Day 35: Old School Rap

Kurtis Blow
Kurtis Blow

The phrase "old school" gets thrown around a lot, in reference not only to nearly any less-than-current hip hop, but also to oldies but goodies in a plethora of other contexts. If you're under the age of 30, chances are you've more than once heard someone use the term to modify such nouns as video games, pants, cars, glasses, hats--hell, even something as mundane as a rotary dial telephone! Frankly, this sort of co-opting is a shame because it has turned what was once a meaningful, complimentary distinction into a phrase so horrifyingly cheesy that it almost mocks that which it seeks to praise. It's as if anything one might call "old school" must be embarrassingly out of step with the zeitgeist simply because so many of the people who abuse the phrase seem to be trying too hard not to be.

Let me clear, I believe there is seldom, if ever, a good reason to call anything other than hip hop from the late 70s and early 80s "old school." When in doubt about the applicability of the term, use the Kurtis Blow rule: if (a) Kurtis Blow probably doesn't know who or what it is you wish to call "old school" or (b) you don't know who Kurtis Blow is, then you should refrain from uttering those two words. For the edification of those in the (b) category, Kurtis Blow was the first major solo rapper, a man whose history as a breakdancer, DJ, rapper and hip hop historian makes him a landmark figure in the development of hip hop culture. "The Breaks," Blow's best known track, is a bona fide hip hop classic, and two of his other cuts--"If I Ruled the World" and "Christmas Rappin'"--were turned into massive hits for Nas ("If I Ruled the World") and Next ("Too Close"), respectively. One of the first hip hop albums, Blow's self-titled debut LP from 1980 is an important historical document, full of great grooves, and without question worthy of the designation "old school."

An older but still active Blow doing "The Breaks."