by becoming the first hiphop group to land a record deal taking hiphop mainstream in 1981 while the group was on its first major tour they got a call from deborah harry the lead vocalist for the band blondie who was set to host saturday night live the rockstar invited the group to perform on snl on feb 14 1981 where she introduced them to america as some of the best street rappers in the country with mc sharock at the center they performed their hit song thats the joint becoming the first hiphop group ever to appear on national television funky 4 1 more during the musical performance feb 14 1981 on saturday night live al levinenbcnbcu photo bank via getty images file once we did saturday night live were in our dressing rooms and theyve given us top treatment its the first time that hiphop is being televised on national television by young teenagers she said but sharock said that she was unable to fully enjoy the moment because she was concerned that she was pregnant im on stage all of these things are going through my mind its like oh man how is this going to stop me from doing what i wanted to do and my group was terrified she said they were mad at me because we were about to take hip hop culture and rap music to a whole other level and i got pregnant but the group had already made history jayz reflected on the moment hiphop broke through the mainstream and how watching the funky 41 mores snl performance as a child was a defining moment in his life dj breakout and funky 4 1 attend the a2im 2018 libera awards at playstation theater june 21 2018 in new york city monica schippergetty images file by the time the eighties came along rap was exploding and i remember the mainstream breakthroughs like they were my own rites of passage jayz wrote in his 2011 book decoded in 1981 the summer before seventh grade the funky four plus one more performed thats the joint on saturday night live and the rock steady crew got on abc nightly news for battling the dynamic rockers at lincoln center in a legendary showdown of bboy dance crews my parents watched soul train every saturday when we cleaned up but when my big sister annie and i saw don cornelius introduce the sugar hill gang we just stopped in the middle of the living room with our jaws open what are they doing on tv thats the joint was named by rolling stone magazine as one of the greatest 50 hiphop songs of all time as well as one of the 500 greatest songs of all time i think what they were trying to say is that we were before our time i was before my time mc sharock said reflecting on the rolling stone honor the women of hip hop have given our culture