Spoonie Gee
Spoonie Gee was the nephew of veteran R&B producer Bobby Robinson and one of the earliest rap artists. He was known as the "love rapper," an image that was established by his first record, "Love Rap," released on his uncle's Enjoy label as the flip side of the Treacherous Three's "The New Rap Language." The bulk of early rap records reproduced an MC's party routine with a loose sequence of narrative, boasting, and call and response. Spoonie's initial outing, however, organized a hip-hop styled record around a romantic theme, coming closer to the lyrical norms of pop music. The intimate "Love Rap" was accompanied only by drum set and congas, and Spoonie's next record continued in a similarly minimalist vein. The voice-over on 1979's "Spoonin' Rap" stuck to more conventional old-school boasting but looks forward to the gangsta attitude in its jailhouse references. "Spoonin' Rap" was also prophetic in its use of flexatone and heavily echoed voice, suggesting the Jamaican connection that was denied in early interviews by some of the rap originators. In 1980, Spoonie collaborated with Sequence on a classic single, "Monster Jam," probably the last word on the series of "Good Times"/"Another One Bites the Dust" variations and a classic in the Sugar Hill vein, complete with a bone-crushing bassline and ecstatic crowd noises. In the mid-'90s, the Ol' Skool Flava label issued a compilation, Godfather of Hip Hop, and over a decade after that, Spoonie issued an EP entitled The Boss Is Back.
© Richard Pierson /TiVo
Discography
13 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Godfather of Hip Hop
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Ol' Skool Flava on 18 Jun 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Love Rap / The New Rap Language
Spoonie Gee, Treacherous Three
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Enjoy Records on 14 Apr 1980
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
45 King Old School Remixes Vol. 3
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Ol' Skool Flava on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Godfather
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Tuff City Records on 1 Jan 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Godfather of Rap
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Tuff City Records on 10 Feb 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spoonin' Rap
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Ol' Skool Flava on 8 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Love Rap/The New Rap Language
Spoonie Gee, The Treacherous Three
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Ol' Skool Flava on 5 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Big Beat
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Tuff City Records on 1 Nov 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Mighty Mike Tyson
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Tuff City Records on 3 Jan 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Get Off My Tip
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Tuff City Records on 1 Jan 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
That's My Style
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Tuff City Records on 7 Jan 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo