Rok Da House – The Beatmasters (1987)

Description

Additional information about this, The Beatmasters vinyl art.

The Beatmasters Featuring The Cookie Crew – The Artist/s

The Beatmasters are an English electronic music group who gained success in the UK in the late 1980s with four top 20 hit singles. They then went on to produce and remix records for many other artists. The group’s string of chart hit singles include “Burn It Up”, “Hey DJ! (I Can’t Dance to that Music You’re Playing)”, “Who’s in the House” (featuring Merlin) and “Rok da House”. The latter, having been recorded in 1986, is one of the earliest examples of hip house and most likely the first song of the genre. Hip house is a subgenre of house music which features rap vocals performed over a house rhythm track.

The Cookie Crew were a female rap music duo formed in Clapham, South London in 1983 consisting of MC Remedee and Susie Q (Susan Banfield, Debbie Pryce). Their career took off after winning a national rap championship and recording two sessions for the John Peel BBC Radio 1 show. They gained a recording contract from the UK dance record label Rhythm King and were put in the studio with the production trio Beatmasters, who put them in a house music direction.

Rok Da House – The Song

‘Rok Da House‘ is the debut single by British production trio the Beatmasters featuring hip hop duo the Cookie Crew. Released as a single in 1987, the song was a top 40 hit in at least seven countries. In the UK, its first release only managed a peak of No. 79, but a remix six months later was much more successful, peaking at No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart in early 1988. In 1989, a further remix known as “Rok da House (W.E.F.U.N.K.)” appeared on their debut studio album Anywayawanna. “Rok da House” is known to be the very first hip house record, having been written and pressed to vinyl in August 1986.

The Vintage Boombox – The Shape

This record has been modelled into the silhouette of  a vintage boombox. A boombox is a transistorised portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape recorder/players and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid 1980s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered through an amplifier and two or more integrated loudspeakers. A boombox is a device typically capable of receiving radio stations and playing recorded music (usually cassettes or CDs usually at a high volume). Many models are also capable of recording onto cassette tapes from radio and other sources. In the 1990s, some boomboxes were available with minidisc recorders and players. Designed for portability, boomboxes can be powered by batteries as well as by line current. The boombox was introduced to the American market during the late 1970s. The desire for louder and heavier bass led to bigger and heavier boxes; by the 1980s, some boomboxes had reached the size of a suitcase. 

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