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The Influence Of Kraftwerk On Early Hip-Hop And Black Music
- JayQuan
- 2 hours ago
- 7 min read
By JayQuan
*The Kling Klang Invasion
Kraftwerk, the German quartet who forever changed electronic music with their minimalist, but irresistible rhythms grabbed the attention of urban America and Black radio relatively early. Their 1981 hit "Numbers" from their ninth album, Computer World peaked at #22 on the Billboard Hot R&B songs chart, and "Trans-Europe Express" from their 1977 album of the same title was a hit at Afrika Bambaataa's early Bronx River parties, becoming a foundational breakbeat in Hip-Hop.
Percussion is very much the backbone of urban music, which is perhaps why Kraftwerk didn't make a large impact on Black listeners until Trans-Europe Express. Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk 2, Ralf & Florian, Autobahn, and Radio-Activity highlighted the electronic beeps, blips, and squeals provided by the ARP Odyssey, Mini Moog, and various synthesizers available at the time, but lacked notable drums. This style of music, described as experimental "Kraut Rock" utilized custom made drum interfaces built by the late Florian Schneider, a founding member of the group.
*Kling Klang is the name of the Dusseldorf studio where the earliest iterations of Kraftwerk recorded. Additionally its the name of the opening song of their Kraftwerk 2 album, the name of an early independent record label which they released music on, and the name of their publishing company.
Trans - Europe Express
"Trans-Europe Express" featured Kraftwerk's most pronounced drums up to that point, courtesy of Maestro Rhythm King organ which was triggered by various sequencers. The hypnotic percussion of "Trans - Europe Express" was a perfect back drop for Bambaataa's parties, which included sets consisting of drum breaks by The Monkees, The Incredible Bongo Band, James Brown, and themes from television programs as well as other bits from popular culture.
"When I first heard 'Trans -Europe Express', I went crazy and started playin' it at every jam"
-D.J. Afrika Bambaataa
Bambaataa was also a fan of the Yellow Magic Orchestra (also known as YMO), a Japanese band formed in Tokyo in 1978. The Yellow Magic Orchestra also specialized in electronic music, utilizing synthesizers, computers, samplers, drum machines, and sequencers.
"Computer Game" aka "Fire Cracker" by YMO became a foundational Hip-Hop break, which Bam is widely credited with introducing. Bambaataa's love of electronic artists such as Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Gary Numan would soon directly affect his own musical path along with his group, The Soul Sonic Force. Go-Go band Trouble Funk would remake Trans -Europe Express in 1982 and Kool G Rap used a clever interpolation on 1989's Road To The Riches.
The Man Machine
Hip-Hop DJ's also took a liking to 1979's "Man Machine" from the album of the same name. Although Jay-Z, Pink, Mos Def, and 2 Live Crew would eventually sample or interpolate "Man Machine" into their music, the Pumpkin produced "Rockin' It" by The Fearless Four would serve as one of its earliest usages. "Pumpkin plays everything except congas on 'Rockin' It', and adds a swing to the melody replacing Kraftwerk’s staccato feel," says group member DLB.
"He was much too prideful to play someone else’s stuff. He was a true musician and always put his own Afro -Caribbean flavor on things. His dexterity was incredible. He played the Oberheim 8 on 'Rockin’ It' and I would see those chubby fingers moving and wonder how he did it”. 'Rockin It' stayed on the WBLS charts for 14 weeks and was added to the playlist by the legendary Frankie Crocker.
Computer World
1981's Computer World was a turning point for Kraftwerk. In addition to being prophetic in the way of "predicting" our current computer controlled existence, Powered by "Numbers", Computer World was the album that fully connected with urban America. This connection would create new lanes for the recently birthed Rap industry, while changing the face of dance music for starters.
A 1981 advertisement for the Black Music Marketing Department of Warner Brothers Records would display just how urban their label saw them. The advert featured new albums by Larry Graham, Prince, Roger Troutman, George Benson, Patti Austin, The Time and other Black acts signed to the label. Kraftwerk's Computer World is also prominently displayed amongst these now classic albums.
While "Pocket Calculator", "Computer World", and "It's More Fun To Compute" were all incredible songs, "Numbers" was magic and its success in Black music is due to its strong drum beat, infectious hook and its timing. Coming at a time when electronic music was being created by Marvin Gaye, Prince, Cameo, The Gap Band, Parliament Funkadelic and scores of other Black musicians, "Numbers" was a paradigm shift for Black music.
Planet Rock
D.J. Afrika Bambaataa is the leader of the Universal Zulu Nation, a youth organization that consisted of former gang members, DJ's, MC's, Dancers, and Graf artists. Bambaataa is also one of Hip-Hop's foundational DJ's along with Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and DJ Breakout. Bam founded several MC crews including the Cosmic Force and The Soul Sonic Force, both of which he released recordings with on Paul Winley records in 1980. Those recordings made minimal noise in the Sugar Hill Records dominated era, but two years later Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force would change the world of music with a Kraftwerk inspired single that eclipsed the German foursome for a moment.
