THIS IS THE FIRST RAP RECORD KNOWN TODAY
This was the first rap record. "BEFORE THE SUGARHILL GANG". .... KING TIM III was the M Cee for DJ MAC LOVE & DJ PRINCE out of HARLEM, NEW YORK. [ Fifth ave & 127th street ] THE FATBACK BAND was a funk band and did not need a dee jay. But they saw the future of RAP.
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"King Tim III (Personality Jock)" is a 1979 song by the Fatback Band from the disco album XII. Released on March 25, 1979, a few months before "Rapper's Delight" (which is widely regarded as the first commercially released hip hop song), this song is often cited as the beginning of recorded hip hop. The title refers to vocalist Tim Washington.
The song was originally the B-Side of the 7-inch single, with the A-Side "You're My Candy Sweet" a mid-tempo disco song. However the song stalled at #67 after 4-weeks on the R&B chart and was replaced the following week with "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" on the chart. It peaked at #26 on the R&B chart and stayed on for 11 weeks.
The origin of "King Tim III" starts when Bill was in his studio with his co-producer Jerry Thomas or as Bill called him "his right hand man". Bill said to him "Jerry, look at this album we doing , it's the Bad Back Seven album." Jerry asks him what he want him to do and Curtis says "I don't know... let's do a rap man!" Jerry said the following sentence, "Do a rap? Hell, we can't even talk!" Curtis recalls, "One of the roaders is in the studio with us... Avery, and he said "Hey man, I got a buddy who lives up there in the projects, he's a great rapper.", and I said "Can he rap?" and he said, "Yeah man!" and I said "Bring him in, tomorrow night." and he brought in Timothy Washington and I had to track him down 8 hours in Venice and everything. I flew him in on the trip and I said "Hey man, go in there and start rapping." , and he just started rapping... and that's how it all came about."
