Kurtis Blow
The Breaks — First Commercially Successful Rap Artist
The First Leo of Rap
Kurtis Blow is hip-hop’s original commercial king. In 1980, The Breaks became the first certified gold rap single in history — before most people knew what rap was. He signed to Mercury Records when no mainstream label would touch the genre, appeared on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, and opened a door that every rapper who came after walked through.
Leo Legacy
- The Breaks: 1980 — first certified gold rap single in history
- These Are the Breaks: First rap artist to sign with a major mainstream label (Mercury)
- American Bandstand: First rapper to perform on Dick Clark’s show
- Producer: Produced for Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys, and others in the formative hip-hop era
Blow’s Leo courage was commercial — he demanded hip-hop be taken seriously before it earned that right.
“I wasn’t following a trend. I was starting one.”