KURTIS BLOW - RAPPIN’ BLOW, 1980/ THE EVASIONS - ALL WRAPPED UP, 1980/ KANO - CAN’T HOLD BACK (YOUR LOVING), 1981

Picked these up while shopping last weekend at Red Rooster Records, and just in time for our first weekend barbecue of the season. Kurtis Blow was one of the first successfully commercial rappers and the first to sign with a major label.  His impact on the early hip hop scene was huge but he was never quite able to follow up on the success of his first record even though he released one album nearly each year for the rest of the 80’s. He also opened for The Clash, recorded with Bob Dylan, and found success producing and writing “rap segments” for One Life To Live. The Evasions were a one hit group with their post-disco Wikki Wrap/All Wrapped Up 12” which was later sampled by Coolio. Kano was was a post-disco project from Italy that were known for being one of the first groups to incorporate electronics, synthesizers, and vocoders with certain elements of funk and disco, creating Italo-Disco. Their track “I’m Ready” from 1980 was an instant breakdance classic and also helped pave the way for the growth of hip hop.