Retro Video Unit (11/15/13)

This time around I'm heading in a slightly different direction. Once upon a time I was able to enjoy some rap and hip-hop; back in 1979, "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang caught on fairly early where I lived. It was an adjunct to the disco era because it sampled the bass line from Chic's "Good Times." I was into the early stuff from Run-DMC and I liked De La Soul, the Beastie Boys, and even some Public Enemy.

I'll admit that I always liked the music part of hip-hop better than the lyrics, probably because the idea of sampling and reconstructing bits of songs into a new song appealed to the music-liking part of my brain. Now I'm quite a bit older than I was back then, and hip-hop has evolved into something that I can't make any sort of connection with. I can still appreciate the artistry that goes into a backing track (like, say, this one), but as soon as the artist starts rapping I'm lost.

I happened across this song as part of a playlist. I hadn't thought about it in a long time, but I really liked it back when it was new. In fact, I had the 12" single version, and still do; it's packed away in the basement with all my other vinyl. So let's flash back to '87 with "Paid In Full" by Eric B & Rakim: