Untold Chicago Hip-Hop History: The First Rap Record

(This article is part #1 of a series on Chicago Hip-Hop History by Terrell Spurlock)

When people think of Chicago’s hip-hop history, images of 90’s rappers such as Common, Twista, and Crucial Conflict most likely come to mind. In actuality, Chicago has a much longer hip-hop history that many people are not aware of that goes back all the way to the early 80’s. This is part #1 of a series where I will be discussing the lesser-known history of Chicago hip-hop.

The first hip-hop record to come out of Chicago was “Casper’s Groovy Ghost Show” by DJ Casper in 1980. Born Terry Marshall, DJ Casper was a radio DJ from New York. The song is a disco-heavy track that sounds like what you would expect a hip-hop song from this era to sound like; I.e “Rapper’s Delight”, the first rap song to be recorded and released in 1979.

My favorite line in the song is when Casper says, “Everywhere we went, we had the people in a trance, we ran the white folks out of South Africa, give the Black folks there a chance.”[1]

Check out this part of Chicago hip-hop history by clicking the link below:

[1] Casper, “Groovy Ghost Show.” 1980, AVI Records.