HQRAPMP3s: 1981

[TheBigSleep]

Welcome to the third installment of High Quality Recent Addition Project of (preferably) MP3s.

A lot of us, probably the majority, first visited this site at least initially, to discuss and trade music. Over the years we have certainly amassed a lot of the same stuff, but also, perhaps at times unknowingly, hold onto some more unique rips as well.

The purposes of this project are threefold:

To fill gaps in your collection you've been meaning to add.

To potentially discover material new to you that you weren't actively seeking out.

To increase the quality of the MP3s that you already have stored somewhere (on at least one drive).

As with all things group / forum-related, the outcome of this could at least theoretically be tremendously helpful or it could all go nowhere, depending on how active people in the community want to be.

It also can tell us to some degree what the internet has yet to offer in the best possible quality, so we can better see what's missing or sounds sub-par.

Each thread will correspond to a single year. By limiting each thread to the year the music was recorded and / or released it gives us somewhere to start, gives you some boundaries as to not be completely overwhelming, and yet gives everybody the freedom within that time constraint to bring up whatever hip hop related project they would like, be it album, EP, mixtape, bootleg, single, compilation, anthology, live show, radio show, music video, book, documentary, etc.

How to Help Out:

Find something that either hasn't been mentioned at all in the list below, that you have a noticeably different edition of, or that you have in better quality – and offer it up in the thread.

To find something, go to the drive or drives where your music is located and perform a search for the year that corresponds with the current HQRAPMP3s thread. For example, search 1981.

Or possibly do just a general search through your computer / hip hop music folder using terms like *.mp3 or *.flac, then view and sort by the year in the detailed view of the search results. That way everything you have will be grouped chronologically and you can narrow in on a particular section.

Of course the best possible option is if you have physical copies of, and can personally rip in [320], what the rest of us have been missing. If necessary, I'll gladly convert FLAC, WAV or other lossless files to [320] when possible.

Just be clear which project you're referring to when naming something you're looking for, or are offering. And when offering, be sure to note the quality of what you have right alongside the title.

Here's what I have to offer (Year Recorded – Title of Project {Year Released and / or Edition} [Quality]):

Comps

1981 – DJ Zimmie – Footnotes Vol. I {2013} [192]

Ego Trip

1981 – Ego Trip's Hip Hop's Greatest Singles '81 {1999} [Mixed]

Rub, The

1981 – Hip Hop History Volume III: 1981 {Mixed by DJ Ayres in 2007} [128]

Radio

WHBI (105.9 FM)

Mr. Magic

1981-10-10 – Mr. Magic's Disco Showcase [192]

East

Connecticut

Tom Tom Club

1981 – Wordy Rappinghood [320]
1981 – Wordy Rappinghood / Elephant (Instrumental) [320]

New Jersey

Mike “T”

1981 – Do It Any Way You Wanna [320]

Sugarhill Gang

1981 – 8th Wonder [320]
1981 – Apache [160]

New York

1981 – Harlem World (The Sound of The Big Apple Rappin') {2001} [320]

Bronx, The

Afrika Bambaataa

1981 – Jazzy Sensation w/ Jazzy 5 [256]
1981 – Live at Bronx River Center [192]

Busy Bee

1981 – School Days [320]

Cold Crush Brothers / Grandmaster Caz

1981 – Live at the Bronx River w/ Lisa Lee, Donald D, Jazzy Jay, & Rahiem [128]
1981-07-03 – Cold Crush Battle The Fantastic 5 Live at Harlem World on July 3rd [320]

DJ Kool Herc

1981 – Live at T-Connection w/ Whiz Kid & The Herculords [192]

ESG

1981 – ESG [320]

Funky 4+1 / Sha Rock

1981 – Live [320]
1981 – Live Convention '81 [V2]
1981 – Zulu Nation Sixth Anniversary w/ Cosmic Force, Lisa Lee, & The L Brothers [320]

Grandmaster Flash / Furious Five, The

1981 – Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel, The [128]
1981 – Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel, The / Party Mix, The [320]
1981 – Birthday Party, The w/ The Furious Five [VBR]
1981 – Flash on the Beat Box [320]
1981 – It's Nasty (Genius of Love) w/ The Furious Five [320]
1981 – Live at T-Connection w/ The Furious Five [192]
1981 – Live in Queens w/ Kurtis Blow [VBR]

Incredible 3 MCs, The

1981 – Tech Ski, Destiny, & Chucky Chuck with DJ Lil Chase [320]

Jazzy Jay

1981 – Live in Paterson, NJ w/ Jazzy 5 [320]

Mean Machine, The

1981 – Disco Dream [256]

Spanish Fly & The Terrible Two

1981 – Spanglish [256]

