Angie Stone: The 1st Rappa Ternt Sanga

Following news of Grammy-nominated singer Angie Stone's death on Saturday, DEF|Y|NE Media celebrates her vital innovations to rap and hip-hop.

It’s hard being the first to do something, especially when you’re a Black woman. Innovation deserves reverence, gratitude, and acknowledgment. But oftentimes, innovation comes with a price, and acknowledgment is the currency one must pay much of the time. Angie Stone tragically died early Saturday morning in a car crash at age 63. She’ll chiefly be remembered as a respected soul singer, but her contributions to rap and hip-hop have mostly been forgotten or kept as a fleeting footnote in history books.

Over the past few years, it’s been debated who is responsible for the origins of Hip-Hop. Was it Black Americans alone? Was it Jamaican immigrants? Was it Blacks and Puerto Ricans equally? Sadly, Black women are never a part of this discourse, which is tragic, considering that hip-hop and rap music as a recording business exists because of musician Sylvia Robinson, a Black American woman (Also, shout out to Cindy Campbell, DJ Kool Herc’s sister).

Stone, born Angela Laverne Brown in South Carolina, helped create the foundation for rap and hip-hop as we know it today. She and The Sequence, the first all-female rap group, aided in establishing the fusion of melody with rap. Certainly, it could be traced back to the pulpits of Black churches and gospel quartets, and its adaptation via James Brown. But in the context of rap in its purest form, The Sequence set the tone for the rest of the culture and their impact has only increased across four decades.

“Funk You Up,” The Sequence’s first big hit with Robinson’s Sugar Hill Records in 1979, incorporated rapping and singing from members Stone, aka Angie B., Cheryl “The Pearl” Cook, and Gwendolyn “Blondy” Chisolm. The song is multilayered in its influence. Not only was it an instant dance floor classic, but it showcased southern rappers for the first time in a time when everything was homegrown in the tri-state area. Most importantly, it introduced the idea of rappers who can sing and singers who can rap.

Their melodic hooks of “Funk you right on up, gonna funk you right on up,” and “ring ding dong, ring-a-ding, ding-ding-dong,” have reverberated far and wide throughout the annals of hip-hop history. “Monster Jam,” their 1980 collaboration with Spoonie Gee was another foundational single for Sugar Hill Records and rap at large.

One of the largest, and most underappreciated innovations The Sequence made is the introduction of vocal interpolations: rerecording melodies, played or sung. While their labelmates, The Sugar Hill Gang, interpolated the music of Chic’s “Good Times” for “Rapper’s Delight,” Angie B. and company took things a step further by repurposing melodics hooks from other songs for one of their own. 1981’s "Funky Sound (Tear the Roof Off)" used both Parliament’s chorus from 1975’s “Give Up The Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)” and Rick James’ “Fire It Up.”

“Funky Sound (Tear the Roof)” left an imprint on rap that reaches to this day. From Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick singing A Taste of Honey’s "Sukiyaki" in “La-Di-Da-Di,” and Ma$e using Miami Sound Machine’s “Bad Boy” for the hook on “Feel So Good,” to Kanye West using Lauryn Hill’s “Mystery of Iniquity” for “All Falls Down” and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie using two different Michael Jackson melodies for “Look Back At It.”

Beyond her titanic imprint of rap with The Sequence, Stone contributed to crucial turning points in hip-hop history. She joined Vertical Hold and scored a hit with “Seems You're Much Too Busy” in 1993, helping to legitimize a growing trend of groups with MCs and singers together in the 1990s, like TLC, The Fugees, and Goodie Mob.

As the 20th century was closing, Stone helped the growth of neo-soul, a music movement that fused soul and hip-hop in a new way. Her songwriting collaborations with D'Angelo on both his Brown Sugar (“Jonz in My Bonz”), and Voodoo (“Playa Playa,” “Send It On,” “Greatdayinthemornin’/Booty,” and “Africa”) albums helped make those albums definitive statements in the Neo-Soul movement and Black American Music history. When she spread her wings and made her solo albums, she gave neo-soul more weight and dynamics. Her Black Diamond (1999) and Mahogany Soul (2001) albums smoothly combined all the elements of Hip-Hop she helped pioneer; interpolations, sampling, and fusing rap with singing.

Stone's Grammy-nominated, soulful solo albums made such an indelible mark on her fans, that her rap roots are relegated to fleeting bullet points on her resume. Fact about it, her work with The Sequence should be the first thing mentioned when speaking her name. The patriarchy and misogyny that dominate Hip-Hop also is a big reason why Stone's innovations get swept under the rug, particularly after she stated in interviews that she, Cheryl, and Blondy didn’t get credit for writing lyrics and melodies on Sugar Hill Gang songs like “8th Wonder” and “Apache.” Now that she's gone, let’s remember how vast her reach really is.

When you hear New Edition’s “Candy Girl,” thank Angie Stone. When you hear Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony's “Tha Crossroads,” thank Angie Stone. Brandy’s When you hear “I Wanna Be Down (Remix) with Queen Latifah, Yo-Yo, and MC Lyte,” thank Angie Stone. When you think of Gina Thompson’s “The Things You Do (Remix)” with Missy Elliott, thank you Angie Stone. When you hear The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, thank Angie Stone. When you hear Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage (Remix)” with Beyoncé, thank Angie Stone. When you remember Andre 3000 declaring “The South got something to say” at the 1995 Source Awards, thank Angie Stone for being the first to speak up back in 1979.

Thank you, Angie B., for leaving the world better than how you found it.

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