"The Breaks" is released

Why it matters

August 15, 1980. Mercury Records put out "The Breaks" by Kurtis Blow. Four months later, the RIAA certified it gold, which made it the first rap single to officially sell 500,000 units. "Rapper's Delight" sold more (millions more) but Sugar Hill Records did not file the paperwork. "The Breaks" is the song that proved "Rapper's Delight" was not a fluke. It is built around the central pun ("these are the breaks" meaning both the drum-break of a record and the bad-luck breaks of life) and Kurtis Blow rapping in the loose, declamatory style that would become the early-80s template. Mercury put him on the road opening for Bob Marley. Then Run-DMC, who came up under his management, would inherit the lane he was holding open. He kept making records into the late 80s. He is now also a minister. None of that does anything to the song. You can put it on right now and the room will move.