For a jam-packed four year stretch, The Sugar Hill Band was the most powerful force in recorded rap, providing the beats for The Furious Five, Funky 4+1, Treacherous Three, Crash Crew, Spoonie Gee, The Sequence and more. With it’s core membership consisting of guitarist Skip McDonald, bassist Doug Wimbish, drummer Keith LeBlanc, percussionist Ed ‘Duke Bootee’ Fletcher and arranger Clifton ‘Jiggs’ Chase, the Sugar Hill Band were assigned to replay and re-arrange the hot breaks of the day, as advised by the likes of Grandmaster Flash based on what the crowd responded to when he deejayed. Unfortunately, some of their finest work such as ‘Funk You Up’ and ‘It’s Nasty (Genius of Love)’ was never issued in instrumental versions, but I’ve done my bets to cobble together what I could from the vaults.
Download: A Salute To The Sugar Hill Band
Track listing:
01 ‘That’s The Joint’ [Instrumental]
02 ‘8th Wonder’ [Instrumental]
03 ‘On The Radio’ [Instrumental]
04 ‘Freedom’ [Instrumental]
05 ‘Monster Jam’ [Instrumental]
06 ‘Scratching’ [Instrumental]
07 ‘Making Cash Money/Spoonie Is Back’ [Instrumental]
08 ‘We Want To Rock’ [Instrumental]
09 ‘New York, New York’ [Instrumental]
10 ‘Action’ [Instrumental]
11 ‘Simon Says’ [Instrumental]
12 ‘The Message’ [Instrumental]
13 ‘Disco Dream’ [Instrumental]
14 ‘White Lines (Don’t Do It)’ [Instrumental]
15 ‘Apache’ [Instrumental]