Danton
14th November 2003, 16:00
Most talking heads when asked about the origins of rap will point to the Sugarhill gang, Kool Herc, the Last poets, Gill scott Heron etc.. But the lineage goes back further.. Back to the thirties jive talking, Jazz bop scatting and beat poetry of the fourties and fifties
Rhymes are but a small component, vocabulary, complex verbal dexterity, improvisation and delivery are equally important.. One such example of these origins is his Royal hipness - Lord Buckley..
"There were a lot of people influenced by Lord Buckley who have never heard his material." - Ken Kesey
"The fuel to my success," - Bob Dylan
On Jesus..
Now, I look at all you cats and kitties out there
a whippin' and a wailin' and a jumpin' up and down
and suckin' up all that fine juice and pattin' each other on the back
and a hippin' each other who the greatest cat in the world is.
And they called this here cat "The Nazz."
He was a carpenter kittie.
Now, The Nazz was the kind of a cat that come on so cool
and so groovey and so with-it
that when he laid it down,
WHA-BOM, it stayed there.
Many questioned Buckley's sanity.. his repeated arrests for drink and drug offences, his founding of "The church of living swing" - which had the distinction of being the only church ever raided by the vice squad - the time he marched sixteen nude people through the lobby of the Royal Hawian hotel at a Frank Sinatra gig.. Endless lists of bizarre incidents that point to complete madness - I prefer to think of him as genious and one of the originators...
Rhymes are but a small component, vocabulary, complex verbal dexterity, improvisation and delivery are equally important.. One such example of these origins is his Royal hipness - Lord Buckley..
"There were a lot of people influenced by Lord Buckley who have never heard his material." - Ken Kesey
"The fuel to my success," - Bob Dylan
On Jesus..
Now, I look at all you cats and kitties out there
a whippin' and a wailin' and a jumpin' up and down
and suckin' up all that fine juice and pattin' each other on the back
and a hippin' each other who the greatest cat in the world is.
And they called this here cat "The Nazz."
He was a carpenter kittie.
Now, The Nazz was the kind of a cat that come on so cool
and so groovey and so with-it
that when he laid it down,
WHA-BOM, it stayed there.
Many questioned Buckley's sanity.. his repeated arrests for drink and drug offences, his founding of "The church of living swing" - which had the distinction of being the only church ever raided by the vice squad - the time he marched sixteen nude people through the lobby of the Royal Hawian hotel at a Frank Sinatra gig.. Endless lists of bizarre incidents that point to complete madness - I prefer to think of him as genious and one of the originators...