Funky 4+1 – That’s The Joint
Funky 4+1 were one old school hip hop crew that did a lot of things first — Not only the first crew from the boogie down Bronx to get a record deal, but also the first rap group to perform live on national TV and they even lay claim to being the first crew to feature a female MC.
But never mind all that…what WE know the Funky 4+1 for at Cold Crush is for rocking a few of the all time classic party joints, because despite never recording a full studio album, in their short career they laid down some of the funkiest — and catchiest grooves in hip hop at the time. This jam was released on Sugarhill Records in 1980, with a beat arranged by jazz-funk organist and Sugarhill in-house producer Clifton “Jiggs” Chase (who also produced The Message, undoubtedly one of the greatest hip hop beats of all time), sampling from A Taste of Honey’s joint Rescue Me. That’s The Joint of course went on to famously be sampled by The Beastie Boys for their hit Shake Your Rump.
The Funky 4+1 appeared on an episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Blondie’s Debbie Harry — the first live performance by a hip hop group on National TV. Funky 4+1′s DJ Breakout also notably had none other than Mark The 45 King as his apprentice at the time, the man Mark would dig up and hand Breakout his records as he needed them for his sets.
The Sugarhill back catalogue is all pretty easily available, as it’s repressed often. If you want some more, check out The Best of Sugar Hill Records on CD, or The Sugar Hill Records Story as an mp3 album. Either way, you’re getting a whole stack of classic Sugar Hill party jams for a great price.
