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Kurtis Blow - If I Ruled The World

Kurtis Blow - If I Ruled The World Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Best Of Kurtis Blow
Released: 1985

If I Ruled The World Lyrics

Yes yes y'all
The best y'all, yes yes y'all
Huh, huh, huh, huh, yes y'all

If I Ruled The World, was king on the throne
I'd make peace in every culture, build the homeless a home
I'm not runnin', for Congress or the President
I'm just here, to tell the world, how my story went
You see, first it was a dream, I was livin' in Rome
And then I moved to London, bought a brand new home
And everywhere I went, I drew lots of attention
Like a stretch limousine, one of those new inventions
It took a few years 'fore the day had come
But I was ruler of the WORLD ranked number one
So I headed towards Washington to claim the crown
Let the whole world know that, the King was in town
As I, arrived, the crowd started to cheer
And then someone yelled out, "The King is here!"
So I headed toward stage, to make a speech
about the new style of living I was gonna teach, uh-huh

If I ruled the world
Huh-huh, huh-huh uh-huh uh-huh
I'd love all the girls, I love 'em love 'em baby!
Black diamonds and pearls, ooh yeah yeah
If I ruled the world

People started flowin' as they reached for my hand
I said, "Thank you for bringin' me to the Promised Land
But now I must go, say goodbye to everybody
Tonight I'll see you all at my Super Dinner Party"
And late that night, at my Super Dinner Party
I was dancin' to the beat and entertainin' La-Di-Da-Di
The music started endin', it was time for a speech
The crowd started sittin' as I rose from my feet
And this was once a dream, I explained to the crowd
But now, I rule the world, and I feel, so very proud
Excuse me please, for stoppin' this show
I just had to thank you all, huh, and me so
My first day in office, the King on the throne
I spent my first three hours on the telephone
You know with newsmen reporters, and votes too
I had so many calls, I didn't know what to do
You know out that office I continued to work
I signed so many papers, my fingers started to hurt
Then I shook off the pain, say this ain't no thing
'Cause there's nothin' in the world like bein' number one king!

If I ruled the world
Huh huh huh huh, huh-huh huh-huh
I'd love all the girls, I love 'em love 'em baby!
Black diamonds and pearls, ooh yeah yeah
If I ruled the world, whoa yeah
If I ruled the world

Now I rule the world and now, I'm on top
And I'm rollin' with folks that could never be stopped
And I'm here to let you know this is where I belong
And to you sucker emcees that sing my song
And it's a song that's strong about right and wrong
And I'm rock it to you baby baby all night long
And it's a song about love, and happiness
In a world of peace, and you know that's fresh
Now I'm the king, and I want you to know
That I'm the Master Blaster Rapper who's runnin' the show

And to all of you rappers in every country
You better stop what you're doin', and listen to me
'Cause we gotta stop war, and use unity
To fight crime and hunger and poverty
'Cause the African baby is dyin' overseas
While you sucker mission politicians bustin' out Z's
Huh, twenty million people all unemployed
While the rich man try to play Pretty Boy Floyd
While the working class just struggles hard
Try to make ends meet against all odds
While the poor man can't even deal with life
You know he tried to escape, and smoked the coke on the pipe

And it's time for a change, to a better way
'Cause the sun has gotta shine through the cloudy day
So listen up world, while I teach this class
And take heed to the message or we ain't gonna last
'Cause I know, the solution, is the contribution
Of woman and man to just join the revolution
That'll take your brain to a higher plane
And help you deal in a world that's gone insane
With the problems that I know we can stop
From the ruler of the world and the man on top
But the years went by, and time was up
And the ruler of the world had ran out of luck
And all the people at the time who said they were my friends
Didn't know me when my job had come to an end
They came up to my face, as happy as can be
He was running his mouth like, Muhammad Ali
So I shook his hand calmly as I headed to the door
On my way to the ghetto to treat once more

If I ruled the world
I'd love all the girls, I love 'em love 'em baby!
Black diamonds and pearls, ooh yeah yeah
If I ruled the world, yeah
If I ruled the world, if I ruled the world
I'd love all the girls, I'd love 'em love 'em baby!
Black diamonds and pearls, ooh yeah yeah, oh yeah yeah
If I ruled the world, whoa yeah
If I ruled the world, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah

I'd love all the girls, you know I'd love 'em love 'em baby!
Diamonds and pearls, ooh yeah yeah, oh yeah yeah
If I ruled the world, yeah yeah yeah yeah baby baby
If I ruled the world, if I ruled the world
I'd love all the girls, yes you, you, you and you
Black diamonds and pearls, where those diamonds, where those pearls?
If I ruled the world
If I ruled the world
I'd love all the girls, I'd love 'em love 'em baby

Writer/s: KURTIS WALKER, KURTIS BLOW, AARON O'BRYANT, AJ SCRATCH, DAVID REEVES, DAVY D, N. JONES, L. SMITH
Publisher: UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUB GROUP, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

If I Ruled The World

This was the first time a sample loop was used on a Hip-Hop record. With the help of producers J.B. Moore and Robert Ford, Kurtis was the first to use a drum machine, and the first to use a sampler, which was a $250,000 Fairlight machine. For this, they used an AMS sampler and created a loop. A loop is continuous play of a section of a record, usually the break. If you have a drum loop of one bar, you can loop it to play it repeatedly so there's no pause between the loop and it sounds like a continuous drum beat.

Kurtis was the first rapper signed to a major label. With the backing of Mercury Records, he and his producers were able to afford these expensive drum machines and samplers and pioneer their use on Hip-Hip records.

The song they sampled was "Pump Me Up," which was released in 1982 by a Go-Go group from Washington, DC called Trouble Funk. They looped the percussion section that plays after the chorus of "Pump, pump, pump me up."

Kurtis: "We used this machine to sample a whole section of a record. That's how the DJs used to play, they used to take the sections of a record and repeatedly play them. You'd have 2 records of the same song and keep the break going by looping it with your turntables. You'd play the records over and over and have just the break play for 5 minutes, and that's what we used to rap over - the DJ extended the break. That whole concept evolved into the studio. When we started making records we wanted to keep that funky loop going, that funky break and that quick mix so we could rap over it."

Before drum machines, rap songs used live musicians, which limited what they could accomplish in the studio. Using these machines had drawback, however, that Kurtis explains: "Drum machines revolutionized the whole industry, but it made the music sound mechanical and electronic. There wasn't a live drummer, the soul of a live band was lost. In the '70s, when we first started with Hip-Hop, we'd have a whole band come in. Now, musicians come in and record onto a track. When that evolution happened, things got mechanical. When the sample loop came around we used to sample old records in the '70s, those breaks we used to play in Hip-Hop, that Cool Herc and all the old DJs used to play. Those breaks were live drummers and when you sampled and looped it, it made the live drummer feel come back into the music, so it brought the soul back into the music. The sample loop revolutionized the music industry once again by bringing soul back into the music with a live drummer."

This was used in the 1985 movie Krush Groove, one of the first movies based on Hip-Hop culture. Kurtis was in the movie along with Run-D.M.C., The Fat Boys, LL Cool J, New Editon and The Beastie Boys. Kurtis worked on the soundtrack to the album and was also producing The Fat Boys and working on his own album at the time. They shot the film in 3 weeks.

Nas covered this as "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" in 1996, and it became his biggest hit. Says Kurtis: "They sent me a tape of the song, I heard Lauryn Hill in the background and I knew it was her. I played it over and over, it was incredible. I knew it was going to be a mega-hit." (thanks to Kurtis for speaking with us about this song)

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."