"A hip, hop, hip hip hop to the hip hip hop and you don't stop": Any rappin' fool can recognize instantly these inimitable initial verbal cues to what would become arguably the biggest music style in the world. But what if those lyrics started out "We got a new thing out, gonna make ya shout/ got rhythm got beat gonna move your feet"? Well, no, that would just be silly, right? Come on; "gonna move your feet"? But consider this: those opening lines of Joe Bataan's novelty song "Rap-O Clap-O" actually were the introduction to what would become hip-hop to millions of people in Europe, where the song outpaced the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" on many countries's native pop charts.
Bataan got his start hustling in New York's Spanish Harlem as the charismatic leader of a boogaloo (R&B-inflected salsa) group signed to the legendary Fania record label. In the '70s he helped found Salsoul Records and released a number of pyschedelia-infused salsa albums on that label. As a presence on the streets of New York throughout this time, he witnessed the birth of hip-hop and realized its commercial potential. After a rapper who was supposed to record "Rap-O Clap-O" didn't show up to the session, Bataan, who had written the song's lyrics, decided to record it himself, and the result was his biggest international hit. OK, so it's totally dated and doesn't exactly match the energy of "Rapper's Delight," but the song is still a fun and fascinating document of rap at its genesis. This clip is from some Italian TV program and I can't tell exactly what the host is saying, but it sounds like he's trying to explain to the audience what, in fact, the song is about. "Rapping is what you do when you talk as a DJ," graciously explains an amused Bataan. "And clapping is clap your hands." To recap: Rapping = Talking. Clap = Clapping. Got it.

Anyone looking to read more on Bataan should check out the excellent profile/ interview from Wax Poetics #19. More trivia: Bataan's daughter Asia Nitollano was the winner of the shiteous reality TV contest Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll.
***Note: Vintage Video is a regular post in which we explore the wasteland of old music videos available on YouTube for insight, oddity, hilarity, current relevancy or just plain awesomeness).