The Roots of Rap: Classic Recordings from the 1920's and 30's

by ROOTS OF RAP / VARIOUS

Overview

This ambitious and thought-provoking project turns to early black-and-white, religious, and secular traditions for antecedents to modern rap styles. Drawing from the commercial recordings of the 1920s and '30s, The Roots of Rap provides a broad sampling of rural voices straddling the lines of speech and song against the rhythms of piano, banjo, and guitar. The roots of rap, this collection argues, existed in early black work songs and in the Southern pulpit; in the performances of singing street evangelists; and in black vocal traditions such as the "dozens." Early forms of rap emerged in the vaudeville routines of minstrel and medicine shows, arising also in the country humor and talking blues of many rural white performers. To illustrate its thesis, the album draws from some of the greatest performers of the period, including Blind Willie Johnson, Seven Foot Dilly, Butterbeans and Susie, and Memphis Minnie, whose extraordinarily funky "Frankie Jean" closes the set. Like the best of Yazoo's projects, this effort is carefully and intelligently constructed, as well as consistently entertaining. ~ Burgin Mathews

Product Details

Release Date:	04/23/1996
Label:	Yazoo
UPC:	0016351201829
Rank:	92639

Tracks

1. If I Had My Way I'd Tear the Building Down  - Blind Willie Johnson
2. Cocaine Blues  - Luke Jordan
3. Bow Wow Blues  -  Allen Brothers
4. Jive Man Blues  - Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon
5. Jonah in the Wilderness  - Henry Thomas  -  Traditional
6. South Carolina Rag  - Willie Walker
7. Whitewash Station  -  Memphis Jug Band
8. Automobile Ride Through Alabama  - Red Henderson
9. The Dirty Dozen No. 2  - Rufus G. Perryman  -  Speckled Red
10. Tain't None O' Your Business  -  Butterbeans & Susie
11. It's a Good Thing  -  Beale Street Sheiks
12. She's a Hum Dum Dinger (From Dingersville)  - Jimmie Davis
13. Papa's on the Housetop  - Leroy Carr
14. Let That Liar Alone  - Edward Clayborn
15. Back in My Home Town  - Frank Hutchison
16. Track Linin  -  T.C.I. Section Crew
17. Atlanta Strut  - Gary Atkinson  - Blind Willie McTell
18. Arkansas Hard Luck Blues  - Lonnie Glosson
19. How Can You Have the Blues?  - Tom Dorsey  -  Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom
20. Pickin' off Peanuts  -  Seven Foot Dilly & His Dill Pickles
21. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out  - James Cox  - Jimmie Cox  - Pinetop Smith
22. When I Stopped Running I Was at Home  -  Dixieland Jug Blowers
23. Frankie Jean (That Trottin' Fool)  -  Memphis Minnie

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Rev. Edward Clayborn   Primary Artist
Red Henderson   Primary Artist
T.C.I. Section Crew   Primary Artist
Seven Foot Dilly & His Dill Pickles   Primary Artist
Luke Jordan   Primary Artist
Pinetop Smith   Primary Artist
Memphis Minnie   Primary Artist
Kansas City Kitty   Primary Artist
Memphis Jug Band   Primary Artist
Henry Thomas   Primary Artist
Jimmie Davis   Primary Artist
The Dixieland Jug Blowers   Primary Artist
Speckled Red   Primary Artist,Piano
Seven Foot Dilly   Primary Artist
The Beale Street Sheiks   Primary Artist
Allen Brothers   Primary Artist
Blind Willie Johnson   Primary Artist,Vocals,Slide Guitar
Blind Willie McTell   Primary Artist,Guitar
Frank Hutchison   Primary Artist
Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon   Primary Artist
Lonnie Glosson   Primary Artist,Harmonica
Butterbeans & Susie   Primary Artist
Willie Walker   Primary Artist
Leroy Carr   Primary Artist
His Dill Pickles   Primary Artist
Georgia Tom   Primary Artist
Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom   Primary Artist
Frank Hutchinson   Primary Artist
John Dilleshaw   Guitar
Prince Laval   Vocals
Rufus G. Perryman   Piano

Technical Credits

Joan Pelosi   Art Direction
James Cox   Composer
Tom Dorsey   Composer
Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom   Performer
Leroy Carr   Performer,Composer
Luke Jordan   Composer,Performer
Robert Vosgien   Digital Mastering
Memphis Minnie   Composer,Performer
Rufus G. Perryman   Composer
Memphis Jug Band   Performer
Butterbeans & Susie   Performer
Henry Thomas   Performer,Composer
Jimmie Davis   Composer,Performer
The Dixieland Jug Blowers   Performer
Richard Nevins   Producer,Remastering
Speckled Red   Performer
Traditional   Composer
The Beale Street Sheiks   Performer
Allen Brothers   Performer
Blind Willie Johnson   Composer,Performer
Blind Willie McTell   Composer,Performer
Frank Hutchison   Performer
Don Kent   Producer,Liner Notes
Lonnie Glosson   Performer
Willie Walker   Composer,Performer
Gary Atkinson   Composer
Jimmie Cox   Composer