American rapper, singer and songwriter Kurtis Blow, circa 1980.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photographs

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Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photographs

American rapper, singer and songwriter Kurtis Blow, circa 1980.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photographs

What have been a very powerful albums in hip-hop historical past? Rap was completely different earlier than that album — and afterwards, it was endlessly modified?

That is the query that Morning Version posed to cultural critic Kiana Fitzgerald for its new collection Hip-Hop’s Recreation Changers. Fitzgerald is the creator of the ebook, Ode to Hip-Hop: 50 Albums That Outline 50 Years of Trailblazing Music.

Hip-hop began at block events within the Bronx 50 years in the past, however it took almost a decade earlier than the highest DJs and MCs immortalized their sound in recording studios.

Kurtis Blow’s 1980 debut LP is one in every of rap’s first nationwide hits. It is also Fitzgerald’s first choice.

Kiana Fitzgerald, critic and creator

Writer Kiana Fitzgerald

XOA Productions/Operating Press

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XOA Productions/Operating Press

Writer Kiana Fitzgerald

XOA Productions/Operating Press

Kurtis Blow was the primary rapper to signal a serious label deal. Previous to this album, hip-hop was a really in-the-moment kind-of expertise — the park jams, the events that basically have been the breeding floor for hip-hop, the place it took type. This album actually took all of these parts and distilled that into one particular expertise that made different hip-hoppers notice, ‘Oh, I can do that too. I can put one thing on wax and earn cash from it or tour from it or assist my household with it.’

In 1979, Blow had success with a single referred to as “Christmas Rappin’, however Mercury Information wanted to realize it wasn’t a fluke earlier than committing to a full album. That second single was ‘The Breaks,’ which is the one of the celebrated hip-hop songs within the historical past of the style.

Blow bought that album deal. And his 1980 debut stands as one in every of rap’s foundational achievements. Kurtis Blow the album and Kurtis Blow himself have been actually the blueprint for the format of hip-hop that we all know and love at this time.