Vinyl 12-inch single (1983): NewYork New York
MVC Rating: 5.0/$$$
I was an early listener to rap/hip hop but by the time it exploded I had pretty much lost track. Here’s the legendary progenitors (so to speak) of rap music as we know it. Sounds funny and outdated now though still catchy to a degree.
GM Flash put it on the map with ‘The Message.’ I got their second ‘big’ single ‘New York New York.’ It was like in my preceding review of Eddy Grant where I got the album released after his big hit ‘Electric Avenue.’
But I bought this one in Birmingham new after hearing ‘The Message’ a bunch of times. Kind of shows you how I think. I wanted the newer disc because I thought it would be even better than big hit. I thought it was better or at least similar, but sales did not reflect that.
New York New York big city of dreams, but everything in New York ain’t always what it seems
I also bought Kurtis Blow on vinyl about this time, called ‘Party Time,’ again not his biggest record. (That would be ‘The Breaks).’
On vinyl that’s about it for my hip hop collection. Though I have on my iPod a number of rap artists, courtesy in many cases of my three daughters. Let’s see (rolling through my trusty 120 GB classic iPod) I have some Lil’ Wayne, Beastie Boys, Rhymefest, Kanye West, Eminem, 50 cent, and Nas. Most are songs singles not full albums though. But I’ve lost track of the scene for the most part (since my daughters moved out).
