WCSX Classic Cuts : Rapture
WCSX Classic Cuts
Blondie: “Rapture”
The Hook: The first rapped song to top the Billboard Hot 100 was something that was unique up to that point.
Album: Autoamerican
Year: 1981
Writers: Debbie Harry and Chris Stein
Stats: Topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks.
Background: Blondie’s “Rapture” was the first rapped song to go to number-one on the Billboard Hot 100. Debbie Harry explains that what she and guitarist Chris Stein came up with for the song was actually different than anything that had come before.
Debbie Harry of Blondie on her rapping in “Rapture.” OC:…white rap [Laughs]. :30
“The thing that probably was the most unique about it at the time was that it was included in a song and surrounded by music and that really hadn’t been done. All the hip-hoppers and rappers were basically doing it with tracks and scratching, taking the rhythm things and doing the basslines and stuff like that, but they hadn’t really written any music around them at that point. Credit goes to Chris on that. He really came up with the idea of putting a rap in song. And I tried my best, but I don’t think it’s really a true rap. It’s sort of white rap [Laughs].”
