Formed in 1976, the group was the first hip hop group to have a female MC, Sha Rock. Their most significant hit was the nine-minute “That’s the Joint,” which was sampled by the Beastie Boys on the song “Shake Your Rump.” “That’s the Joint” was sampled from A Taste of Honey’s “Rescue Me”. Their other notable recordings included the almost sixteen-minute “Rappin’ and Rockin’ The House”, and Jazzy Jeff’s recording of “King Heroin”, from which a beat was sampled for use in the theme of the “The Apprentice” which taken from the O’Jays’ “Money”. The group never recorded a full studio album.
They were the first hip hop group to appear on a national television show, Saturday Night Live, in a season six episode hosted by Blondie’s Deborah Harry (some[who?] have mistakenly reported that Run-DMC was the first rap group to appear on SNL – in fact, Run-DMC were first rappers to perform on MTV some years later).
The original members were The Voice of K.K. aka K.K. Rockwell (Kevin Smith), Keith Keith (Keith Caesar), Sha Rock (Sharon Green), Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams). Rahiem later left the group to join Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five. Sha Rock temporarily left as well, and they were replaced by Lil’ Rodney C! and Jazzy Jeff, who became the ‘New’ Funky Four and with the return of Sha Rock who became the Plus One More.
