Planet Rock (song)

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“Planet Rock”

Single by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force from the album Planet Rock: The Album
Released	1982
Format	12"
Genre	Electro/Hip hop/Freestyle (music)
Length	7:31
Label	Tommy Boy TB 823
Writer(s)	Arthur Baker, John Robie, Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force
Producer	Arthur Baker

"Planet Rock" is a 1982 song by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force. It is widely regarded as one of the earliest and most influential rap songs. Although it was only a minor hit in the US, Canada, and UK, it helped change the foundations of hip-hop and dance music. It is credited with giving birth to the electro style and helped pave the way for other genres such as techno, house, and trance. In November 2004, the song placed at #237 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time" and #10 in the 100 Greatest Rap Songs.

Produced by Arthur Baker, "Planet Rock" blends synthesizer and vocoder sounds with breakbeating. It was influenced by artists such as Kraftwerk, Gary Numan and funk pioneer George Clinton. It was the first hip-hop recording to use a drum machine.^{[citation needed]}

The record was recorded in the NYC upper eastside Intergalactic Studios, a popular site for NYC clubscene productions. Toward the end of the scheduled recording session, NYC music clubscene fixtures: DJ David Azarc, soundman Jim Toth, and promoter Tom Goodkind; all from the Peppermint Lounge, asked Arthur to please hurry. The three had scheduled the next recording session for a band that would become the Washington Squares. Ever accommodating, Arthur told them that things would move faster if they assisted him with the backup vocals. The voices singing "Rock it don't stop it" on Planet Rock are in fact those of the Washington Squares.

The influence of "Planet Rock" can still be heard in hip-hop genres like G-funk and in the work of producers such as The Neptunes who use electro-based sounds in their productions.

A music video was also created for the song.

The song was used as the main theme of the 2006 basketball video game NBA 2K7

[edit] Credits

Engineer - Bob Rosa, Jan D. Burnett
Executive Producer - Tom Silverman
Mastered By - Herb Powers, Jr.
Mixed By Producer - Arthur Baker[1]
Video By - Video Mix Productions - Danny Cornyetz & Jessica Jason

[edit] Kraftwerk borrowings

The main melody of "Planet Rock" is borrowed from the title track of Kraftwerk's influential album Trans Europe Express, while the drum pattern is based on the song "Numbers" from the Kraftwerk album Computer World, another popular underground club record. The borrowings eventually resulted in an out-of-court settlement between Kraftwerk and Tommy Boy Records head Tom Silverman.