Rap in the 1960s

[Oriphiel]

I love music from the sixties, and I've noticed that a bunch of songs from back then featured early forms of rapping, obviously influenced by beat poets, jazz scatting, radio DJs, etc. Anyway, if anyone else finds any proto-rap songs, stick 'em in here!


Pigmeat Markham - Here Comes the Judge (1968)


The Elastik Band - Spazz (1967)


The Sparkles - The Hip (1966) and Liz Brady - Le Palladium (1966)


Love - Bummer in the Summer (1967)

[Neapolitan]

It's not actually a rap song, but the drum break in the song, Amen Brother, released in 1969. The break starts @ ~ 1:26 and only last ~ six seconds. The drum break was performed by Gregory "G. C." Coleman of The Winstons. It eventually became one of the most sampled in hip hop and is used in a half dozen other genres/sub-genres.

The Winstons - Amen Brother


Video explains the world's most important 6-sec drum loop

[Psy-Fi]

This is from 1966 but he started doing this in the 50's...


Ken Nordine - Maroon (1966)
https://youtu.be/9pwyjqq2ju4

[DwnWthVwls]

I have nothing to contribute but this is pretty interesting.

[Oriphiel]

I'll post more stuff if I find anything, but admittedly there isn't a massive amount of recorded rap before the '70s and '80s. I guess it's worth mentioning that Blowfly, the king of sleaze, claims that he recorded a rap song in 1965 called Rap Dirty, which he later rerecorded as the explicit Rapp Dirty and the mostly-instrumental flip side Blowfly's Rap over ten years later. However, as far as I know, no copies of the original version from '65 have ever surfaced, so it's not clear whether Blowfly was being honest or not. Most people nowadays assume that he was lying, but who knows?

Originally Posted by Neapolitan

It's not actually a rap song, but the drum break in the song, Amen Brother, released in 1969. The break starts @ ~ 1:26 and only last ~ six seconds. The drum break was performed by Gregory "G. C." Coleman of The Winstons. It eventually became one of the most sampled in hip hop and is used in a half dozen other genres/sub-genres.

Legendary. Remember when every single commercial for an action movie sampled that break? Good times.

Originally Posted by Psy-Fi

This is from 1966 but he started doing this in the 50's...

Nice! That was really groovy, and had a fun poetic feeling to it.

Originally Posted by DwnWthVwls

I have nothing to contribute but this is pretty interesting.

It's all good!

[Psy-Fi]

Here's one from Prince Buster...


Prince Buster - Hard Man Fe Dead (1966)
https://youtu.be/S3LERNZlQjc

[Oriphiel]

^ Love Prince Buster.

Here's another one by The Sparkles, No Friend of Mine, with a generous amount of fuzz:



Also, you could kinda argue that The Wilde Knights' Beaver Patrol has a bit of a rap feeling to the vocals:

[Psy-Fi]

Andre Williams - Cadillac Jack (1968)
https://youtu.be/bhbYGEt7dQE

[Oriphiel]

^ Damn, that was sexy as hell.

[Kingsc23]

Rap is influenced by dance hall; not music from the 60's. I can assure you my father & his friends wasn't listen to any of that stuff when they started rhyming.