Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight / Apache mp3 album

I beg to differ from comments above. One of the first commercially sucessful rap records maybe, but this record was shunned by the underground at the time. Regarded as an insult to the hard working hip hop pioneers developing the scene through block parties in the Bronx. This group was pulled together to cash in on what was happening on the street. Personally I can't even listen to this one nowadays, give me Flash & the 'official adventures' anyday, and I'll make my own rhymes up.

The first Rap/Hip Hop tune ever. The one that started it all off and for me the greatest piece of Hip Hop ever. Clocking in at nearly 15 mins this is the start of the great DIY ethic in modern music, whereby you didn't have to be part of a quartet in a band and be an expert at a particular musical instrument. There were also other possibilities of making music and this record was groundbreaking in opening up those doors. Fanatstically inventive & funky, incredibly funny & cool and completely memorable & rocking. RESPECT to a legendary all time classic record.

"Rapper's Delight" being the first Rap/Hip Hop tune is VERY arguable:- many people refer to Fatback Band's song "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" which was also released in 1979, but a month earlier than "Delight", and point to it as the first recorded rap track ever. It did not get as popular at the time though, and still isn't, seeing how many more people have heard of Rapper's Delight, but not King Tim III.- others even mention albums like Iceberg Slim's "Reflections" (1976), Lightnin' Rod's "Hustler's Convention" (1973) or even Isaac Hayes' "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" (1969) from his album Hot Buttered Soul, which predates the Gang's track by a decade - as the tracks laying the foundations for the emergence of rap music.Besides, there are countless more Spoken Word, Poetry, or recitation albums. To me, "King Tim III" is the first fully fledged rap track, but it's likely a matter of definition: what do we actually consider to be rap music and what not; how do we distinct them. The line is probably not that clear.

Awful knowledge.