Zulu Nation

1981 – Live at Bronx River Center [320]
1981 – Zulu Nation Sixth Anniversary w/ Soulsonic Force, Jazzy 5, & Cold Crush Brothers [192]

Brooklyn

Mel Brooks

1981 – It's Good to Be the King [320]

Secret Weapon

1981 – Must Be the Music [320]

Harlem

Blondie / Debbie Harry

1981 – Backfired [320]
1981 – Best of Blondie, The [320]
1981-01-12 – Rapture [320]
1981-05-07 – Live at James White Funkathon on May 7th [320]

Boogie Boys, The

1981 – Rappin' Ain't No Thing w/ DJ Darryl C [192]

Crash Crew, The

1981 – We Want to Rock [256]

Disco Four, The

1981 – Do It, Do It [320]

Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde

1981 – Genius Rap [128]

Kool Moe Dee / Treacherous Three

1981 – Feel the Heartbeat [320]
1981 – First Anniversary Live at Disco Fever w/ Lovebug Starski & Spoonie Gee [320]
1981 – Live at T-Connection w/ The Fantastic Five, Grandmaster Caz, Busy Bee, & Spoonie Gee [320]
1981 – Put the Boogie in Your Body [V2]
1981-12-30 – Christmas Rappers' Convention w/ Busy Bee [320]

Ron Hunt

1981 – Spider [256]

Twennynine

1981 – Just Like Dreamin' [320]

Pennsylvania

Frankie Smith

1981 – Children of Tomorrow [320]
1981 – Double Dutch Bus {1994 Reissue} [320]
1981 – Unidisc Classics [320]

Washington D.C.

Trouble Funk

1981 – Beat, The [320]
1981 – Holly Rock [320]

Midwest

Ohio

Junie Morrison

1981 – 5 [320]

NorCal

Oakland

Motorcycle Mike

1981 – Super Rat (Partial) [320]

SoCal

Los Angeles

Disco Daddy and Captain Rapp

1981 – Gigolo Groove, The [256]

Flakes

1981 – Flakes [320]

Santa Monica

Teena Marie

1981 – Square Biz [320]

South, The

Georgia

Blowfly

1981 – Porno Freak [320]

Tennessee

Super Wolf

1981 – Get Up and Pay Your Funk Bills w/ The Funk-Ville Band [256]

Worldwide

Canada

Bobby Deemo Band, The / Barry & Demo

1981 – Rap the Night Away [192]

Italy

Vin Zee

1981 – Funky Bebop [256]

UK

Adam and The Ants

1981 – Ant Rap [320]

Clash, The

1981 – Magnificent Seven, The [320]

Evasions, The

1981 – Wikka Rap [320]

Funkapolitan

1981 – As the Time Goes By [320]
1981 – As the Time Goes By / Understandably Flattering [320]

West Side Mob

1981 – Let's Dance (Make Your Body Move) [320]
1981 – West Side Mob [192]

Previous Threads:

Pre-1980 & 1980.

[TheBigSleep]

Ed Piskor's graphic novel Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. I does a good job of capturing the culture up until this point.

Events: Battles and Videos

January 12th, 1981 – Blondie's Rapture single released. Also around that time Downtown '81 wraps filming, but would remain unfinished for almost twenty years.
January 31st, 1981 – The music video for Rapture debuts on Solid Gold.
February 14th, 1981 – Debbie Harry hosts SNL. Funky 4+1 perform, becoming the first rap group on national TV.
March 13th, 1981 – Pop: The Sugar Hill Gang article is printed in the New York Times.
March 28th, 1981 – Rapture reaches the top spot on the Billboard charts, a first for songs with rapping.
April 22nd, 1981 – Physical Graffiti: Breaking is Hard to Do, co-written by Martha Cooper, appears in the Village Voice.
May 16-17th, 1981 – The Bronx Folklore Conference takes place at NYU, featuring Rock Steady Crew. The event had been advertised in the New York Times the day before.
June 12th, 1981 – History of the World: Part I hits theatres, featuring Mel Brooks' It's Good to Be the King rap. That same month, filming begins on Style Wars.
July 3rd, 1981 – Cold Crush vs. Fantastic Romantic Five.
July 9th, 1981 – Rappin' to the Beat report featured on ABC News' 20/20 segment.
August of 1981 – Rock Steady Crew vs. Dynamic Rockers.
August 28th, 1981 – Music Makers: Not What You Say, But How You Say It article written up in the The Associated Press.
October of 1981 – Wild Style starts production.
October 8th, 1981 – Stations of the Elevated documentary debuts at New York Film Festival.
December 30th, 1981 – Kool Moe Dee calls out Busy Bee during the Christmas Rappers' Convention at Harlem World.

