ike many of the groups that made their names as live performers before the advent of recorded rap, the Funky Four +1 has a tangled history. Originally known simply as the Funky Four, the group consisted of four MCs—KK Rockwell, Keith-Keith, Rahiem, and Sha-Rock—and two DJs, Breakout and Baron, who pumped their music through a sound system known as “Sasquatch.” In a competitive realm where volume mattered, having a sound that couldn’t be drowned out was as important for ensuring success as was skill in the finer points of moving a crowd.
The Funky Four was highly regarded but not every battle turned in the group’s favor. After an unsuccessful contest versus Grandmaster Flash and (the then) Furious Four, the Funky Four lost Rahiem, who defected and joined Flash’s crew. His move prompted Sha-Rock—one of the first and best female MCs—to leave the group. Since you can’t have a Funky Four with only two MCs, two replacements—Jazzy Jeff and Lil’ Rodney Cee—
were recruited. After seeing the new incarnation of the group perform, Sha-Rock got back with the guys and The Funky Four + 1 was born.
Having honed their show in the gyms and the parks, the Funky Four + 1 found recording to be both a blessing and a curse. Their first single, released on Enjoy Records in 1979, was a fourteen-minute song called
“Rappin and Rockin the House.” As was the case for all rap records released in 1979 and 1980 (and for most records in the immediate years thereafter), the track featured not the group’s DJs Breakout and Baron, but a backing band—in this case, one led by the percussionist and producer Pumpkin, who was the man in the studio behind many early rap recordings. The success of their Enjoy single led to an offer from Sugar Hill impresario Sylvia Robinson, who bought out the group’s contract from Enjoy owner Bobby Robinson and took them on tour with other Sugar Hill groups. They released several singles for the label, including 1981’s “That’s the Joint,” and also became—after Blondie’s Debbie Harry saw them perform at a club in Greenwich Village—the first rap group to appear on national TV, coming on at the end of an episode of Saturday Night Live.
These positive developments were balanced by the unfortunate fact that the shift to studio work left their DJs in the lurch. The Funky Four + 1 now had the instrumental versions of their own records to rap to in
performance, and Baron and Breakout no longer anchored the group. The change in emphasis led to fissures and the group disbanded. What remains on record, however, is a good representation of the nonstop, almost interminable flow of a multimember group, of interplay of verses among group members, and of the contribution to early rap of a dope female MC.
FROM RAPPIN AND ROCKIN THE HOUSE [All]
This is the way we rock the house
Sure enough, everybody, gonna turn it out [KK Rockwell]
Well, I’m KK Rockwell ’cause I rock so swell Every time you hear my name it rings a bell [Rodney Cee]
Well, I’m Lil Rodney Cee, making history With all the fly girls yelling,
“take me”
[Sha-Rock]
Well, I’m Sha-Rock and I can’t be stopped For all the fly guys, gonna hit the top [Keith-Keith]
Well, I’m Keith-Keith but you can call me Keith Caesar The reason why
’cause I’m the women pleaser [Jazzy Jeff]
Well, I’m Jazzy Jeff with the most finesse Now I do it to the rhythm ’til I do it the best [All four guys] Now we’re the Funky Four [Sha-Rock] and I’m the plus one more
[All] And this is the way we go back and forth [KK Rockwell]
We’re the five MCs that are too much And we rock the mics with the magical touch [Rodney Cee]
We’re on time, we’re masterminds
We hypnotize when we run down the rhymes [Sha-Rock]
They’re four fly guys and the best female I’m telling the truth, not a fairy tale [Keith-Keith]
Now listen to the story that the five put down And it’s guaranteed, so let them travel around [Jazzy Jeff]
We said it once, we said it twice
That we’re proving to you that we’re better than nice ………
[Sha-Rock]
’Cause the sun won’t shine, the rain won’t stop We got a style called punk rock
Just get up out your chair, start to have some fun We’re two DJs, Funky Four plus one
To the people out there, we want you to know We are the ones with the magical show We’re two DJs and five MCs
Four of them fellas, plus one is me
We’re here to please everybody out there Forget about your problems, get
’em out your hair So just get on the floor, don’t you be shy You can do it too, just give it a try To the people out there, we want the best
Satisfaction guaranteed is what we possess We can rock on the mic with a master plan We do it for the girl, woman, boy, or man Most people go around just thinking anyway We want you to hear what we say
The things we say, the things we do
It’s like runnin a race and along comes you There’s a lot of competition to beat But we are the ones, they are the ones I am the one with the most unique
Funky Four got rhymes galore, they got the Best female, Sha-Rock—I’m down by law …
FROM THAT’S THE JOINT
………
[All four guys] To the beat that makes you wanna rap Come on, Sha-Rock, cut out the crap
