Rapper’s Delight

Here is the information I have on Rapper's Delight. There are indeed two 12" commercial singles. One has a "long version" with a stated time of 15:00 that actually runs 14:16 and one with a stated time of 15:00 that actually runs 14:52. On the other side is the "short version" which has a stated running time of 6:30 and on both copies the actual running time is 6:54. Now perhaps there are more than two commercial 12" singles but there is no doubt that the "short version" on both of my 12" singles is not the version that appears on "The Hip Hop Box" or "Kurtis Blow Presents The History Of Rap". On the vinyl 12" that I have the instrumental introduction runs :17 and on the cd's mentioned above the instrumental introduction runs around :34. Both of the above mentioned cd's state on the packaging that this is the "short version" of the 12" single but again, this 7:09 version is not what I have on either of my two commercial 12" singles.

Yes my vinyl 45 is a dj copy but Whitburn states that there is a commercial vinyl 45 available.

Edited by Moderator

The 1955-2002 edition of Top Pop Singles lists a T and a v with no comment at all regarding "above 2 issued on 7" vinyl for promotional use..."

Brian W.:

No disrespect to Pat, but for the record, the note about
the promotional 45s below the listing for "8th Wonder"
that you quoted is indeed still in the current 1955-2002
edition of Whitburn's book, as it was in the 1955-1996
edition (I have both), so I'm not sure where the
confusion lies there...

Pat is right, though, in saying that Whitburn has now
added a "v" next to the "T" symbol, but he seems to be
misinterpreting that. As Whitburn explains in his book
under "Configuration Symbols" in the "User's Guide" (page
xix), the "v" is used to mean that a commercial 45 exists
only for those hits released from 1990 onward. And since
"Rapper's Delight" precedes that date, the "v" is
therefore used to indicate the existence of the promo 45s
(as it appears next to the "T" for "8th Wonder" as well).
Admittedly, the continued proliferation of symbols in
Whitburn's books is beginning to make things a bit
confusing...

And just to throw in my own expertise, I can tell you
that the Sugar Hill label was one of the few that was
also releasing their singles commercially on cassette (in
addition to vinyl) in the early '80s. And indeed all of
the ones I've ever seen on tape from that era were
maxi-singles (i.e., equivalent to the 12" vinyl), as
opposed to regular singles (7" vinyl), so that would lend
credibility to Whitburn's claim about the vinyl 45s for
"Rapper's Delight" and "8th Wonder" being
promo-only..........................

Edited by 80smusicfreak

Pat:

I was just browsing through Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" in the database and the Rapmasters 10: Best Of Scratchin' CD listed as having the "short 45 version". Is this an indication that a commercial 45 release of this song does exist, or was this comment intended to read: (dj 45 "short" version)? If a commercial 45 does exist, I'm wondering if and how it differs from the promo 45.

did either of the full length 12"s end cold, while the other faded? The version I have on Rhino's "Street Jams: Hip Hop from the Top volume 1" ends cold, and the version on Rhino's "Best of Sugarhill Gang" fades.