Who was the ....

[DarkAngel]

First rapper that came out , White and Black Men??

I have this debate I say Beasty boys was one of the first but there are more

Who knows this answer??

[Oniya]

I think Run DMC predate(s?) the Beastie Boys.  I always love showing their cover/collab of 'Walk This Way' to people that say they hate rap.  (Not that I like the 'gangsta' stuff, I just like messing with people's brains.)

[DarkAngel]

Nice, Well that takes this debate to a end lol

[Mnemaxa]

You are incorrect. 

The first recoded use of rap material was by Blondie, in the song "Rapture".

[DarkAngel]

Really .... MMM now I got to go find out

[GolGol]

Isn't "Grand master Flash and the Furious Five" the first?

[Will]

Rapture was released before Grandmaster Flash's first album, but it was more of a gimmick thing for Blondie anyway.

[Paradox]

The first rap group to ever make it onto the top 40 was the sugarhill gang with that "Rapper's Delight", and they've been around since '75.

[Oniya]

I was pretty sure that Run DMC wasn't 'the first' (although it's hard to really define 'first' sometimes), but I was also pretty sure they predated the Beastie Boys.

It does pose an interesting question, though.  Rap undoubtedly owes quite a bit to the 'speak-singing' of the late 60's and early 70's.  Some of Zappa's stuff is more spoken rhyme than 'singing' (forgive me, the local Classic Rock station played something about Montana and dental floss last night.)  Dylan's even a little closer to speaking than singing.  Is there something that marks a composition as 'rap' that 'beat poetry' doesn't have?

[DarkAngel]

Well you can say speak singing is came along way , Considering as time grew it changed...

[consortium11]

Griots predate everyone else mentioned by a few centuries and by all accounts what they did was rapping.