Kurtis Blow Songs - Christmas Rappin' Lyrics

Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin'

Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin' Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Best Of Kurtis Blow
Released: 1979

Christmas Rappin' Lyrics

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house
Hold it now! Wait, hold it. That's played out. Hit it!

Don't you give me all that jive about things you wrote before I's alive
'Cause this ain't 1823 -- ain't even 1970
Now I'm the guy named Kurtis Blow and Christmas is one thing I know
So every year just about this time, I celebrate it with a rhyme

Gonna shake it, gonna bake it, gonna make it good
Gonna rock shock clock it through your neighbourhood
Gonna read, gonna sing it till it's understood
My rappin' bout to happen like a knee you've been slapping
Or a toe you've been tapping on a hunk of wood

Bout a red-suited dude with a friendly attitude
And a sleigh full of goodies for for the people on the block
Got a long white beard, maybe looks kind a weird
And if you ever see him, he could give you quite a shock

Now people let me tell ya bout last year
When the dude came flying over here
Well, the hog was out, snow's on the ground
Folks stayed in to party down
The beat was thumping on the box, and I was dancing in my socks
And the drummer played at a solid pace
And a taste of the bass was in my face
And the guitar player layed down a heavy layer
Of the funky junky rhythm of the disco beat
And the guy with the 88's started to participate
And I could sure appreciate a sound so sweat

We were all in the mood so we had a little food
And a joke, and a smoke, and a little bit of wine
When I thought I heard a hoof on the top of the roof
Could it be or was it me? I was feeling super fine
So I went to your attic where I thought heard the static
On the chance that the prance was somebody breaking in
But the noise on the top was a reindeer clop
Just a trick St. Nick, and I let the sucker in

He was roly, he was poly, and I said, "Holy moly!
You got a lot of whiskers on your chinny chin chin"
He allowed he was proud of the hairy little crowd
On the point of his jaw where the skin should've been
Gets cool for a fool going out every Yule
For a day on a sleigh when the cold went low
So the beard may be weird but I'll never have it sheared
'Cause it's warm in the storm when it's ten below

I said, "You're right, it's cold tonight
But can you stop for a drop before you go?"
He said, "Why not if the music's hot?
And I'll chance a dance beneath the mistletoe"
So he went downstairs and forgot his guests
And he rocked the spot and danced like a pro
And every young girl tried to rock his world
But he boogie oogie oogied til he had to go

And before he went, this fine old gent
Brought a gift with a sift through his big red bags
In the top or the bottom, he reached in and got 'em
Toys for the boys, for the girls glad rags
And the grownups got some presents too
A new TV and a stereo
A new Seville bout as blue as the sky
The best that money couldn't buy
'Cause money could never ever buy the feeling
The one that comes from not concealing
The way you you feel about your friends
And this is how the story ends

The dude in red's back at the Pole
Up north where everything is cold
But if he were right here tonight
He'd say, Merry Christmas and to all a good night

Writer/s: J. MOORE, D. MILLER, L. SMITH, R. FORD, K. WALKER
Publisher: NEUTRAL GRAY MUSIC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Christmas Rappin'

This was the first rap song released on a major label. Kurtis recorded this with the help of producers Robert Ford and J.B. Moore. They took it to Mercury Records, who signed Kurtis to a two-single deal, under the condition that If both singles were successful, he would get an album deal. "Christmas Rappin'" was the first single, and it did very well. The second single was "The Breaks," and it became the first rap song to be certified as a gold record, selling over 500,000 copies. Kurtis got the album deal and became the first rapper signed to a major label.

Like many early rap songs, this one doesn't have a chorus, which means it also doesn't have an obvious title. In many of these songs, the word "rap" was incorporated into the title (see: "Rapper's Delight"), and in this case, "Christmas Rappin'" made for a clever play on the phrase "Christmas Wrapping." Two years later The Waitresses released a song with that title as a play on Kurtis' song.

This was the first successful Christmas rap song. It tells the story of Santa dropping in at a house party and joining in the fun.

In our interview with Kurtis Blow, he explained: "J.B. Moore wrote the first half of the song, the Christmas part. I did all of the party part, the second half of the song. I wrote all of that on a train ride down to the studio around Christmas time."

Unlike many rap songs, this one contains no samples. J.B. Moore and Robert Ford put the track together using live musicians. The music is very disco-influenced and similar to what group Chic was doing.

This song stays true to the spirit of Christmas in that while Santa drops off significant swag, Kurtis closes by explaining what's really important:

Money could never ever buy the feeling
The one that comes from not concealing
The way you you feel about your friends
And this is how the story ends

Every Christmas, this would sell more copies. After eight years, it went gold.

The R&B group Next interpolated a piece of this at the beginning of their song "Too Close," earning the "Christmas Rappin'" writers credits on the track. This turned out to be very lucrative, as "Too Close" became a huge hit in 1998, going to #1 in the US for five weeks.

The song starts with a reading of the 1822 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas ("The Night Before Christmas"), with Kurtis interrupting the tale to deliver his own story.

The 12" single runs 8:11, but the 7" single and radio edit are a more compact 3:58.

The part where Kurtis interrupts the poem by saying "Hold it now!" was sampled by the Beastie Boys on their 1986 song "Hold It Now, Hit It."