Recording the Rap: Jive Talk at the Top of the Charts by Leah Y. Latimer is an early article on that fad, first published August 31st, 1980.
Rap records are big among young adults too, those in the 21-35 age range who bop into the disco on Friday night ready for good music and fast talk. Rapping started in New York clubs about five years ago when deejays began trying to outdo each other — while spinning the most popular instrumental tracks — by talking over them, always in outlandish rhymes that slid off the lips in syllabic precision, always in perfect time to the beat.
