King Tim III (Personality Jock)
| "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Fatback Band | |
| from the album Fatback XII | |
| A-side | "You're My Candy Sweet" |
| Released | March 25, 1979 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 6:15 4:10 (Single edit) |
| Label | Spring Records |
| Songwriters | Fred Demery, Bill Curtis |
| Producers | Fatback Band, Jerry Thomas |
| Audio video | |
| "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" on YouTube | |
"King Tim III (Personality Jock)" is a 1979 hip hop song by the Fatback Band from the disco album Fatback XII. Engineered by Delano “Rock” McLaurin and released on March 25, 1979, this song is often cited[1] as the beginning of recorded hip hop music. The title refers to vocalist Tim Washington. A few months later, "Rapper's Delight" came out, which is widely regarded as the first commercially released hip hop song.
The song was originally the B-side of the 7-inch single, with the A-side "You're My Candy Sweet" a mid-tempo disco song. However the song stalled at #67 after 4-weeks on the R&B chart and was replaced the following week with "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" on the chart. It peaked at #26 on the R&B chart and stayed on for 11 weeks.
Background
Hip-hop and the Fatback Band
Hip-hop music originated in the Bronx, and its birthdate, although disputed, is traditionally said to be an August 11, 1973 party by DJ Kool Herc.[2][3][4] By 1979, the only hip-hop recordings that had been made were cassette tapes of live performances.[5] These were bought and sold locally, but a record intended for the mass market had never been produced.[5] Multiple musicians, such as Grandmaster Flash, had been approached about the idea of making such a record, but they turned it down for various reasons, such as doubting it would sell or believing it would make their party performances obsolete.[5]
The Fatback Band formed in Queens around the year 1970.[6][a] They were initially a funk and jazz band, but by the end of the decade they were playing an equal amount of disco too.[6][10] By 1979, they had already achieved considerable success with songs such as "Street Dance" (1973), "(Do the) Spanish Hustle" (1976), and "I Like Girls" (1978), all top-30 hits on the Billboard R&B chart.[11]
Creation
While Fatback were finishing up their 1979 album Fatback XII, bandleader and percussionist Bill Curtis felt that the album did not yet have a potential hit song.[8] One of the songs that had been recorded for the album was a mostly instrumental piece titled "Catch the Beat", and Curtis came up with the idea to add rapping overtop of it.[8] The Fatback Band had been exposed to hip-hop while performing around New York, including hearing cassette tapes and seeing DJ Hollywood perform at the Apollo Theater.[12] According to Joseph C. Edwoozie, Curtis was "[a]lways keeping his ear open to innovations in black-music traditions".[10]
Timothy Washington, a little-known MC and DJ who went by the stage name King Tim III, was brought in to rap over the track.[12][13] Washington was reportedly friends with Anthony Bee, one of Fatback's roadies.[8][12] It was also reported that Gerry Thomas, the band's keyboardist and Curtis's creative partner, was impressed after hearing a cassette of Washington rapping over the song "Running Away" by Roy Ayers.[13]
Release
After adding Washington's rapping, the song's title was changed from "Catch the Beat" to "King Tim III (Personality Jock)".[8][12] The phrase "Personality Jock" refers to radio DJs, as Curtis saw a connection between this new hip-hop style of rapping and the traditional "rapping" of Black radio DJs, citing Jocko Henderson as an example.[12][14]
"King Tim III" was released on July 25, 1979,[15] as the B-side of a single, with another song from Fatback XII, "You're My Candy Sweet", as the A-side.[11] Curtis had pushed for "King Tim III" to be the A-side, but the band's label, Spring Records, was concerned that radio DJs would take offense to the song and refuse to play it.[16][17] Curtis was also amused that "You're My Candy Sweet" was chosen as the A-side, as it features him on vocals and he "can't even carry a tune in a bucket!"[14]
Despite the label's concerns, "King Tim III" began receiving more airplay and attention than the A-side,[18] to the point that Spring rereleased the single with the sides switched.[19] The rap song peaked at number 26 on the Billboard R&B chart while "You're My Candy Sweet" only reached number 67.[11]
Notes
References
- ^ To the break of dawn, William Jelani Cobb, p44
- ^ Katz 2012, pp. 22–23; Ewoodzie 2017, pp. 17–18
- ^ Vognsen, J. (August 2021). "Kool Herc: When did he make hip hop history and first perform his Merry-Go-Round?". Perfect Sound Forever. Archived from the original on August 26, 2025. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
- ^ Vognsen, J. (August 2021). "Kool Herc: When did he make hip hop history and first perform his Merry-Go-Round? Part II". Perfect Sound Forever. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
- ^ a b c Daly, Steven (November 2005). "Hip-Hop Happens". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on December 19, 2024. Retrieved February 3, 2026.
- ^ a b Cartwright, Garth (September 5, 2023). "Funk legends Fatback Band: 'The US has cultural amnesia. Britain keeps our music alive'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on December 23, 2024. Retrieved February 4, 2026.
- ^ Ma, David (July 6, 2017). "The Fatback Band: 'Everything was just raw energy'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on January 12, 2025. Retrieved March 1, 2026.
- ^ a b c d e Futch, Michael (March 7, 2020). "The first rap record didn't come from the Sugarhill Gang. It came from Fayetteville's Bill Curtis and his Fatback Band". The Fayetteville Observer. Archived from the original on October 18, 2025. Retrieved January 27, 2026.
- ^ Ruhlmann 2003, p. 235.
- ^ a b Edwoozie 2017, p. 182.
- ^ a b c Thompson 2001, p. 247.
- ^ a b c d e Charnas 2011, p. 51.
- ^ a b Joe, Radcliffe; George, Nelson (November 3, 1979). "Rapping DJs Set a Trend". Billboard. 91 (44): 4, 64.
- ^ a b "Bill Curtis". YouTube. The Fayetteville Observer. March 6, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "King Tim 3d (personality jock) /Fred Demery, Bill Curtis". United States Copyright Office. Retrieved January 30, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Cartwright, Garth (September 5, 2023). "Funk legends Fatback Band: 'The US has cultural amnesia. Britain keeps our music alive'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on December 23, 2024. Retrieved February 4, 2026.
- ^ Charnas 2011, p. 52.
- ^ Toop 1984, p. 81.
- ^ Joe, Radcliffe; George, Nelson (November 3, 1979). "Rapping DJs Set a Trend". Billboard. 91 (44): 4, 64.
Bibliography
- Charnas, Dan (2011). The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop. New York: Penguin Group. ISBN 978-1-101-56811-8.
- Ewoodzie, Joseph C. (2017). Break Beats in the Bronx: Rediscovering Hip-Hop's Early Years. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-4696-3276-6.
- Katz, Mark (2012). Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-533112-7.
- Larkin, Colin, ed. (1994). The Guiness Who's Who of Rap, Dance & Techno. UK. ISBN 978-0-85112-788-0.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Ruhlmann, William (2003). "Fatback Band". In Bogdanov, Vladimir; Bush, John; Woodstra, Chris; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (eds.). All Music Guide to Soul: The Definitive Guide to R&B and Soul. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. pp. 235–237. ISBN 978-0-87930-744-8.
- Thompson, Dave (2001). Funk. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-629-8.
- Toop, David (1984). The Rap Attack: African Jive to New York Hip Hop. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-86104-777-2.
External links
- Fatback Band official site
- Bill Curtis Music Archived 2007-03-03 at the Wayback Machine