They Made A Christmas Album?: Advent 2018: Day 8

Today’s featured artist is one of the founding fathers of rap and hip hop. I’m talking about Kurtis Blow. He was mastermind behind 1980’s The Breaks, the first rap album to be certified gold. The song of Blow’s self-titled record sampled a Doobie Brothers song and in return The Breaks has been sampled from a number of artists including Busta Rhymes.

So the artist himself isn’t an unusual artist. If anything, he’s on the Mount Rushmore of Rap pioneers. But what I do not equate Kurtis Blow to is a holiday artist. Yet in 1979, that’s exactly what Kurtis Blow did. After signing with Mercury Records (another first), Kurtis Blow hit the music scene in a holy jolly sort of mood with Christmas Rapping. Selling over a half million records, the song was one of the first commercially successful of the genre. 

Appearantly, Kurtis Blow has continued mixing rap and hip hop with the holidays. Around 2005, the artist was a guest DJ for the Hip Hop Nutcracker based on the Tchaikovsky classic ballet. Blow was previously a consultant on the project before his debut. 

So with both the resume and holiday experience of Kurtis Blow established, I present to your as my Advent Day 8 gift, Christmas Rapping.

Enjoy!