Kurtis Blow

Why he matters

Kurtis Walker was raised in Harlem and studied at City College. In 1979, at twenty, he became the first rapper signed to a major label when Mercury released “Christmas Rappin’,” one of the first rap singles to sell in real numbers. The follow-up, “The Breaks,” came out in June 1980 and became the first rap song certified gold by the RIAA. The writing credits on it include Russell Simmons and Larry Smith, two names that would matter a great deal to the next decade of New York rap.

“The Breaks” is a band record. The funk groove is played, not sampled, and the song repeats “break” or a sound-alike 84 times across three different meanings, while the track drops into breakdown after breakdown to prove the point. The self-titled debut album followed that September, and he released an album a year for most of the decade.

His bigger legacy might be what he did for other people. Run of Run-DMC started out billed as “The Son of Kurtis Blow,” and by 1983 Blow was producing, with hits for the Fat Boys and Run-DMC on his résumé. Ego Trip (1984) put Run-DMC on “8 Million Stories” and gave the world “Basketball.” In 1985, “If I Ruled the World” went top five on Billboard’s R&B chart, and in 1996 Nas made his own version a hit. In 2016 Blow was elected chairman of the Universal Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx.

What a working rapper can take from it

One concept, worked from every angle. “The Breaks” is a writing exercise that became a gold record. Pick a single word with a few meanings and build every bar around it. The verse-writing guide covers the cadence work that keeps a repeated word from going stale.

Give DJs something to use. The original 12-inch carried an instrumental “do it yourself” version on the B-side. Instrumentals and clean edits get your record played in rooms you’ll never be in. Deliver them with every single.

Songs come back. Nas’s take on “If I Ruled the World” went double platinum more than a decade after the original, and when Next sampled “Christmas Rappin’” for “Too Close,” ASCAP honored Blow alongside them. Register what you write so the money can find you later. The performance royalties guide explains how.