Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Dec. 27, 1984, edition 1 / Page 19
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To Air * 9amHi -<;»_ * l<Mtt*0lfs> 2®^£ >>&4riR8f? / -r*•* •. ‘^.r ... < ■ * _ I - J;.^.., .... POST - *"~\... -*>*!*■' Onmii* U.mmiuiilA Un-klt" 2"""' ' lHM; ■ ./—' 1 ----— »_____ .-—-- December 27, 1984 . THE CHARLOTTE POST - Page IB r King Curtis Mow Got His Start In Racking Early In Life By Loretta Manago •~.w Post Staff Writer “Hello, party people, I’m Kurtis Blow. King of the Rap and a ten year pro. The ladies’ hearts topper, the fly guy’s best, A sure-shot rocker and I’m al ways fresh....” Those are the lines that have established Kurtis Blow as the dominating force in a genre that’s still young in the musical world-rapping. When it seems as if the language of rapping and rhythm to music would die down, here would come Kurtis BIow| with the kind of rapper’s song that would put the added zest back into the art form. Blow got his start in rapping while still a teenager. He was ^dazzling the crowds at Small’s Paradise and other histoiic lo cations throughout his native Harlem with his rapping style for about five years before he got his first break into show busi ness. his singles, The Breaks” and ‘‘Christmas Rappin’,” were not only the first two records by a male artist to be' certified gold, they were also the first rap’ records with lyrics demonstrat ing some social consciousness and the first rap records re leased on a major label. This new way of entertaining earned him an audience throughout the States. As Blow established himself as an artist, his fame began to spread abroad. Through tours in Western Europe and the Ca ribbean, appearances on “20-20,” “Nightwatch,” “Soul Train,” and numerous feature articles in popular magazines not only has more been re vealed about Kurils Blow, but more has also been known about the art form, to which he so smoothly and professionally ' raps. Ten years In this profession and the success he lays claim to affords him the time to produce * * Kir a- i e f. t a JdJiA 40 * —It.*— ] -Dominates World Of rapping other aspiring rappers. The last year and a half Blow has spent becoming the premier producer of rap records in the country. He began with Sweet Gee’s “Games People Play,” and Lovebug Starsky’s “You Gotta Believe,” both for Disco Fever Records. A more recent project has been the Fearless Four’s “Problems Of The World Today,”, Oran “Juice” Jones’ “Rock Your Body Down.” Although these are the tunes that are addinR credentials to Blow’s reputation as a producer, ‘ the work with which more people - are familiar is the Disco 3’s “Fat —Beys” and Dr. Jeckyli and Mr. Hyde’s “Fast Life-AM-PM.” Turn your radio on for a few hours and you’re bound to hear one of the fast talking tunes. - Showing talent in other areas in addition to recording and producing, Brow has recently completed acting a feature part as a gang member and prison inmate in “Cry of the City,” a Leon Kennedy film. Blow also wrote, produced and performed the movie’s title song and wrote and produced the soundtrack’s “In Jail,” for the Disco 3. In rapping, Blow is not just interested in rhyming lines. Usually, his songs have a message: socially, politically or otherwise. Because he does not sing the lyrics to his song, there is a strong possibility that the hard hitting message Blow is sending out is getting across to his thousands of listeners. His latest release, “Ego Trip,” is 1_ characteristic of just that. The album kicks off with “Eight Million Stories.” Taking its title from the introduction to “Naked City,” the vintage TV cop show, “Eight Million Stories,” is the latest and greatest of that line of cinema tic songs of frank commentary that began on Blow’s First album with "Hard Times.’’ And for anyone who thought that Blow couldn’t sing, the tune to listen out for on his newest LP is "Failin’ Back In Love.” Blow switches from rapper to crooner to get across what amounts to the follow-up to “Daydreamin,”’ the sweet boy ballad Blow had so much success with in the summer of '83. (So if it’s rappin’, the music that soothes your soul, then the man you want is Kurtis Blow.)
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Dec. 27, 1984, edition 1
19
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