‘We pioneered line dancing with Bus Stop, hip-hop with Personality Jock, and house with Goin’ to See My Baby,” says Bill Curtis. “But Fatback still don’t get the respect we deserve.”
As founder, drummer and CEO of Fatback Band, Curtis may be forgiven for his outlandish claims about the role the band from Queens, New York City, played in shaping popular music. But the thing is, he’s not bragging. Fatback’s influence is everywhere, from disco-funk to 50 years of hip-hop: their 1979 B-side King Tim III (Personality Jock) is the first rap record, predating Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight by several months.
