07/25/2023
Great Era for Hip Hop
Funky Four Plus One (also known as Funky 4 + 1) was the first Hip-Hop/Rap group from The Bronx, New York, United States to receive a recording deal. They were notable for having a female MC, and were the first rap group to perform live on a national television broadcast. Jazzy Jeff from Funky Four Plus One is not the same artist as DJ Jazzy Jeff from DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. When Jazzy Jeff was setting up a solo career after the third line-up of the Funky 4 split up around 1983, he sued Jive Records (which had subsequently signed DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince), and he won a lawsuit over the rights over the name Jazzy Jeff. Ironically, Jazzy Jeff’s single "King He**in" was also released on Jive Records.
Formed in 1976, the group was the first hip hop group to have a female MC, Sha Rock. It made its debut on Enjoy Records with the 16-minute "Rappin and Rocking the House". The group's most significant hit was the 9-minute "That's the Joint" (1981). "That's the Joint" was interpolated from A Taste of Honey's "Rescue Me". Music critic Robert Christgau of The Village Voice named it the best song of the 1980s. In his 1981 review of the single, Christgau gave it an A rating and wrote of its musical significance, "The instrumental track, carried by Sugarhill bassist Doug Wimbish, is so compelling that for a while I listened to it alone on its B-side version. And the rapping is the peak of the form, not verbally—the debut has funnier words—but rhythmically. Quick tradeoffs and clamorous breaks vary the steady-flow rhyming of the individual MCs, and when it comes to Sha-Rock, Miss Plus One herself, who needs variation?" Its other notable recordings included the almost-16-minute "Rappin' and Rockin' The House," and Jazzy Jeff's recording of "King He**in," from which a beat was sampled for use in the theme of the "The Apprentice" which taken from the O'Jays' "(For The Love Of) Money". The group never recorded a full studio album. It was the first hip hop group to appear on a national television show, Saturday Night Live, in a season-six episode hosted by Blondie's Deborah Harry (some[who?] have mistakenly reported that Run-D.M.C. was the first hip hop group to appear on SNL—in fact, Run-D.M.C. were first emcees to perform on MTV some years later).
The original members were the Voice of K.K., aka K.K. Rockwell (Kevin Smith); Keith Keith (Keith Caesar); Sha Rock (Sharon Green); and Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams). Rahiem later left the group to join Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five. Sha Rock temporarily left as well, and they were replaced by Li'l Rodney C! and Jazzy Jeff, who became the New Funky Four and, with the return of Sha Rock, became the Plus One More.
