| Author | Message | ||
  isaiah imani (isaiah) 5-Doyen Username: isaiah Post Number: 184 Registered: 8-2004 Posted From: 66.119.33.167 |
A friend of mine and I were discussing the two versions of A Love Of Your Own, by Millie Jackson and AWB, and I remarked to him that I always dug Millie's version a little more because of the RAP she puts down to open the song...its hot, and its tight...and Vintage Millie! Our discussion then led to other, shall we call them, Soul Raps, such as those done by Isaac, Barry, and a million others... My question to those afficianados of such things, is who werre the first artists in the SOUL-R&B genre to have introduced these RAPS into their records? We can take that question a step further, then, and discuss those opening monologues that win your approval as among the best you've ever heard, cool?(smile!) No long lists peops... This is an essay question, gimme some answers to the question before the lists begin - please? Peace! Isaiah | ||
Davie Gordon (davie_gordon) 5-Doyen Username: davie_gordon Post Number: 275 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 81.157.113.220 |
Isaac Hayes was, I think, the first artist to successfully include raps in his records - if we're gonna talk about Millie Jackson we shouldn't forget Laura Lee at much the same time. Davie | ||
Juicefree20 (juicefree20) 6-Zenith Username: juicefree20 Post Number: 2856 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 24.46.184.162 |
What's up everyone! Isaiah, actually, the first "Rap" that I can recall was Joe Tex on his 1965 hit, Hold On To What You Got". After he realized that people really enjoyed his opening monologues, he included them in many records afterwards. Lou Rawls employed the same tact, in his Dead End Street, Street Corner Hustler Blues/World Of Trouble & Southside Blues/Tobacco Road Monologues. Then, in 1968, James Brown put down game on Goodbye My Love. I love the soul of the song, but it sounded like the ramblings of a man who had a long night with some friends.......Old Grandad, Johnnie Walker Red & Jim Beam. It was just a bit disjointed, for lack of a better word. Of course I loved Issac & Barry, especially Barry's Let Me Live My Life Loving You. Millie was definitely the bomb. Her Caught Up LP, Feelin' Bitchy, Get It Out'cha System & Lovingly Yours, are nothing less than Soul masterpieces. Millie made songs that sounded like the neighbor down the block, she was real like that. And her LIVE LPs....WHEW!!! I love Millie Jackson! Of course, Laura Lee did her thing. Her Hang It Up had the classic line of all time. When she told homeboy that before she'd let him go, she'd put him out the door feet first, I believed her. She convinced me that she'd really kill that man if he dared to think of leaving her. At the age of 7, I had NEVER heard that in a song before. I loved her sass & that she wasn't having no bull. Laura knew what she wanted & damn it, she was gonna have it. The threat of the coroner coming to visit was plenty persuasive. I loved that song. My favorite opening monologue of all time has to be Eddie Kendricks', Each Day I Cry A Little. Eddie was convincing as hell & even though I was just entering my teens, I understood his feelings. That is his most underrated song & should have been a massive hit in it's own right. Eddie conveyed a sense of lost love & the loneliness & pain that follows. Each Day I Cry is simply a masterpiece! | ||
Galactus (galactus) 3-Pundit Username: galactus Post Number: 48 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 207.144.253.114 |
Bobby Womack certainly did his part to help perfect the soul-rap intro style......For awhile there, nearly every song he put on his albums had one. He even humorously kids himself about it on the "Facts of Life" album......."Folks are always asking me, 'Bobby � why do you always talk before you sing?' " ...lol.... | ||
isaiah imani (isaiah) 5-Doyen Username: isaiah Post Number: 189 Registered: 8-2004 Posted From: 170.224.224.124 |
Juice, that's the pill I was looking for, the history right off the top! I had a feeling Joe Tex had been The Man who had popularized the RAP in HOLD ON, if not originated it, so thanks for the emphatic confirmation!(smile!) Also, I admire the way you came off the top with some history on other monumental Soul RAPS... Like you, I enjoyed those downhome JB RAPS from James's late '60's and early '70's funk cuts, as well as all of that classic stuff by Ike on his Hot Buttered/Black Moses albums... I know that Archie Bell's "Hi Everybody" opening on Tighten Up is a favorite of most everybody who's ever heard it, but it doesn't have the depth as say, the Intruders rap on I'll Always Love My Mama(smile!) In any event, thanks for the history, Juice... I think this thread has the potential to be quite entertaining(smile!) Peace! Isaiah | ||
isaiah imani (isaiah) 5-Doyen Username: isaiah Post Number: 190 Registered: 8-2004 Posted From: 170.224.224.92 |
