Coke La Rock facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Coke La Rock
|
|
|---|---|
Coke La Rock performing with DJ Kool Herc at a February 28, 2009 event in the Bronx.
|
|
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Coco La Rock, A-1 Coke, Nasty Coke |
| Born | April 24, 1955 |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | Rapper |
| Years active | 1973–present |
| Labels | Sugar Hill |
Coke La Rock (also known as Coco La Rock), born on April 24, 1955, is an American rapper from New York City. Many people consider him to be the very first MC in the history of hip-hop. In 2010, he was honored for his important role in shaping culture.
Contents
The Start of Hip-Hop with Kool Herc
Coke La Rock was born in The Bronx, New York City. His family originally came from North Carolina.
He was a close friend and music partner of DJ Kool Herc. Kool Herc is widely seen as the person who laid the groundwork for hip-hop music, starting in 1973. Coke La Rock was an original member of Herc's MC group, called the Herculoids.
Kool Herc shared that Coke La Rock's MC name changed a few times. It began as "A-1 Coke," then became "Nasty Coke," before finally settling on "Coke La Rock."
First Parties and Early Raps
Coke La Rock joined Kool Herc for his very first party in 1973. This party was a birthday celebration for Herc's sister, Cindy. It took about five or six parties before he started using the name Coke La Rock. He said the name came to him in a dream. Before that, he didn't have a stage name and would rap hidden from the audience.
His first raps were mostly "shout-outs" to his friends. Over time, these shout-outs slowly turned into more poetic rhymes. He created famous phrases like "You rock and you don't stop." Another one was "Hotel, motel, you don't tell, we won't tell." This second phrase was later used in the first Sugarhill Gang song, "Rapper's Delight," though La Rock did not receive credit for it.
Coke La Rock's raps were always made up on the spot. They were not written down or practiced like those of later rap groups. Groups like the Furious Five and Cold Crush Brothers would write and rehearse their rhymes. La Rock explained that at first, he would just call out his friends' names. Then he would pretend people had double-parked cars to impress girls. He said he wasn't really there to rap, but just having fun.
Even so, La Rock's raps, along with many other things at Kool Herc's parties in the mid-1970s, became a basic guide for other hip-hop artists. These new artists started appearing on the Bronx music scene later in the decade.
Later Years and Legacy
As other new hip-hop groups copied Herc and La Rock's style and made it even better, the popularity of Herc and the Herculoids began to fade around 1977.
After an incident at a party, La Rock decided to step away from hip-hop. He wanted the younger generation to take over. He had been a top artist in the Bronx hip-hop scene for several years. He also wanted to spend more time at home because his son, Donte La Rock, had just been born.
Gary Harris, who worked for the first hip-hop record label, Sugar Hill, noted that people respected Herc and Coke. However, by the early 1980s, they were not as visible in the music scene anymore. Unlike other early Bronx hip-hop artists such as Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash, Coke La Rock, like Kool Herc, never had success with recorded music. In fact, he didn't record any songs for a long time.
However, in late 2008, what was believed to be the first recording featuring La Rock was released. It was a song called "Hello – Merry Christmas Baby!" This song was part of a special holiday collection. It was released by Sedgwick & Cedar to honor the place where hip-hop began.
Coke La Rock's important place in hip-hop history was cemented in the famous 1986 Boogie Down Productions song "South Bronx." In this song, KRS-One raps:
Now way back in the days when hip-hop began
With Coke La Rock, Kool Herc, and then Bam
Coke La Rock had no connection to KRS-One's DJ at the time, Scott La Rock. Also, Coke La Rock and another important old-school MC, T La Rock, did not know each other in the early days of hip-hop. Their similar names are just a coincidence.
In 2021, after being away from the hip-hop scene for many years, Coke La Rock returned. He performed a verse on the DJ Kay Slay song "Rolling 110 Deep." In 2023, he returned again to deliver a verse on "Rolling 200 Deep."
Live Recordings
- L Brothers vs The Herculoids – Bronx River Centre (1978)
- DJ Kool Herc and Whiz kid with the Herculoids: Live at T-Connection (1981)
See also
In Spanish: Coke La Rock para niños
