When you talk about the origins of hip hop, it doesn’t take long before the Sugarhill Gang enters the conversation.
The rap collective originally from New Jersey is widely considered one of the genre’s earliest pioneers. Thanks to their 1979 hit “Rapper’s Delight”, the venerable group is responsible for bringing hip-hop music to the mainstream.
“It’s really an honor to me because I still think of myself as my children’s father, my mother’s son, my brother’s brother,” said Michael “Wonder Mike” Wright, one of the group’s original members, in an interview with Kings.com. “None of us get a swelled head over this. We really, really don’t.
“But when we step out that front door into this arena, we all have a very healthy respect for our legacy in this business,” he added reflectively.
When the Kings play host to the Phoenix Suns on Friday night, Sugarhill Gang will take center court and grace Golden 1 Center with their classic rhymes and wordplay. Considering their impact as musicians on African-American culture, they’re a fitting halftime performer for the team’s first game to celebrate Black History Month.
Wright alongside fellow bandmates Guy “Master Gee” O’Brien, Henry “Hen Dogg” Williams and DJ T Dynasty have heard plenty about the Kings new home. They praised the building’s high-tech features and expressed excitement to see it up close and personal.
“We know that the new arena is state of the art,” Williams said of Golden 1 Center. “I can’t wait to just perform inside of it and be able to see it (and) witness it.”
O’Brien added: “Sacramento’s a progressive area. I’ve done a lot of traveling as we all have. I’ve been in Sacramento all throughout the ‘90s and such. Between the ‘90s and now, Sacramento has become an amazing city. There’s so many positive things about the area and now with the brand new arena...it’s awesome to be connected to the team.”
The group, which has toured around the world since their formation in the late ‘70s, is looking forward to performing for an NBA crowd. Playing in a sports environment allows them to connect with a different audience they haven’t reached before.
Entertaining the masses at an NBA game also holds special meaning for the group because of hip hop’s unique relationship to the sport. It’s hard not to see the influence rap and basketball have had on each other throughout the years, and there’s reason for that. The band believes that the genre and the sport share two unique threads that bind them together: youthfulness and expression.
Though it’s been nearly 40 years since the debut of “Rapper’s Delight”, hip-hop music to this day continues to maintain a youthful spirit and exuberance. The same can be said about the NBA, which was founded close to seven decades ago. And in regards to expression, both basketball and rap music have never shied away from pushing the envelope.
“It’s like anything,” Wright said as he began to discuss the evolution of hip hop. “There’s bumps in the road, but it’s always been a viable source of music because it came out like gangbusters. It really had no infancy. It went from the cradle to high school and it took off 100 miles an hour.”
Roughly four decades later, Sugarhill Gang is proud to be an integral part of hip hop’s vibrant history. To see where the genre is headed puts where it’s come from in perspective for the legendary group.
“Every time I hit the stage with Wonder Mike, Master Gee and T Dynasty, it humbles me to no end,” said Williams, one of the group’s later additions. “It’s something I dreamt about doing and never thought that I would be here in the position to be able to bless the stage with these brothers.”
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