[Versive]

This record is a truly terrible, bought it the other day simply because it's a 1981 album with rapping I'd never heard: https://www.discogs.com/Rolling-Snows-C ... se/5959223" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TheBigSleep]

Huh, yeah the internet doesn't seem to know much about that one, perhaps for good reason.

For those like me who are interested despite the warning signs, here's a taste from an old WFMU broadcast, although from what was selected all we get is some word for word recitation, followed by a bit of light scatting, and then a little piece of old school Christmas rap, before it quickly goes back into traditional (awful) holiday singing.

Essential? Certainly not by any means. But since the absurd goal here is attempting to encompass everything, props on the find.

Apparently the rapper involved here is Mike "T" of Do It Any Way You Wanna "fame", whose aforementioned single dropped this same year but then of course who disappeared almost immediately afterward.

[Career Over Like Mike(NJJ)]

Fucking great thread.

Debbie Harry hosting the Funky 4 + 1 SNL episode

[Versive]

Huh, yeah the internet doesn't seem to know much about that one, perhaps for good reason.

For those like me who are interested despite the warning signs, here's a taste from an old WFMU broadcast, although from what was selected all we get is some word for word recitation, followed by a bit of light scatting, and then a little piece of old school Christmas rap, before it quickly goes back into traditional (awful) holiday singing.

Essential? Certainly not by any means. But since the absurd goal here is attempting to encompass everything, props on the find.

Apparently the rapper involved here is Mike "T" of Do It Any Way You Wanna "fame", whose aforementioned single dropped this same year but then of course who disappeared almost immediately afterward.

Copped for a buck in great condition, still in the shrink actually. I can rip at some point though it probably won't be anytime too soon. It's truly one of the worst records I've ever heard -- can't remember how much rapping was on it, my girl might've forced me to turn it off at some point come to think of it. Recorded out on LI also, Hamptons I believe. I can only imagine the amount of coke that was snorted in the making of this record. So much coke.

I was trying to figure out which Mike T was the Mike T on this record. Do you have any more info on him?

[TheBigSleep]

Fucking great thread.

Debbie Harry hosting the Funky 4 + 1 SNL episode

Thanks man, lemme know if there's anything seen here, or from the other threads in this series, that you're lookin' to grab. And also if you see that there's anything not listed that you're able to add.

Yeah, that was a nice find. I was really just lookin' for the performance since it had been pulled from YouTube and ended up finding a good chunk of the episode on Vimeo. To give away national airtime while your album is on the way to number one, just so you can help put other people on? That was unheard of then and anyone today would be hard pressed to come up with a modern day example, still a rare act.

Copped for a buck in great condition, still in the shrink actually. I can rip at some point though it probably won't be anytime too soon. It's truly one of the worst records I've ever heard -- can't remember how much rapping was on it, my girl might've forced me to turn it off at some point come to think of it. Recorded out on LI also, Hamptons I believe. I can only imagine the amount of coke that was snorted in the making of this record. So much coke.

I was trying to figure out which Mike T was the Mike T on this record. Do you have any more info on him?

Not the least bit surprised on the price there. I'll be waiting with bated breath. Nah but on the real if you want to, I'd torture myself with at least one listen, plus hard drive space just gets cheaper and I did say I was going for anything that fit the bill, pretty much regardless. I don't see it anywhere online, probably for good reason. But if you never got around to it I don't think I'm gonna be kept up thinking about it or anything. Yeah, once again, not shocked at the idea that it's horrendous and that they had snow shovels and driveways worth of cheap cocaine as their fuel. I mean... Rolling Snows, Crystal Christmas, songs about red noses, in an era where everyone's name ends in -ski? It does sound like the season, now doesn't it?

Per Discogs, the “art” on the flipside states:

MUSICIANS:

Rapper Mike “T” (Appears courtesy of Golden Pyramid Records)

Mike “T” (often, as written out on the back cover here, with the quotations I've found) stands for Mike Thomas, of the tri-state area, according to whoever wrote the Discogs summary of him. Golden Pyramid itself looks like it was based outta NJ, which was a fairly common location for labels around that time period. The mastering plant was also in Jersey. Plus, though Mike got credit for the beat and vocals, the saxophone heard on the main version of his track Do It Any Way You Wanna, was played by lifelong New Jersey resident and jazz / funk musician, The Ebony Godfather, Joe Thomas (Joseph Samuel Thomas). Just guessin' here but Joe may've been an older relative of Mike's and Mike could've then also been from New Jersey? Logically that checks out, at least theoretically, but I have no actual proof, so it could just be a major coincidence as well. Mike did some minor production and arrangement type stuff soon after this on a couple forgettable singles but faded out completely by the mid-eighties as far as I can tell.