Galactus, great selection! His RAP on If You Think You're Lonely Now is a priceless piece of poetry! Bobby even has a tendency to sing-song his RAPS... Don't matter, 'cause we know he still speechin'(smile!) Teddy does the same thing on Bad Luck, and a whole litany of his cuts. Marlena Shaw in Go Away Little Boy delivers a combination soul lamentation tongue lashing, and Maybe by the Three Degrees is a classic, too... Peace! Isaiah | ||
Galactus (galactus) 3-Pundit Username: galactus Post Number: 51 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 207.144.253.114 |
Speaking of Teddy, how about "Be For Real"......wow, what a tongue lashing he's giving his babe! lol.... | ||
Cool Ju (cool_ju) 4-Laureate Username: cool_ju Post Number: 153 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 64.12.116.138 |
There are some '50's R&B/doo wops with 'raps' in them. | ||
Cool Ju (cool_ju) 4-Laureate Username: cool_ju Post Number: 154 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 64.12.116.138 |
One would be "Lonely Nights" by the Teen Queens(?), just from the top of my head. | ||
GO_GET_GONE_GIRL (gogogirl) 5-Doyen Username: gogogirl Post Number: 390 Registered: 5-2004 Posted From: 69.1.9.65 |
All, Galactus - you are sooooo right. I love "Be For Real." How about "I Miss You?" Remember - how he was rapping to his ex - and asked how his little son was? He told her that he got a J.O.B.. LOL! | ||
isaiah imani (isaiah) 5-Doyen Username: isaiah Post Number: 195 Registered: 8-2004 Posted From: 216.148.246.92 |
Cool Ju, you 'bout to start something up in here, man...(smile!) Yo, if you can come across the titles of the songs, please list them... We're looking for that kind of history on this thread, man... Peace! Isaiah | ||
Don (don) 6-Zenith Username: don Post Number: 972 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.75.48.207 |
Interesting point made, but if one think back much further, I'd have to go with most of the earliest male & female blues artist. Also jazz swing and rhythm & blues combos and big bands too. There are many to name. Alot of people in the know would go with Louie-Louis Jordan, because he took the monologue of rap to another level. Don't get me wrong, I know there we're many others around Louis Jordan's time that we're incorporating rap monolouges into their music as well, though many site him for starting that? | ||
Satipe (satipe) 3-Pundit Username: satipe Post Number: 69 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 66.185.84.74 |
The Chi Lites rap at the start of Have You Seen Her and then try to 'rap' on Bottoms Up. Many groups have used used a rap and in fact, The Floaters pretty much rapped throughout the entire long version of Float On. I have found that it seems to be popular to let the bass singer of a group talk about something while the others harmonize. My favorite has to be the rap in Miss You by Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes. | ||
Eli (phillysoulman) 6-Zenith Username: phillysoulman Post Number: 1713 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 205.188.116.138 |
The Ink Spots version of If I didnt care and King Pleasure w/James Moody's Moody's Mood for love predates all of the above by at least two decades.Also , there is something on your mind by Bobby Marchand. | ||
Don (don) 6-Zenith Username: don Post Number: 974 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.75.48.207 |
Hi Satipe, how's everything in North America! Hi Eli, I wish you a well and speedy get well too! Don Chgo | ||
Frankie B. (frankie_b) 1-Arriviste Username: frankie_b Post Number: 10 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 65.35.204.20 |
In 1956, a Chicago group called the Eldorados did a tune called "Bim Bam Boom" that is essentially a rap. Also,in 1957, Detroits own Andre Williams did a novelty tune "Jail Bait" which is also a spoken word rhyme thing. I'm sure there are a whole bunch of other ones if you dig deep enough. | ||
Don (don) 6-Zenith Username: don Post Number: 976 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.75.48.207 |
Frankie B, Andre Williams is originally from Chicago not Detroit. | ||
Davie Gordon (davie_gordon) 5-Doyen Username: davie_gordon Post Number: 283 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 81.157.157.23 |
Frankie, are we talking about two different hings here? in this context I'm talking about spoken non-rhyming monologues which develop into the song - Think of Shirley Brown's "Woman To Woman" I think you're talking about the ancestry of stuff like the Sugarhill Gang - quite a different kettle of fish. This is one of the problems that arise when a word can be used to mean entirely separate things. Davie | ||
Frankie B. (frankie_b) 2-Debutant Username: frankie_b Post Number: 11 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 65.35.204.20 |
Point taken. How about "Ooh ooh, I love you" by the Dells in 1968 or the intro to the 1969 re-make of "Oh what a night". Both have long spoken recitations by Chuck Barksdale. Also, the Last incarnation of the Moonglows in 1959 did a tune called "Twelve months of the year". There are both opening and closing recitations by a very young Marvin Gaye. | ||
Soulaholic (soulaholic) 6-Zenith Username: soulaholic Post Number: 475 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.43.212.143 |
http://www.fact-index.com/r/ro /roots_of_rap_music.html |
