KURTIS BLOW - " IF I RULED THE WORLD "

Kurtis Blow was born Curtis Walker on August 9, 1959, in Harlem, New York . He is known as one of the first commercially successful rappers and the first rapper to sign with a major record label. Curtis Walker got his public start in 1976 as a break-dancer and a block party DJ known by the name of Kool DJ Kurt. That same year he enrolled at the City College of New York and became a program director for the college radio station . Also in 1976, he joined a group called "The Force." Russell Simmons was a lead member of that group. The Force sponsored parties around Harlem until 1977, when Simmons moved the group to Queens, New York . After becoming an MC on his own, Kool DJ Kurt changed his name, with the persuasion of his manager Russell Simmons, to Kurtis Blow (as in body blow) . Kurtis began trying to sell himself as "the number one rapper in Queens," with Russell's help . For a short time Blow's regular DJ was Simmons' younger brother Joseph, who at the time was known as "DJ Run, the Son of Kurtis Blow." He later changed his name and went on to become the first third of Run-DMC "If I Ruled the World" was the last of Blow's hit songs. His mainstream reputation decreased as newer hip hop made his rap style seem old-school and outdated . He went on to record a song with Dexter King, son of Martin Luther King Jr., titled "King Holiday" in observance of the civil rights leader's holiday . Blow finally gave up his fast fading recording career, but in the early 90s, he ...



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