The SD’s Featuring Sherry Richard
“Watch the Clock” (J.B.’s Records) (1982?)

Produced by Carl “Soul Dog” Marshall, this may be the first rap record to emerge from New Orleans. Like most “first raps,” it’s a disco-funk novelty, and Shelly Richard adopts a Sugar Hill-style flow already employed by R&B stars like Teena Marie and James Brown. Richard went on to make Southern soul records with the likes of Willie Tee of the Wild Magnolias, but information about her — and the historic “Watch the Clock” — remains frustratingly out of reach for now.

Read More: The 50 Best Rap Singles of 1982