Music > Interviews

The Sugarhill Gang

25/05/16

Master Gee from the legendary Sugarhill Gang spoke with me ahead of his show with Wonder Mike and the Furious Five at the Waterfront this month.

You grew up in Englewood, New Jersey – what was the music scene like there when you were growing up?

We had a smaller hip hop scene than New York back in the day, it’s about 10-15 minutes from there. I was doing high school dances, parties in people’s basements and just being a regular high school kid, thinking about my future.

What sort of plans did you have for your future at that stage?

I wanted to be a disc jockey. We had a disc jockey in New York called Frankie Crocker on WBLS and he was my idol, so my plan A was to go into broadcasting. My plan B was to go into the military.

When was the very first time you heard the start of hip hop yourself and how did it change your plans?

I heard it through the grapevine if you will. I heard a classmate in Hackensack, New Jersey rapping at a party. I asked him what he was doing, he said “This is rapping, man, this is what they’re doing over in New York”. I was DJing, spinning records at that time but I realised this was a way to get more work at more parties as it seemed like this was what was going on. So I was affected by a financial standpoint. It was all a street scene at that time – the concept of putting it on a record didn’t come even come up. You spun the record, you found beats that had no words on them so you could put your own words on them, you wrote your raps, you rocked the mic.

It took some time for people to really get their heads around the burgeoning hip hop scene and to take it seriously didn’t it?

Yeah, it was going on in New York, Manhattan and Brooklyn before we got it. The first time I heard it it was ’77 or ’78 even though it was ’72 and ’73 when it first started over there. In those days everything was word of mouth, you couldn’t get information as easily as you can now.

Disco was just finishing up when hip hop came on the scene. What was the vibe between the disco fans and the hip hop fans?

Disco was definitely on its way out at that time, and it was so far removed from each other that it didn’t even get ahold of the disco fans because there were so many people that were used to hearing raps in the streets. So when this started up in New York people were very familiar with it, they were just shocked it was on a record and on the radio.

Can you tell us about the making of your most famous track, Rapper’s Delight which uses a sample from Chic’s Good Times? How come it ended up so long?

Rapper’s Delight is one of the most natural musical masterpieces ever written. The reason why Mike introduced the record “what you hear is not a test..” is because he knew that he was going to have to describe what was happening. The reason why I spelled out my name on the record is because I was trying to make sure that everybody knew who I was. All that stuff was natural, we weren’t thinking about how the public was going to perceive it or what the right thing to say was, it’s just what came from each of our minds. The reason why that record was so long was because we were such novices in the studio we had no idea what we were doing. We had recorded the music prior to us going in to record the vocals and they said “GO” and pressed record. We’d already decided which order we’d do our verses in, and the music kept playing so we just kept rapping! The only reason why we stopped was because the tape ran out! To this day it’s probably one of the few records that was recorded with the knowledge that we didn’t know any better.

So did you always write your own verses and then rap them?

Mike and I became writing partners. Initially, on rapper’s Delight we wrote our raps individually, but we became kindred spirits. Mike’s my best friend on the planet, we’ve been friends for 36 years and counting and we’ll be friends until they put dirt on either one of us. Part of that came out of the fact that we became attuned to each other. One of us might have a concept, and one of us would have a verse, we self produced and encouraged one another, and became so tight and understanding of each other. 8th Wonder, Livin’ In The Fast Lane, all those great records that we did we wrote together.

It was a real crossover track and really introduced the world to hip hop. Do you think you have ever got the respect that you deserve in terms of your legacy?

I think because it was so new and we were in a time when it wasn’t really understood, it’s just taking a period of time for us to get totally recognised. I mean now, we’re only 36 years into hip hop compared to how long jazz has been around, or rock n roll. We’re still in the childhood of hip hop. It’s become a major form of music, so much money has been generated by it and what’s starting to happen now is that hip hop stars in 2016 are realising that they ought to really start looking at where this came from. And every time you go back and see where it came from you listen to what came before us, as well as us. For us hip hop was all about the streets and after us it was out in the world.

Apache (Jump On It) is another huge classic tune from you guys. It had an unusual theme for a hip hop track..

Right. The thing about it was it was a breakbeat originally called Apache. Mike and I grew up in the era of watching The Lone Ranger on TV in the afternoons and it just all came out when we heard that Apache breakbeat. It’s become one of our biggest records, although when we first released it it wasn’t that massive.  When Will and Clarkson did the skit on The Fresh Prince to Apache that’s when it really took off, as well as the dance! So we always thank them for that. The kids today know it as Jump On It because that’s the bit of the song they used to dance to.

If you go to a wedding, to a party, wherever, even in rural Norfolk you’re very likely to see everyone dance to Apache. That’s an incredible thing for you guys to have achieved isn’t it?

I’m telling you right now Lizz, it’s amazing. With all humility, I’m in the most amazing situation. As a kid I never ever thought my life would offer me the opportunity to travel all over the world and perform for people who are waiting to hear the songs that came from our ideas and concepts. And to be able to have been allowed to do it for as long as we have? I say allowed with emphasis because there are so many people who are singers, musicians, songwriters who work their whole life to get a glimpse of what it is that I’ve been given. Every time I get on stage, every time I do an interview it just blows my mind that this is my life. It’s totally great.

What do you make of hip hop today?

It was a form of expression when I spoke my first word on Rapper’s Delight and it’s still the same thing now. I came from a semi middle class situation so I was thinking about getting a date or travelling, and Mike was talking about what might have happened at a friend’s house and it’s no different now, it’s just the music is in different areas. It’s always been a platform for self expression. I mean look at heavy metal, conscious folk in the 60’s, it’s all the same, it’s personal expression.  People sometimes give rap music a bad rap, if you will, but it’s no different to any other form of music.

Do you have a day job these days?

I call it moonlighting. I’m a personal trainer, I have a company called Jump On It Fitness! What I do is mental fitness as well as physical, we get you fit from the inside so you’ll be cool on the outside. It’s woven into my tour schedule. I enjoy it because I’ve been into fitness all my life.

Are you excited to be touring with your old friends the Furious Five?

As long as I’ve been friends with Mike I’ve been friends with Mel and Scorps and we’ve developed our relationship over the years. At one time there was The Sugarhill Gang, The Furious Five and Curtis Blow, they were the three main players in hip hop. If you think about the birth of rock n roll, they aren’t around today to do what we do and to have the relationship that we do is really a cool thing. We’re like family – we’ve been good with each other, we’ve been mad with each other but at the end of the day it’s all love, and we keep it that way. It doesn’t always happen that way unfortunately.

The Sugarhill Gang play with The Furious Five at the Waterfront on 1st June. Tickets available from ueaticketbookings.co.uk.