Planet Rock
Planet Rock
What more can be said about this seminal electro b boy anthem from 1982. Appreciated to pieces by almost anyone who has ever had an affinity with hip hop culture and/or early Electro music.
Roland's TR 808 drum machine had only been released a couple of years previously and had been used on numerous tracks and studio sessions as a "backing drummer". But these machines landing in the hands of Block party DJs and early hip hop producers allowed a complete blank slate of creative forces working with its now ubiquitous ringing cowbell, toms, clave and block rockin sub kick.
Producer Arthur Baker will be familiar with most already. His prodigious musical contribution could hardly be summed up in short. Had already worked with Zulu nation founder and musical icon Afrikka Bambatta on >Jazzy sensation< with the Jazzy five (which included future Soulsonic force member *Jazzy Jay) A 1981 release on the equally pioneering Tommy boy record label. They both bonded over a mutual appreciation of the music of Kraftwerk, and in particular the Trans Europe express album which had come out 4 years earlier.
It's hard to imagine how many seismic movements were happening across so many genres around this period. It was surely an era of abundance to anyone producing and pressing music at that time.
Bambatta and Baker had the joint inspiration to interpolate the mechanical melody line from the Kraftwerk 1977 namesake and reincorporate it into an electro/rap imagining.
Cue The Soulsonic force.
G.L.O.B.E
Mr Biggs
Pow wow
Cosmic force
*Jazzy Jay
This collective of rappers were evidently highly regarded in the early stages of hip hop, and the off rhythm cadence of G.L.O.B.E was a noticeable early "flow" that was much ahead of its time.
The sum of these elements, put together by a visionary talent created another fertile direction for future electronica and hip hop.
And the rest is a history we can look back on from its beginnings. Or a future we can witness by looking up from a cardboard mat.
Written by Chris Conway