-James Brown.
What he played 
in his role in hip hop --
let's put it this way.
All music would stink 
if there wasn't no James Brown.
[ Mid-tempo music plays ]
-I thought it was 
inconceivable in 1978,
and even the beginnings of 1979,
that there ever could be 
a rap record,
because to me, 
rap was a big event.
It was a hip-hop party.
[ "Good Times" plays ]
-♪ Good times
♪ These are the good times
♪ Our new state of mind
♪ These are the good times
-Chic comes out with 
"Good Times,"
this slow, funky record
which was totally different 
than anything else they did,
which just knocked off 
their disco following
and said, "Y'all got to get 
funky like this."
-Everywhere I went that summer, 
you heard, you know,
that beat and, 
you know, those vocals.
-♪ Let's all do it again
♪ Boys will be boys
♪ Better let them 
have their toys ♪
♪ Girls will be girls
♪ Cute ponytails and curls
-After "Good Times" 
went number one,
you saw a slew 
of "Good Times" imitators.
1979, Sylvia Robinson, former 
R&B singer, is in New York.
She's got a son.
They want to do a record
that sort of replicates 
the party experience
that's taking place in, like, 
you know, the South Bronx.
-Sylvia Robinson tended to be 
somewhat of an unsung,
you know, pioneer 
in a lot of ways.
She just knew what was 
happening in the clubs
and in these other places 
in New York.
And so she, in a sensible way,
approached people 
like Grandmaster Flash
and approached Lovebug Starski, 
who are all these top deejays,
and they all said, 
"This is never gonna work.
We're not interested. 
Move on."
-The story goes that her son -- 
I think his name's Joey --
is in a pizza parlor 
in New Jersey.
He hears this guy who's, like, 
rapping along to a tape.
-And said, "Well, 
do you know anyone else
who can, you know, 
recite rhymes like you do?"
And this guy thought about it
and went and recruited 
a bunch of his friends,
and auditioned 
for the Robinsons
in the back of a car 
and they --
the Robinsons seemed satisfied,
so they brought them out 
to Sugar Hill Studios,
where they had a band 
replaying the groove
to Chic's "Good Times." 
-♪ Clams on the half-shell
And that became the sound bit 
for the song "Rapper's Delight."
[ "Rapper's Delight" plays ]
-♪ I said a hip, hop, 
the hippie ♪
♪ The hippie 
to the hip hip hop ♪
♪ and you don't stop 
the rockin' ♪
♪ To the bang-bang boogie, 
say, up jump the boogie ♪
♪ To the rhythm 
of the boogity beat ♪
♪ Now, what you hear 
is not a test ♪
♪ I'm rappin' to the beat
-I used to hang out at this club 
and typically, at clubs,
when the deejay 
needs to go to the bathroom,
they'll put on 
a reel-to-reel tape recorder
or they'll put 
on a very long record.
I heard this song 
that I knew wasn't us playing,
but I knew it was 
derivative of our record.
So I thought that they had 
gotten a band to copy our groove
so that the rapper, 
meaning the deejay,
could rap over it. 
-♪ I brought two friends along
♪ And next on the mic 
is my man Hank ♪
♪ Come on, Hank, 
sing that song ♪
-♪ Check it out, I'm 
the C-A-S-AN-the-O-V-A ♪
-I looked in the deejay booth 
and it was empty.
I was like, "Whoa. 
How the hell is he doing that?"
I look at the bar, 
and I see the deejay.
And I said, "What is that?"
And he says, "Man, it's 
the hottest record in town.
I just bought this, 
this afternoon, up in Harlem."
I said, "You bought that?"
'Cause it really was clearly 
the "Good Times" bassline.
-♪ I got a Lincoln Continental 
and a sunroof Cadillac ♪
♪ So after school, 
I take a dip in the pool ♪
♪ Which is really on the wall
-It was like a Big Bang Theory 
when the rap record came out.
But it was 
like people were headed
towards something 
that they didn't know.
-It sounds like "Good Times"
with percussion 
from this other record.
And I'm like, 
"What the [bleep] is that?"
-It's hard to describe
whether it kind of blew 
my mind or it was just,
like, "[Bleep], I've been 
waiting for this."
-It was 
a "War of the Worlds" moment.
-It was the first 
official rap record.
And that right there 
is the beginning
of rap music 
going into overdrive.
-♪ Then you take her friend
♪ Uh, Master Gee, am I mellow?
♪ It's on you, 
so whatcha gonna do? ♪
-♪ Well, it's on and on, 
and on, on, and on ♪
♪ The beat don't stop 
until the break of dawn ♪
