Kurtis Blow: The Father Of Rap

Imagine you’re walking the streets of Harlem and you hear a hot beat coming from a building; but when you look over you realize it’s a church. No you’re not hallucinating; you’re looking at Kurtis Blow’s Hip Hop Church. We’re thinking about the same Kurtis Blow, the first rapper ever to be signed to a label, the maker of the first gold record for rap, and the first rapper to tour the United States and Europe. Yes, he’s now a licensed minister.

Kurtis’ life wasn’t always about Jesus and it wasn’t spent in church. Blow started music and party promotion with Russell Simmons and his younger brother, now known as, Rev Run. Run’s first rap name was “Son of Kurtis Blow,” before he changed it. The trio took over Brooklyn and Queens with their parties and music. It was not long before Blow labeled himself as Queens greatest rapper, and he certainly lived up to the title, vowing to change the music game. He’s quoted talking about his past, “Everything merged into one colorless sea of sound. We, the deejays, had to do something to make our shows a little bit different … a little unique. Pretty soon rap became an accepted thing, almost expected in fact, and those clubs who had rappin’ deejays started to pick up.”

Kurtis Blow soon became a New York sensation. In 1979, Blow recorded “Christmas Rappin,” a novelty single co-written by Billboard columnist Rocky Ford. The song was a hit, landing Blow a contract with Mercury Records. “Christmas Rappin” sold over 400,000 copies; the follow up to this single was “The Breaks.” This song became Blow’s gold record, becoming another first for the legacy of rap music. He produced 10 albums in 11 years bringing about several chart toppers within these albums.

Throughout his career, Blow broke many barriers for rappers. First rapper to record a national commercial (Sprite) first rapper to use the drum machine, sample and sample loop, first rap music video, first rap producer, first rapper featured in a soap opera (One Life to Live),  and first rap millionaire. Blow created the real genre and platform for all future rap artists.

But with fame and money, comes problems. Blow soon got caught up in hard core drugs, such as cocaine, and he became a womanizer. His life quickly took a downhill spiral due to addictions and bad habits. His wife left him, and took their three kids. By the mid-80s his sing-song style was a thing of the past, with rappers improving upon his creation. It was the darkest point for Blow.

It was in 1996 that Blow re-dedicated his life to Christ and was radically changed.  ”The only time I really got happy in my life was when I picked up the Bible and read Revelations,” he said in an interview with the Village Voice. His passion became to reach out to the crowd that loved Jesus but didn’t necessarily like church. He began taking ministry classes at Nyack College, a private, evangelical, liberal arts college in New York and was ordained in 2009. Since then, Blow has set up “hip-hop churches” in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Oakland. A typical service can include anything from preaching to dee-jaying; in the hip hop church you just never know what to expect.

Blow has no desire to have another number one record; his heart is in the church and with the youth of this generation. He put it best on his personal website, “Don’t get it twisted, God has always existed, and in terms of these young people out here who love God but do not like to go to church, only Hip Hop can bring them back to the church.”

-Stormm Van Rooi