Kurtis Blow

Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks" (#87 pop, #4 R&B, 1980) was one of the first records to popularize rap outside the form's native New York City. A graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Kurtis Blow was a disco DJ before he made records. He started out working at a Harlem disco in 1976, blatantly copping rhymed lines from an originator of rap, DJ Hollywood (Anth...