Dig Of The Day: Jocko – Rhythm Talk (1979)

Today we go way way back. The answer is Jocko‘s Rhythm Talk, the father of rap, the ace from outer space. Some claim this was the first rap record ever released. Jocko made few records but we can definitely credit him for the first wave of rap’s popularity and for an important example of the original rap style. Rhythm Talk got that Jocko‘s unique, elegant, and pleasant oral formulas. This sh*t was ahead of it’s time. If you like to party around the clock, you’re at the right place. Jocko began his broadcast career in 1952 at Baltimore station WSID, in 1953 he began broadcasting in Philadelphia, and while it may be hard to believe, when Jocko recorded Rhythm Talk, he was 61 (!)

Questlove described Jocko Henderson as “unofficially the first MC” (adapting a jazz style of scat singing in the late disco era), and stated that he was a major influence on the earliest rap and hip-hop in Philadelphia in the late 1970s.

Samples used from Ain’t No Stopping Us Now (Special Disco Version) by McFadden & Whitehead (1979)

Rhythm Talk is released only on vinyl on Philadelphia International Records in 1979.

ENjoy