The Non Story About Mrs. Palin's Unhip Rap Creds Grows . . .

It has already spawned a new "Troofer" movement on the net, on Twitter, to be more specific:


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Sarah Palin "says" she knows all the lyrics to rappers delight, but where is the Video evidence? #sugarhillgangtruther http://huff.to/j10MoM
3 hours ago


From here.

Now I found that link from an article that featured the real core of the argument:

As incredulous Tweeters demanded to know: where is the video evidence? Check out the original statement from On the Record here. It's also worth pointing out that, at over 14 minutes, "Rapper's Delight" is a very long song with a lot of lyrics to know.

Go here for that.

Now before I found those crumbs, I actually read the Wiki about this song. Go here for that. Not that I was really a part of that scene, but it was sort of a refresher course in that part of my life. I don't think I personally ever met Sylvia Robinson, but I think I knew some peeps who did. My uncle was a weekend DJ here in Joisey and ran with some people who would have known her. My other uncle was a lifer at CBS and knew lots of music bizzers, and I would not doubt he met her at some party. And I think I knew someone who did some session work with the Sugar Hill label. Directly, or through my brother, who was a professional musician, back then. But my friends who were gigging musicians in the NYC area mostly played in the local Salsa Bands. But still, show biz is a small world. Ya know a guy who knows a guy. Stuff like that. And let's not even go too far down the rabbit hole of my year working at the CBS hq, 85-86. I remember seeing LL Cool Jay laying his Mack Daddy rap on the receptionist for Epic Records, and as well, seeing Rick Rubin skulking around the joint. So I was at least on the edges of it.

Personally, my real connection to real rap and hip hop is that I, time to time, back in the late 70's early 80's, would go to house parties up in Da Bronx, specifically Gun Hill Road. I might have had no real hand in the making of rap and Hip Hop, but I was in the room watching it be born. That's more than most people can claim. Now there was some edgy shit happening in the clubs and on the street, but the genre really was house party stuff. I know. I was there to see it.

Honestly, at that time (let's call it 1980 -- senior year of high school) I was turning away from disco, but still loving my jazz, and still a fan of AOR rock. And I loved my R&B and Funk (EWF was not the black Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones were the white EWF!) But seriously. I was a weekend punker/rocker, in the sense that when we had house parties, my local party crew would play everything from Springsteen to J. Giles, to Kool and the Gang, to The Cars, to Donna Summer, to Tom Petty, to Michael Jackson, and Joe Jackson, to Elvis Costello, to Salsoul Orchestra, to the Ramones. And The Police. I really was getting into the Police something fierce then. I was still a drummer and I would practice play to side one of Zenyatta Mondatta. Still have that album. It's a road mark if my life, actually.

Oh. And the other act that is one of my anchors for 1980? The Pretenders. The "A" side of The Pretenders (One) is as perfect an album side as there ever was.

Winter of 1980-81 was when MTV came on line. Now that was a cultural turning point.

But what's that line from that song, She Still Preoccupied, With 1985?

Something about the days when they still played music on MTV? Aww. Shit. I feel old now.