Captain Rapp Radio

Although Captain Rapp was never an international superstar, he was one of the pioneers of rap on the West Coast and enjoyed a small cult following in that part of the United States. The Los Angeles resident first made his mark in the early '80s, recording a 1981 single, "Gigolo Rapp," as half of the duo Disco Daddy & Captain Rapp. At the time, rap was dominated by the East Coast -- most of the hip-hoppers who were well known in 1981 (Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, the Treacherous Three, to name a few) were from New York or, in the case of the Sugarhill Gang, nearby New Jersey. But Captain Rapp realized that hip-hop could be big on the West Coast, and he wasn't alone. The people who gave Disco Daddy & Captain Rapp the chance to record "Gigolo Rapp" were Duffy and Jerry Hooks, who had a small indie label called the Rappers Rapp Disco Record Company. The father/son team admired what Sylvia Robinson had been doing on the East Coast with Sugarhill Records -- which was considered the Motown of hip-hop in the early '80s -- and envisioned their label as a West Coast counterpart. While "Gigolo Rapp" received very little attention on the East Coast, it was a minor hit in L.A. and enjoyed some airplay on a few local urban stations. After parting company with Disco Daddy, Captain Rapp went solo and in 1983 recorded the socio-political cult classic "Bad Times (I Can't Stand It)," which Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis produced with electro-hopper Rich Cason. A major departure from the lighthearted, feel-good escapism of "Gigolo Rapp," the sobering "Bad Times (I Can't Stand It)" addressed such topics as AIDS, child abuse, abortion, poverty, homelessness, and U.S. foreign policy in El Salvador. Lyrically, the single (which came out on the Saturn label) is every bit as gutsy and hard-hitting as any of the socio-political gems that Run-D.M.C. and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five provided on the East Coast in 1983. After "Bad Times (I Can't Stand It)," Captain Rapp didn't do a lot of recording. But the MC did return to the studio in 1992, when he provided a socio-political sequel to "Bad Times," titled "Bad Times, Part 2: The Continuance." ~ Alex Henderson