Sugarhill Gang Just Dropped an Animated Video for Rapper's Delight'

45 years later and we're still talking about this song. That tells you everything.

The Sugarhill Gang released a new animated video for 'Rapper's Delight' and honestly? It makes sense. Some songs deserve to keep getting celebrated.

Charles Blow from The New York Times said it best: "It sounded revolutionary, even when I was a child...and it was." He talked about kids huddled around tape players, stopping and rewinding just to catch every word. Writing lyrics in notebooks. That's what this song did to people.

I get why they made the video now. Chilean filmmakers Yere handled the animation and they understood the assignment. Colourful, vibrant, very late 70s energy. It feels like the Bronx. Like house parties and block parties and the moment everything changed.

Because that's what 'Rapper's Delight' was. The moment. Before this song, most people had never heard hip hop. The rhythms were new. The wordplay was different. The whole approach was fresh.

And it worked. Not just in New York. Everywhere.

You can draw a straight line from this track to everyone who came after. Jay-Z. Kendrick. Nas. All of them. This was the blueprint. The first domino.

The video dropped on June 27th after a quick teaser. Simple rollout. But when you've got a song that's been relevant for nearly five decades, you don't need to overthink it.

What I really was thinking is how the song still hits. 1979 feels like yesterday when you hear those opening bars. That's rare. Most music gets trapped in its era, placed in a box which is only opened from time to time. This one, the box has remained open.

The animation captures that. It's not trying to be anything other than pure celebration of the song. Of the culture it created. Of the fact that we're still here, still talking about it, still feeling it.

That's the thing about real classics. They don't age. They just keep revealing new layers.