Rap is certainly not an easy genre to jump into if you’ve made a whole career out of rock music. While these two genres go together beautifully, it is their major differences that lend them each their unique appeal. And rap, realistically, takes some serious know-how to do properly. Let’s look at a few rock stars who weren’t particularly afraid to attempt rap back in the day!
David Bowie
Did you know that David Bowie once had a moment in rap music? Unsurprisingly, the art rock legend had no issue with diving into new territory. “Shining Star (Makin’ My Love)” was released back in 1987, and he’s not actually the one doing the rapping. Rather, this song from the reissue of Never Let Me Down features David Bowie singing and playing the keyboard, and the individual doing the rapping is none other than actor Mickey Rourke.
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Mick Jagger
Remember SuperHeavy? If not, you’re not alone there. This supergroup, comprised of The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, A. R. Rahman, Dave Stewart, and Damian Marley, was only around from 2009 to 2011. Their music was pretty eclectic and weaved between rock, reggae, and Indian pop music. One of their songs, “Miracle Worker” from 2011, charted decently. It’s honestly a pretty good song. And it features Jagger doing something he calls “toasting,” which is similar to rapping.
“Toasting, we call it,” said Jagger. “But it is the same thing [as rap]. Damian was doing this really good toasting, West Indian rapping, so I thought, ‘I could do that. It can’t be that difficult.’ It actually was quite difficult.”
Debbie Harry
In this somewhat underrated example of rock stars to made the move to attempt rap, Blondie’s Debbie Harry takes on the task with flying colors. Harry, who fell in love with the hip-hop genre in the late 1970s, rapped on the song “Rapture” from the band’s 1980 album Autoamerican. Some believe this might have been the first rap song to make it to MTV, but that is definitely up for debate. Just as well, some might argue that Harry’s vocal track is closer to spoken word than it is to rap. It’s close, in my humble opinion.
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