King Tim III (Personality Jock)
1979 single by Fatback Band
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"King Tim III (Personality Jock)" is a 1979 hip hop song by the Fatback Band from the disco album Fatback XII. Engineered by Delano “Rock” McLaurin and released on July 25, 1979, this song is often cited[1] as the beginning of recorded hip hop music. The title refers to vocalist Tim Washington. A few months later, "Rapper's Delight" came out, which is widely regarded as the first commercially released hip hop song.
| "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" | |
|---|---|
| |
| Single by Fatback Band | |
| from the album Fatback XII | |
| A-side | "You're My Candy Sweet" |
| Released | July 25, 1979 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 6:15 4:10 (Single edit) |
| Label | Spring Records |
| Songwriters | Fred Demery, Bill Curtis |
| Producers | Fatback Band, Jerry Thomas |
| Audio video | |
| "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" on YouTube | |
The song was originally the B-side of the 7-inch single, with the A-side "You're My Candy Sweet" a mid-tempo disco song. However the song stalled at #67 after 4-weeks on the R&B chart and was replaced the following week with "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" on the chart. It peaked at #26 on the R&B chart and stayed on for 11 weeks.
Background
Hip-hop and the Fatback Band
Hip-hop music originated in the Bronx, and its birthdate, although disputed, is traditionally said to be an August 11, 1973 party by DJ Kool Herc.[2][3][4] By 1979, the only hip-hop recordings that had been made were cassette tapes of live performances.[5] These were bought and sold locally, but a record intended for the mass market had never been produced.[5] Multiple musicians, such as Grandmaster Flash, had been approached about the idea of making such a record, but they turned it down for various reasons, such as doubting it would sell or believing it would make their party performances obsolete.[5]
The Fatback Band formed in Queens around the year 1970.[6][a] They were initially a funk and jazz band, but by the end of the decade they were playing an equal amount of disco too.[6][10] By 1979, they had already achieved considerable success with songs such as "Street Dance" (1973), "(Do the) Spanish Hustle" (1976), and "I Like Girls" (1978), all top-30 hits on the Billboard R&B chart.[11]
Creation
While Fatback were finishing up their 1979 album Fatback XII, bandleader and percussionist Bill Curtis felt that the album did not yet have a potential hit song.[8] One of the songs that had been recorded for the album was a mostly instrumental piece titled "Catch the Beat", and Curtis came up with the idea to add rapping overtop of it.[8] The Fatback Band had been exposed to hip-hop while performing around New York, including hearing cassette tapes and seeing DJ Hollywood perform at the Apollo Theater.[12] According to Joseph C. Edwoozie, Curtis was "[a]lways keeping his ear open to innovations in black-music traditions".[10]
Timothy Washington, a little-known MC and DJ who went by the stage name King Tim III, was brought in to rap over the track.[12][13] Washington was reportedly friends with Anthony Bee, one of Fatback's roadies.[8][12] It was also reported that Gerry Thomas, the band's keyboardist and Curtis's creative partner, was impressed after hearing a cassette of Washington rapping over the song "Running Away" by Roy Ayers.[13]
Release
After adding Washington's rapping, the song's title was changed from "Catch the Beat" to "King Tim III (Personality Jock)".[8][12] The phrase "Personality Jock" refers to radio DJs, as Curtis saw a connection between this new hip-hop style of rapping and the traditional "rapping" of Black radio DJs, citing Jocko Henderson as an example.[12][14]
"King Tim III" was released on July 25, 1979,[15] as the B-side of a single, with another song from Fatback XII, "You're My Candy Sweet", as the A-side.[11] Curtis had pushed for "King Tim III" to be the A-side, but the band's label, Spring Records, was concerned that radio DJs would take offense to the song and refuse to play it.[16][17] Curtis was also amused that "You're My Candy Sweet" was chosen as the A-side, as it features him on vocals and he "can't even carry a tune in a bucket!"[14]
Despite the label's concerns, "King Tim III" began receiving more airplay and attention than the A-side,[18] to the point that Spring rereleased the single with the sides switched.[19] The rap song peaked at number 26 on the Billboard R&B chart while "You're My Candy Sweet" only reached number 67.[11]
