Various Artists - The Roots Of Rap

Artist:

Various Artists

UPC:

016351201829

Description:

THE ROOTS OF RAP is a compilation of blues, country, gospel and other songs from the 1920s and 1930s with spoken cadences that pre-dated, and influenced, rap music. Compilation producers: Richard Nevins, Don Kent. Recorded in the 1920s and 1930s. Includes liner notes by Don Kent. Personnel: Blind Willie Johnson (vocals, slide guitar); Prince Laval (vocals); John Dilleshaw, Blind Willie McTell (guitar); Lonnie Glosson (harmonica); Rufus G. Perryman, Speckled Red (piano). Audio Remasterer: Richard Nevins. Liner Note Author: Don Kent. Unknown Contributor Roles: Clifford Hayes; Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom; Frank Hutchison; Frank Stokes; Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon; Dan Sane; Henry Thomas ; Jimmie Davis; Earl McDonald; Leroy Carr; Luke Jordan; Memphis Jug Band; Memphis Minnie; Mozelle Alderson; Pinetop Smith; Scrapper Blackwell; Allen Brothers; The Beale Street Sheiks; The Dixieland Jug Blowers; Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey; Willie Walker; Butterbeans & Susie. This ambitious and thought-provoking project turns to early black-and-white, religious, and secular traditions for antecedents to modern rap styles. Drawing from the commercial recordings of the 1920s and `30s, The Roots of Rap provides a broad sampling of rural voices straddling the lines of speech and song against the rhythms of piano, banjo, and guitar. The roots of rap, this collection argues, existed in early black work songs and in the Southern pulpit; in the performances of singing street evangelists; and in black vocal traditions such as the "dozens." Early forms of rap emerged in the vaudeville routines of minstrel and medicine shows, arising also in the country humor and talking blues of many rural white performers. To illustrate its thesis, the album draws from some of the greatest performers of the period, including Blind Willie Johnson, Seven Foot Dilly, Butterbeans and Susie, and Memphis Minnie, whose extraordinarily funky "Frankie Jean" closes the set. Like the best of Yazoo`s projects, this effort is carefully and intelligently constructed, as well as consistently entertaining. ~ Burgin Mathews

Track Listing:

DISC 1

1. If I Had My Way I`d Tear the Building Down - Blind Willie Johnson
2. Cocaine Blues - Luke Jordan
3. Bow Wow Blues - Allen Brothers
4. Jive Man Blues - Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon
5. Jonah in the Wilderness - Henry Thomas
6. South Carolina Rag - Willie Walker
7. Whitewash Station - Memphis Jug Band
8. Automobile Ride Through Alabama - Red Henderson
9. Dirty Dozen No. 2, The - Speckled Red
10. Tain`t None O` Your Business - Butterbeans & Susie
11. It`s a Good Thing - The Beale Street Sheiks
12. She`s a Hum Dum Dinger (From Dingersville) - Jimmie Davis
13. Papa`s on the Housetop - Leroy Carr
14. Let That Liar Alone - Rev. Edward Clayborn
15. Back in My Home Town - Frank Hutchison
16. Track Linin - T.C.I. Section Crew
17. Atlanta Strut - Blind Willie McTell
18. Arkansas Hard Luck Blues - Lonnie Glosson
19. How Can You Have the Blues? - Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom
20. Pickin` off Peanuts - Seven Foot Dilly & His Dill Pickles
21. Nobody Knows You When You`re Down and Out - Pinetop Smith
22. When I Stopped Running I Was at Home - The Dixieland Jug Blowers
23. Frankie Jean (That Trottin` Fool) - Memphis Minnie

Album Information

Release Date:

04/23/1996

Type:

Collection

Genre:

Blues

Subgenre:

Delta

Label:

Yazoo

Catalog Number:

2018

Original Release Year:

1996

# of Discs:

1

Studio/Live:

Studio

Mono/Stereo:

Mono

Runtime:

69 : 48

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