Just turn on your mic and start to rap And let everybody know you can never be the wack [Sha-Rock] You know that. [All] And you know that [Sha-Rock] And I know [All] and she knows and we know that We know what, Sha-Rock? [Sha-Rock] When I rap Funky Four I can never be the wack. [All] And we hear you, Sha-Rock She’s the joint
[Sha-Rock] Do it up, y’all—do, do it up Sha-Rock is gonna show you how you get real rough I’m Sha-Rock and I can’t be stopped
For all the fly guys I will hit the top Well, I can do it for the ones, for weak or strong And I can do it for the ones that are right or wrong Well, I’m listed in the column that’s classified I can be your nurse and
I’m qualified To talk about respect, I won’t neglect My strategy is for you to see
So don’t turn away by what I say
’Cause I’m on, I’m bad when I’m talking to you They’re four fly brothers who can do it too The party people in the place, it’s just for you So get down—get, get, get on down
I’m the plus one more and I’m throwin down [All four guys] She’s the best female in this here town [Sha-Rock] And everybody know that I’m golden brown And you know [All] she’s the joint
[Jazzy Jeff] I can pull a young lady with nice fine thighs I’m the kind of MC to make women just sigh I’m Jazzy Jeff with the most finesse I’m down with the five that rock the mic the best ’Cause I move the groove and I do it cool Now rockin you and you I’m sure to prove ’Cause I want a young lady with a lot of finesse And she’s got to be on, [Sha-Rock] ’cause he’s Jazzy Jeff [Jazzy Jeff] She’s got to be sweet, [All]
yes, [Jazzy Jeff] fine and kind And that’s just the kind of woman I want to be mine You know [All] he’s the joint
[Keith-Keith] Now what you see is what you get You say, I am bad and that you can bet I have a quality for you and me
And to all the young ladies, this is what it be [All] Say, his name is Keith-Keith, [Keith-Keith] as my rhymes go down To all the young ladies, just gather around With the rhymes I possess, the words I protest And I can put together, I can call it finesse Now listen up, young ladies, and listen up good I’m gonna rock on the mic like I know I could [All] Like you know he should. [Keith-Keith] Like I know I would [All] He’s
Keith-Keith—[Keith-Keith] I rock the house [All] He’s Keith-Keith—
[Keith-Keith] I rock, shock, rock, turn it out And you know that [All]
and he got [Keith-Keith] the finesse To behold that [All] he’s the joint [Jazzy Jeff] Keepin on to, to the crack of dawn Party people in the place,
you got to keep on If you like the beat and you want some more Scream it out and say, “Funky Four”
[All] Funky Four! [Jazzy Jeff]“Plus one more”
[All] And the plus one more! [Jazzy Jeff] Now you don’t stop You said, the beat goes on [Keith-Keith] and it’s high-powered stuff [Rodney Cee] We won’t stop rockin’ [KK] ’til you all get enough [Sha-Rock]
Other— [All four guys] ooh, ah—ooh, ooh, [Sha-Rock] ah, ah [All]
Ooh, ah and don’t stop—[Keith-Keith] hit it [All] That’s the joint
[Jazzy Jeff] We have an obligation that we must fulfill [Keith-Keith] Like a .357 we are the kill [Rodney Cee] We’re like Machine Gun Kelly and Bonnie and Clyde [KK] And when we shock the house we stand side by side [Sha-Rock] We on top of the world, we’re looking down [All]
We’re going straight ahead, we never turning around [Keith-Keith]
Because we are so close but yet so far [Rodney Cee] And to all the party people, [KK] you know who we are [Sha-Rock] Get the point?
[Keith-Keith] And if you don’t we want y’all to know [Rodney Cee] We’re down, [KK] we rock, [All guys] we’re the Funky Four [Sha-Rock] Plus one
[Rodney Cee] I was sitting in my house watching my TV
When all of a sudden it dawned on me That I was all alone just wasting my time So I grabbed the pen and paper and wrote down a rhyme And I thought to myself how nice it would be To be on top making cash money
To go on a tour all around the world To tell little stories to all the fly girls To sit on my throne, to command my own To be number one on the microphone
Just telling a tale about how it’s gonna be For the Funky Four plus one MC
We’ll be busting in and we’ll be turning it out While we rock to any beat without a doubt Just chillin hard, livin in luxury
And being very proud to be an MC [All] He’s the joint
[KK] I’m KK Rockwell ’cause I raise a lot of hell And I like to make love to the jazzy female And I’m down with the crew from off the Hill Now just walk through my door, you pose on my floor First thing I touch is hips galore—[All] and then he— [KK] Move her up—[All] and then he
—[KK] kiss your lips—[All] and then he— [KK] Hold on tight so I never slip—[All] and then he— [KK] Tongue you down on to the
ground If any love is there it will be found By the man you all can tell Rockwell, to the depths of hell
And every time you hear my name, girl, it rings a bell When the bell rings
it goes, “Ding, dong”
Then I rock her and I shock her to the break of dawn Like a hot butter on a bag of popcorn Like Rockwell, just singing your song And you know
—[All] he’s the joint [Sha-Rock]
Come on, let’s go to work (Go on, girl!) Say, I got money and I can jerk Let’s go to work, let’s go to work
We gave a lot of parties and we got jerked But that’s alright because we be good sports ’Cause we know some day we get the big [All] Payoff