-time high — as well as shout-outs to Britain’s Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS), their single actually drew good reviews. New Music Express gave it “single of the week” and put them on the cover. Given the way the duo subsequently conquered the planet, those months when “Wham Rap!” seemed like a canny blend of hip-hop idioms and pop flavor instead of a watered-down approximation are easy to forget.
The year brought classics like “Planet Rock” and “The Message,” and hip-hop seemed to grow out of its prepubescent phase overnight.
Wayne Garland and Charlie Chucks’ parody of Kurtis Blow’s “The Breaks” is largely notable for Jigsaw Inc.’s monster boogie-funk groove.
The Treacherous Three’s single finds Clifton “Jiggs” Chase’s Jigsaw crew turning the Pointer Sisters’ 70s chestnut into an electro groove.
With Sugar Hill-style raps from soul singer Shelly Richard, this may be the first rap record to emerge from New Orleans.
This single finds Master Don and Frank Heller capitalizing on the first wave of video arcade madness with an impressive vocoder hook.
Today, Masterdon Committee is best known for a chant that Master P later made famous with “Make ‘ Em Say Uhh.”
As the “queen” of Sugar Hill Records, Sylvia’s sense of musicality makes this disco-fried parody of Mel Brooks superior to the original.
“We Want to Get Down” is a product of Queens artist Glenn “Sweety G” Toby’s alliance with famed Harlem promoters Mike & Dave.
Before he earned fame for coining the phrase “New Jack Swing,” Barry Michael Cooper made this entry in the Smurf hip-hop canon.
This classic single by Malcolm McLaren and the World Famous Supreme Team blends British pop and B-boy style.