SNL Made Rap History with the Funky Four Plus One's Live TV Performance in 1981
“We didn’t know the impact of what we did," MC Sha-Rock says in Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music.
Over the last five decades, Saturday Night Live has introduced us to some of our favorite comedic actors, inspired movies based on hilarious sketches, and occasionally made history. That history includes Funky Four Plus One's live performance, invited by Season 6 Host Debbie Harry.
On February 14, 1981, the Funky Four Plus One became the first rap group to ever perform on SNL, and the first rap group to perform on TV screens across America. “At the time, we didn’t know the impact of what we did to become the first rap group, you know, to ever be on national television,” MC Sha-Rock, the sole woman member of the Bronx-based hip-hop group, said in NBC's Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music documentary, co-directed by Questlove and Oz Rodriguez.
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With DJ Breakout scratching at the front of the stage, the group performed "That's The Joint" in Studio 8H on the Valentine’s Day show, paving the way for dozens of hip-hop artists who'd become Musical Guests in the future.
Debbie Harry “fought” for the Funky Four Plus One's historic SNL performance
When Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry hosted Season 6, Episode 10 of SNL in 1981, she invited the Funky Four Plus One to be a second Musical Guest.
“Saturday Night Live I have to say is responsible for a lot of things, but we in turn brought something very special to Saturday Night Live,” Harry said in SNL’s new music documentary. "What might that be? Funky Four!”
“They let us pick our Musical Guest, and we decided on those guys,” Chris Stein, Harry’s bandmate and Blondie co-founder, explained.
“They were so fresh and entertaining,” Harry added. “It seemed like a great idea.”
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“Debbie Harry fought for us,” Sha-Rock said in the documentary. “We were innocent-looking; there were similarities with her being with an all-male band. And so this is the reason she wanted the Funky Four to be on Saturday Night Live.”
When Harry introduced the group ahead of their SNL performance in 1981, she described the Funky Four Plus One as “the best street rappers in the country.”
Sha-Rock explained how the group crossed paths with Harry while performing all over the Big Apple. “We were playing in every park in New York City, but we were not just in the South Bronx. We were headed downtown,” she recalled. “The Funky Four was the one that introduced hip-hop to punk rockers. That’s how we wind up running into Debbie Harry.”
Sha-Rock shared in 50 Years of SNL Music that they weren’t able to rehearse, but they crushed their live SNL performance regardless. “There was no pre-performance on anything. They said, ‘Okay, time for y’all to go on,’” she remembered.
DJ Breakout added, “We did it."
Run-D.M.C.’s Darryl McDaniels: "The Funky Four did it first"
Five years after the Funky Four Plus One made rap history on SNL, Run DMC was booked as a Musical Guest on October 18, 1986. In Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music, Darryl McDaniels said they never felt out of place on the SNL stage because the Funky Four Plus One laid the foundation first.
“Saturday Night Live was really some superstar stuff. It was like validation for us that we’re a legit culture. We have just as much right to be accepted as a legitimate form of entertainment as everybody else,” McDaniels said.
“Run-DMC’s greatness in hip-hop is we’re pioneers of recorded rap, but we didn’t create it. We celebrate everybody before," he continued. "I’m very honored to be talking about being on Saturday Night Live only because I know the Funky Four did it first.”
