October 27, 2005
The very start of hip-hop in Vanity Fair
The November 'music issue' of Vanity Fair deals with the early days of hip-hop. It all started with that one record, 'Rapper's Delight' on the infamous Sugar Hill Records, run by Sylvia and Joe Robinson.
Check out Steven Daly's story 'Hip-hop happens' and find out more about the way the Robinsons were doing business in the late seventies and early eighties, with the insights of two members of the legendary Sugarhill House Band ('a house band of well drilled pros'), Keith LeBlanc and Doug Wimbish.
One quote from the story regarding a legal conflict about the writer credits of the track Vice, Doug co-wrote with Melle Mel: 'Wimbish got himself a lawyer and a gun. "I was terrified when it was going down. Word was out that Joe was gonna do me."'
