Coke La Rock is a legendary American rapper and one of the founding fathers of hip-hop. He is credited with being the first to rap over a beat, thus creating the basis for rap as a genre. Born in the Bronx, New York in 1954, La Rock grew up in poverty and was exposed to hardcore hip-hop culture at an early age.
La Rock’s break into the hip-hop scene of the early 1970s began with his friendship with Kool Herc, another influential figure in the development of rap. At Herc’s parties, La Rock began to experiment with rapping over the beats Herc was playing. This eventually led to La Rock and Kool Herc forming a rap group together called The Herculoids, who released an influential single in 1973 titled “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel.”
In 1975, La Rock and Kool Herc decided to go their separate ways and La Rock formed his own group, The Cold Crush Brothers. The group helped to popularize the new rap sound, performing at clubs all over the Bronx and gaining a large fan base. La Rock’s style was unique, combining clever rhymes and metaphors with a smooth, laid-back delivery.
In the late 1970s, La Rock began to take a backseat from the rap scene as he pursued a career in radio broadcasting. He did this until the mid-1980s when he reunited with Kool Herc and began to perform live shows again. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, La Rock began to appear in several movies, including Beat Street and Wild Style.
La Rock continues to make appearances on television and at hip-hop events. He is widely recognized as one of the founding fathers of hip-hop and is credited with creating the basis for rap as a genre. La Rock’s influence on the music scene is still felt today, as he continues to inspire new generations of hip-hop fans with his iconic rhymes and flows.