According to the BBC documentary The Hip Hop Years former music journalist and Tommy Boy Records founder Tom Silverman saw an Afrika Bambaataa D.J. set at a downtown club and approached Bam. “Since you’re putting all these different pieces from records together, I just started a label. Why don’t we put a demo together using all of these records that you’re cutting up”? Bam replied “there’s all of this electronic music out here, but there’s no Black artists doing it. I’m heavily into Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra and Gary Numan and I wanna do something like that."
Musically 1982's “Planet Rock” was a combination of four songs that were foundational breakbeats in Hip Hop and part of Afrika Bambaataa’s canon of beats that he played in his sets in the infamous Bronx River housing projects which was his home base. According to keyboardist John Robie who was an instrumental musician on "Planet Rock", brothers Dwight and Donnie Calvin from Rockers Revenge (a group produced by "Plant Rock" producer Arthur Baker) worked at a record store in downtown Brooklyn called Music Factory and Arthur used to hang out there on Saturdays to see what people were buying.
Baker mentioned that he was producing an electronic track for Bambaataa and Tom Silverman and that Bam wanted something in the vein of Kraftwerk. Dwight suggested that he couldn’t lose if he combined the drum pattern from “Numbers” and the string line from “Trans Europe Express." Interpolations of two other essential breakbeats in Hip Hop - “Super Sporm”, by Captain Sky and Babe Ruth’s “The Mexican” were added and the sonic foundation for “Planet Rock” was laid.
"Planet Rock" lead to one of the rap industry's early infringement lawsuit's due to its usage of the string line from "Trans -Europe Express" and the drum pattern from "Numbers". Soul Sonic Force member and Planet Rock's primary writer, MC G.L.O.B.E. tells me that Krafwerk members weren't exactly happy about their music being used on the gargantuan hit.
"I never knew that 'Planet Rock' would go international like Kraftwerk, and I was just so glad to meet them," he explained. "We were in Germany doing the Beat Street tour, and they were in a club where we were. I broke my neck to get over to meet them . I heard one of them whisper to the other, 'Those are the guys who took our sound'. It was big for me, although two of them walked away, the main guy stayed with me."
Although indirectly, the influence of Kraftwerk became evident in records that were formatted almost identically to "Planet Rock'". "Egypt, Egypt" by The Egyptian Lover, "Electric Kingdom" by Twilight 22, "Fix It In The Mix" by Pretty Tony, and "Clear" by Cybotron are just a few of the hundreds of records that mimicked the synthesizers, vocoders (electronic voices) and computerized drum patterns of "Numbers".
These songs also mimicked the subject matter of "Planet Rock" which spoke of a distant and utopian place where "The nights are hot as natures children dance and say the chants of this mother Earth, which is our rock". "Electric Kingdom" and "Egypt Egypt" both spoke of distance places which offered a better way of life than that which we are currently experiences. The reverberations of "Numbers" and "Planet Rock" influenced artists from Detroit to Miami and around the world.
A Worldwide Influence
The "Popping" style of dance which was extremely popular on the west coast married this new "Electro" sound and created a movement that birthed the style of early L.A. Hip-Hop. Dr. Dre and The World Class Wreckin' Cru, The Unknown DJ, The 2 Live Crew (before they met Luther Campbell and relocated to Miami), Ice T, and The Egyptian Lover are amongst the many west coast artists who embraced and were creatively influenced by Kraftwerk via The Soul Sonic Force.
In 1984 the movie Breakin' was released in theaters. The film, was an extension of a documentary on west coast Hip-Hop titled Breakin' & Entering. With a popular soundtrack which featured Ice T and Chris The Glove, Ollie & Jerry, and Rufus & Chaka Khan, and the Bar Kays, Breakin' has become a cult classic. One of the film's highlights is a dance scene featuring Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers Popping in front of a store with a broom. The back drop for that scene is Kraftwerk's 1983 classic "Tour De France".
While much of the Hip-Hop and Electro world was still chasing the "Numbers" template, "Tour De France", a song which celebrated the sport of cycling was a sonic departure for Kraftwerk although it contained the vocoder and much of the groups signature sound. "Tour De France" peaked at # 4 on the Billboard US Dance Club charts. "Tour De France" has been sampled by on songs by Depeche Mode, Timbaland, Ciara, and Sir Mix A Lot, and LL Cool J.
Musique Non Stop
1986's Electric Cafe delivered two of Black radio's most popular Kraftwerk hits, "Musique Non Stop" and "Boing Boom Tschak". These singles continued Kraftwerk's legacy of electronic funk and sometimes minimal lyrics outside of a hook. Upon its release Electric Cafe was met with mixed reviews, many unfavorable. It peaked at #156 on the Billboard 200. Musically Kraftwerk means many different things to different people. They spawned or at least heavily influenced sub genres such as Miami Bass, Techno, and Electro, but for Hip-Hop, the four emotionless Germans will forever represent our entry into a sonic future that still lives in the music of today. Rest In Power Florian Schneider.
