VARIOUS ARTISTS - Boombox: Early Independent Hip Hop, Electro and Disco Rap 1979-82
Sunday, May 29, 2016 at 03:30PM 
A LONG overdue collection from Soul Jazz that collects classic tracks from the dawn of hip hop and rap. Throw it on and get ready to have the mysteries of Beastie Boys, RUN-DMC, LL Cool J, Beck, and way more be revealed. Essential stuff. So clap your hands, everybody. Everybody clap your hands.
"This first exuberant wave of innocent, upbeat, ‘party on the block’ rap records were the first to try and create the sounds heard in community centres, block parties and street jams that first took place in the Bronx in the mid-1970s. But where Flash, Kool Herc and Bambaataa were back-spinning, mixing and scratching together now classic breakbeat records like The Incredible Bongo Band’s ‘Apache’ or Babe Ruth’s ‘The Mexican’, these first rap records were all made using live bands, often replaying then current disco tunes, whilst MCs rapped over the top, creating a unique sound that later became known derisively as ‘old school’.
And while hip-hop started in the Bronx, rap on vinyl began in Harlem where long-time established rhythm and blues producer-owned record companies such as Joe Robinson’s Enjoy Records, Paul Winley’s Winley Records, Delmar Donnel’s Delmar International and Jack ‘Fatman’ Taylor’s Rojac and Tayster were the first off the mark to realise the commercial potential of rap music - releasing early ground-breaking records that all quickly followed in the wake of the first rap record, The Sugarhill Gang’s Rappers Delight, a million-selling worldwide hit.
This collection celebrates these first old-school rap records, bringing together rare, classic and obscure tracks released in the early days of rap." - SJ
"Soul Jazz has a reputation for top-notch compilations that offer crash courses in a variety of styles and genres both beloved and obscure; they are, in essence, the K-Tel of the millennial generation.
This is one of the best Soul Jazz sets in ages, a legitimate party in a box, overflowing with underground deep cuts that have seldom — if ever — been spotted on other collections." FACT
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