After Coke LA Rock hyped the crowd performing alongside DJ Kool Herc at his sister’s back-to-school jam party the night of August 11th, 1973. Coke LA Rock became Hip-Hop‘s first MC.
Read: Hip Hop was born on August 11th, 1973
Coke La Rock didn’t have a stage name and performed out of sight from the crowd, so nobody knew who was rapping. La Rock had different MC names, beginning as “A-1 Coke” and then “Nasty Coke” before it was finalized as “Coke La Rock” at the fifth or sixth party. Coke La Rock’s raps (which were similar to the Jamaican tradition of “toasting”) were shoutouts to his friends, before he wrote actual poetry in his lyrics. La Rock originated phrases such as “You rock and you don’t stop” and “Hotel, motel, you don’t tell, we won’t tell” (later used in The Sugarhill Gang’s single “Rapper’s Delight”, but La Rock didn’t receive any credit).
Coke La Rock also rapped,
“There is not a man that can’t be thrown
A horse that can’t be rode
A bull that can’t be stopped
There is not a disco that I Coke La Rock can’t rock”
Read: “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang was recorded in one take
Coke La Rock retired from Hip-hop after Kool Herc was stabbed at a party, He didn’t want to be a part of the hip-hop scene if there was going to be that kind of violence.
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